Final Camino post

Today was our first day of not walking, of no longer being pilgrims and just being tourists. We slept in until almost 8am which was amazing. We had breakfast and then had to switch hotels because there weren’t any rooms available for a second night. Luckily we got a room at a hotel around the corner. We went there at 9:45am just to drop our bags and not expecting to check in. But they said our room was ready. And what a room! It was HUGE, with a view of the cathedral spires, a jacuzzi bathtub and all kinds of amenities. All for 123 euros! We kinda wanted to just lounge in the room all day, but we also wanted to see the cathedral and do some shopping. Like proper tourists.

We took a tour of the cathedral - the rooftop and tower tour to be specific. The name of the tour should have tipped us off that it was going to involve some climbing. But they really should have put some warnings or disclaimers about this not being appropriate for people with a fear of heights, balance issues, knee problems or heart conditions. We had to climb a LOT of steps to get to the roof and even more to get up to the tower. And we were literally ON the roof, a slanted granite roof, with the wind blowing strong. Yikes! But the view was truly breathtaking. And it was just incredible to think about the building of this place. It took 150 years to build and was completed in 1125. Several generations of people spent their whole lives working on it and never got to see its completion. We heard that when they were building it, pilgrims would carry limestone blocks from a quarry in Triacastela (120km east of Santiago on the Camino Francés) and bring them to Santiago to help with the building. Impossible to fathom them carrying these extremely heavy and bulky blocks for six days, up and over several passes. But they did it out of a sense of purpose - for faith, for penance, to contribute to the building of this holy place to honor St. James. We also visited the crypt of St. James that is below the altar of the church. Though raised Catholic, I don’t have a strong faith these days. But looking upon the crypt that held the remains of one of Jesus’ followers was very significant for me. It hit me that these were real people, not just characters from a story. The new testament sort of came to life for me in that moment.

After the tour, we had scheduled “pilgrim massages” - yes, it’s a thing here. And it was really good we did it after climbing up and down all those stairs! It was simply an hour of pure heaven.

Later we caught up with Susie and Elsie, two other pilgrims friends who arrived in Santiago this morning. We shared some great memories of our Camino experiences, and said a bittersweet goodbye to them. They felt like old friends. It’s a Camino thing, how quickly and deeply you can bond with others. Hopefully not the last time we see them.

We went from pilgrim massage to pilgrim mass. We got to the cathedral an hour before for the 7:30 pilgrim mass in order to get front row seats. When we sat down, we both realized we were pretty hungry and it would be another two hours before we could eat. So I saved the seats and Rory went out to find us something she could sneak past the security guards that we could eat before mass started. It took a lot of vigilance to save her seat, as people were pouring in. She returned with a tuna empanada that we stealthily ate whenever the security guard wasn’t looking. It was a bit messy and not great, but it did the trick.

The mass itself was all in Spanish, but still very awe inspiring if only because of the significance of where we were. The main attraction was the “botafumiero” - the huge incense burner that hangs from a pulley system and is controlled by eight men in red robes pulling on it to swing it through the air of the cathedral. This has been done for ages, for both liturgical reasons and historically to mask the smell of the unwashed pilgrims who arrived at the cathedral. At the highest point of the swing, it reaches 21 meters high. A very impressive sight to behold. And a little frightening sitting in the front row as a giant vat of burning embers is whizzing by at 68km/hr overhead.

Well this is officially my last post. It has been an amazing journey, and this blog has been an important part of it. It started as a way for me to keep a diary of sorts, to capture my thoughts, observations and reflections about our Camino adventure. And I will go back a reread it all from the beginning to remind myself of where were, what we saw and who we met. But the blog has also rekindled my affinity for writing, and I am now left to ponder how I will keep it up. I have greatly appreciated everyone’s comments and encouragement. To know that folks were reading it has pushed me to post every night, which has been a very good discipline for me.

The journey - and Adventures of Redsnapper - will continue. Buen Camino!