Today was my final walk. I guess everyone was a bit restless since there were 4 people up in my albergue at 3 45 this morning and out the door by 4. I guess I am a bit of a light sleeper because they woke me up and I tossed and turned until 5 when I got up and got ready to hit the road. I was walking by 5 30 this morning which is way too early.
I have made this walk many times and knew what to expect. I got off to a good start by going the wrong way. Thank goodness for my trusty GPS app that put me back on the right path in no time. I walked without breakfast or most importantly coffee until about 8 when I found my first coffee bar open and promptly downed to caffe con leche grandes and a piece of delicious lemon cake.
I arrived in Santiago about 10 took some quick photos and headed to the pilgrims office to get my Compostela. They are very efficient these days. You complete the online form and it issues you a QR code which gets you into the office and enables you to get a number. I and number 124, when I walked in they were working on numbers in the 80´s. It only took about 20 minutes to get through and I was off with my Compostela.
I checked into my room, if you could call it that, actually it is more like a closet with a bathroom but it works for me.
After a hot shower is was off to the pilgrims Mass. It was packed in the Cathedral. I finally found a chair almost at the back of the room and sat down. I said high to the guy next to me and we struck up an conversation. Turns out he just graduated with a civil engineering degree from Davis. He did his undergrad and BYU so we had a fun conversation. The mass was amazing as always. Very touching.
After the Mass I met up with my Camino friends Hyun Soon and Fernando for lunch and then we just spent some final time together.
Tonight I had dinner with Dawn from the Iowa chapter and Jackie who is on the board to the American pilgrims it was a fun night.
Tomorrow I take my covid test and then head to Madrid on the train. Tomorrow night in Madrid and then Thursday home.
All in all it was a great Camino. I enjoyed the difficulty of the route but also appreciate that it was only 12 days.
Leave a Reply