We Did It! – Camino Days 35-39 (Santiago de Compostela)
39 days ago I wrote about starting a camino family, not really believing that the random group of pilgrims who just happened to start the same day and walk about the same pace could be any more special than the ones from the day before or the day after. But in these final 5 days and 115 km I’m increasingly attached to the idea of crossing the finish line with these people who have been with us off and on since day one.
Leaving Sarria we walk the whole day to Portomarin with Paula, through farm fields and endless 4-house farming “villages.” Next day we decide on a shorter day to Casa Rectoral in Legeden, and stayed in the exact room where the owner, Umberto, had stayed, falling in love with the falling-down former minister’s house and calling his wife in Madrid to say that he had bought it (she compassionately answered that she and the kids would be thrilled to come visit him on weekends…) She's here for a raging family party happening for All Saints Day, but they make a special effort to cook us an amazing meal, and invite us to the late-night karaoke party that never materializes because the grill and drinks started way too early in the afternoon.
Day 3 we push 31 km, 47,000 steps to catch up to our gang in Ribadiso da Baixo (after Spain’s best octopus lunch in Melide), enjoying a river swim with Paula, Caroline, Lore and dozens of other young folx thrilled that it’s warm enough to get wet together. Day 4 we book an entire dorm room in O Pedruzo just for our gang. We cobble together a meager pasta dinner from supplies at the only store open this Sunday night - the gas station - but it’s a family meal and feels like the right and only way to be - together - on the last night.
I don’t remember much about the final walk, except stars, forest paths, and only one breakfast place open after a few hours of hiking (it’s November now, so most places have closed for the winter.) But I do remember the sudden surge of emotion as we enter a tunnel gate that leads to the main plaza. Like a college football team we emerge into the plaza with a bagpipe player playing tribute, and find ourselves at the base of the looming Santiago cathedral.
I never doubted that we’d arrive, so I didn’t expect it to feel this triumphant. But my workhorse of a powerhouse of a marvel of a wife, who has overcome so much to be here, is crying and I’m holding her and it seems the entire world has stopped like at the end of Dirty Dancing when Johnny and Baby are slow-dancing in the aisle and everyone else is in fuzzy slow motion around them. My whole family has disintegrated into the fuzzy crowd and it’s just us. She did it! We did it, together!
Then Paula and Lore and Caroline-Gerhardt-Frieda and so many others we did this crazy trek with together with are back in focus again and we’re all hugging and taking photos and feeling Alive. We sit in the middle of the huge plaza, packs and poles strewn carelessly, a bit unsure what to do but not caring, just Being Here, Together, Done.
Later, we’ll go for a Venezuelan lunch, and see the mysterious shadowy pilgrim who only comes out at night, and play at the Bench of Whispers where you can whisper something at one end and your voice travels - amplified - way across to your lover at the other end. We’ll get our official “Compostella” certificates of completion from the church office. We’ll be reunited with Terry and Anna, who finished a week ago but are still around for a Roxa pork dinner and ice cream crepe.
Also later, we’ll attend a debriefing at Pilgrim House. A woman our age shares that she lost her son after caring for him for 2 years, and now is crying to the point of devastation at having to give up the hiking poles that got her all this way. A young German who has been travelling for 6 years now realizes he needs continuity to not be alone. Aussie 23-year-old has had the unexpected realization that she wants children.
All that will happen - Santiago has centuries of experience in helping pilgrims get closure. But for now, all that we need is the sun on these stones, more triumphant and weary pilgrims arriving ready to be hugged, our camino family by our side, and my wife’s hand in mine. After 37 days of walking, overcoming pain and sickness and weather, reveling in beauty and history and community, and mostly just taking step after step after step for 800 km, we are here!
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Currently in...
Mayne Island, BC, then to a family wedding in Surrey
Heading to...
Paris, Albania, Milan, then Cambodia-Thailand-Vietnam for Oct-May. Please share any sites, people or ideas by email.
I’m not sure “congratulations” is the right word, but whatever it is, thAt will have to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed your thoughtful and informative account of your journey.
Congratulations, it is! Well done!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful journey. We are delighted, to see you both so deliriously happy on the trip and with each other.
We hope, you are all well again.
You cannot but enjoy Istanbul, one of THEE great cities of the world.
And Marokko at Christmas should be hard to beat.
You two know how to live!
Enjoy it all to the fullest, and, please, stay healthy and safe.
A big Christmas hug,
Harald and Heidi
Camino, Istabul, Morocco – ya, we’re living pretty well these days, not taking it for granted! But hey, what are the other two GREATEST cities (gotta keep adding to the list…)?????
Family Camino ❤️ lovely memories shared!