Day 39 - To Santiago de Compostela

To Santiago de Compostela:  0 km

Walked today: 22 km

Total walked:  725 km

We had only 15 km to the cathedral of the saint so we decided to wait for breakfast.  Pepe, our host, served breakfast early for us. At 7 am he had things ready. He outdid himself and had several choices for us.

We also found our two new friends from Holland at the restaurant and we met another young man from Russia there.

The picture below was taken from our window just before we started to walk.  

This morning we walked very fast, el Camino is mostly up the hill to the cathedral but we managed the 15 km in just over 3 hours. This time we even passed some pilgrims.

I have admit that as we approached the cathedral I got a bit emotional. Being a pilgrim is a lifestyle, there is built in time for prayer, there is time for thinking, there is a purpose to get to the goal that is the tomb of the apostle despite tiredness, pains, blisters. Rain or shine, steep hills, mud, obstacles don't matter.  

If you ask a pilgrim why are doing the pilgrimage, many will have hard time explaining it.  But all will agree that the experience changes us.  Most will tell you that there is an inescapable spiritual impact even if they started just as tourists and not pilgrims.

Another aspect is the links Pilgrims make with each other.  The shared experiences, the pains, the difficulties.  As well as the good times, the meals together.  All these things bound us together in friendships, often from one side of the world to the other that last forever.

Arriving to the cathedral is the end of the pilgrimage so all of us suffer from mixed feelings and some emotional moments.

For us today arriving to the plaza in front of the cathedral was the first step.  We took some pictures but we could not go in. We still had our backpacks and backpacks are not allowed inside the cathedral.  Instead we went to the office of peregrinos to get our certificates of completion.  Prized mementos which will have a place of honour in our house.

We found our hotel,showered, and left the backpacks and hurried back to the cathedral.  There are some pilgrim routines that must be followed.  We sent up to the back of the altar to embrace the statue of Santiago and then down to the chapel under the altar where the human remains of the apostle are located to say a short prayer. A few steps away is the chapel of Our Lady, the perfect place to pray the rosary.

Then to look for our friends, the people who walked with us, the people that endured what we endured, the people that will be our friends forever.  No one wants to say goodbye.

Then the Pilgrims Mass at the cathedral. Another moment that is emotional and spiritual for us pilgrims. Very important, the culmination of our month long pilgrimage. The pilgrim masses are always very solemn.  

And again, to look for our friends and to have dinner with them, to talk about the impact of the pilgrimage on us but also to talk about feet, blisters, stinky people (mostly ourselves), the things we do as pilgrims that we would never do at home and to just have fun. Again, no one wants to say goodbye.

Now, we have one more day here, we definitely spend more time at the cathedral and also we will be meeting another pilgrim friend who arrives tomorrow.

Then we become tourists.  Our fight to Canada is in 10 days, we are planning to spend a week in Sevilla

Tonight we thank San Tiago for his assistance in completing the journey and we ask him to pray for us.