Day 43 Lavacola to Santiago 

We decided to leave a little later this morning since we only had 10 km to walk. As I heard other pilgrims getting up and leaving I could feel my body pulling me to join them. It is partly a genetic thing. In my family if someone was going somewhere we all went happily. Maybe that is why the Camino was a good fit for me; I was raised as a bit of a gypsy with my father being in bridge construction.

The top of the hill outside of Santiago; this is when you know you have arrived

The walk in was chaotic, quiet, celebratory, and reflective, depending on who was in front or behind us. There were huge groups of organized walkers within small pockets of long distant pilgrims.

 As we approached Santiago I had memories of my first experience.  This time I realized that I was walking in with a feeling of completion.  It is a very long walk to the Cathedral from the announcement that you have entered Santiago de Compostela. But I walked gently and peacefully in. As we neared the center I became very emotional. My emotions surprised me and came in waves. It felt like gentle joy, a feeling of completion, and total satisfaction.

Then Camino Moments started to happen.  Before we entered the Center I notice that standing at the light in front of us was the two Japanese women we had just met.

                                                 Our Japanese friends

We walked on and a French Choral Group was walking across the street from us singing the most beautiful harmonic music. They followed us into the Cathedral Plaza. It certainly added to the experience.

The first time I enter the Plaza 5 years ago, I felt nothing. This time I was emotional for a moment. The walk in and later in the day were the true Camino Moments.

It started to rain about two minutes after this photo and then cleared for the rest of the day.

We settled into our hostel about 25 meters from the Cathedral Plaza still shared bathrooms but towels, sheets, and our own room.

Then we went to the Pilgrim’s Mass. It was nothing I would choose to do again. Tours were going through, there were not enough seats so we stood for one hour and people were people,  some crowded in front of each other and talked. I was hoping for a quiet reflective time. I did get to see the incense burner fly to the top of the Cathedral ceiling, and that was beautiful.

But right in the middle of my frustration: a Camino Moment! My favorite Camino friend touched my shoulder, Georgi.  She walked in two days ago and decided to attend this Pilgrim Mass. I was so happy to see her!  After the service we had a wonderful lunch and talk about the Camino.

                           Heaven…a great visit with Georgi and beautiful food

 
As we are visiting two other Camino friends were walking by. Debby spotted them in the mirror of the cafe. They came in and joined us. We hadn’t seen them for two days.

Then off to Georgi’s hostel which just happened to be where our plane bags were that we had shipped from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago!

On our way there I heard, “Candi!” I turned around and there was Cordula, from Germany, walking down this street that was off the beaten track. We have been emailing, planning on meeting in Santiago; and there she was.  The Camino certainly provides!

We had a wonderful celebratory dinner with Georgi with a wonderful bottle of Rioja compliments of my husband, Randy; who was my constant Camino support!😍

   Thank you friends and family for following my journey and putting up with grammatical & spelling (darn spell check) errors, a tired mind and body and too many post corrections.  Your words of encouragement and likes have been a source of great joy.