Santiago, at last!!!

Wow, what a day. So exciting to reach the end of the Camino. So many people from around the world walking into the city today. It was very warm and both my feet were hurting and very hot. I asked Jeff to touch the road to see how warm it actually was. Very!! First, we walked through lovely forests again and up and down a steep hill before we finally entered Santiago. My expectations were low because I just wanted to get it over with. But we felt lots of emotion when we finally entered the cathedral square. Six weeks is a long time to be walking in one direction. And for 800 K. 

We treated ourselves to a room at the Parador, which felt almost like heaven. After a shower and lunch (by this time almost 3 PM) we headed off to the pilgrim's office and stood in line for over an hour in the heat to get our compostela or certificate of completion. Then a glass of white wine before going to the cathedral at 6 PM to secure good seats for the 7:30 PM pilgrim's mass. And what an experience that was. It was mostly in Spanish but here and there there was some English. We heard "perigrino"a lot. The culmination of the service was the swinging of the botafumeiro, a massive incense holder that is swung by pulleys through the huge cathedral. What a thrill! Everyone spontaneously clapped when it was over.

We were joined by Joyce and Arlene for a fashionably late dinner. Hard to believe that we are not walking some more tomorrow and that our adventure is almost over. I will have to digest the experience a bit before I can decide what I learned or how the pilgimage has affected me!

Our shadows this morning as we set off on our final day of walking!

Just arrived in Santiago.

Unfortunately, lots of scaffolding around the cathedral.

Jeff's gear.