21/10/2024
Not only did we want to tour the city and recuperate from our journey, we had always planned for the day after our arrival to Santiago de Compostela to be spent in a sort of a celebration of our accomplishment. We met for the early mass at the cathedral. It was the 3rd such mass for me along the route. Very little of it was in English, so I spent most of the service just reveling in so many people from around the world coming together for worship. I was better at picking up when the Lord's Prayer was being recited and concurrently said it aloud in English. The cathedral in Santiago is unique. The floorplan is shaped like a sort of plus-sign. If you consider that the altar is located in the 12 o'clock position of the building, the pews are arranged in the 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions facing inward. There is a beautiful silver incense urn, called the Botafumeiro, maybe 4-5 ft in height hanging from the ceiling in the center of the structure. It is suspended by a rope which extends up to a pulley system. Having seen the movie The Way before, I had known that the contents of the urn will be lit so that it starts smoking and 8 people will pull on the rope to set it in a swinging motion that crosses the cathedral in a 150ft swinging arc filling the building with incense smoke. However, what I didn't know is that they only typically perform this maneuver on the major religious days of the liturgical calendar. We had gone to the service not expecting to see the Botafumeiro set in motion...that is, until the service was nearing its conclusion, clergy members lowered the urn and began to light it. We looked at each other wide-eyed. Are they about to do it?!? For some unknown reason, the entire process unfolded right before our eyes. It was beautiful.
Each of our group spent the rest of the day shopping, doing laundry and exploring the city. We took a rooftop tour of the cathedral where our sore and tired legs climbed many flights of stairs and literally crawled out onto the granite roof of the massive structure. I laughed knowing that this would never fly in the United States due to liability and safety concerns. Spain is just different. But the builder in me loved it. I marveled that of all the tons and tons and tons of granite everywhere, I couldn't find a single crack anywhere in or around the building. Not one.
That night, we met up for one last dinner at a nearby restaurant. I'm pretty sure we all ordered seafood of various types. I chuckled that although three different types of fish were ordered (sole, cod and salmon), the waiter convinced us one-by-one over several different trips to the table to get the turbot instead since that was apparently all they had. That's okay. Turbot is awesome.
Afterwards, we grabbed some helado and started to make our way back up the narrow streets toward our different places of accommodation. We stopped, and Todd started to shake my hand and say goodbye. Wait! This IS it, isn't it? I hadn't mentally prepared for this moment.
From the outset, it was always different preparing for this trip. None of us could say for certain when we would be coming home. In fact, there was a really good chance one of us would get an injury or illness at some point, and assuming that person didn't have to go home altogether, the delay would affect us all. We built into our itinerary some flex days just in case. But I had told my wife and my customers that (assuming all went to plan) I would come home early if I was given the opportunity. The Camino guides and internet forums say that most people finish the Camino Frances in 35 days of walking (more or less). We finished in 32. After analyzing my travel options, I booked a new flight home through Madrid (while cancelling my original flight home through Lisbon), and I bought a train ticket to get to Madrid from Santiago. I would be separating from the others to go home.
So there I was looking under the streetlights looking at my friends. These people that I had come with or met along the Way, those that had become a huge part of my life over the last 5-1/2 weeks, those that I had helped or had helped me, those that I had learned to love, admire and trust were looking back at me. I am a hyper emotional person sometimes. I honestly hate that about myself. Strangely though, I didn't get all that emotional upon arriving into the plaza at Santiago on our final day of walking. We already had so many days of arrivals, it kind of just felt like the others. I mostly just felt relief that the walking was over. But this was different. I broke down as I hugged Todd, Shelly, Gerard, Lisa and the newly added Dave from Arkansas goodbye (Mark and I were sharing a room that night before heading to the train/bus station the next morning). The overwhelming sadness I felt was one last Camino reminder that it's about the journey and the people you meet along the Way. It never was about walking into Santiago.
I'm now on the train heading to Madrid. Pictures are coming to my phone from the others. We already miss one another. That said, it IS time to go home. I have missed my wife so much and am beyond ready to see her, so the train which is going almost 200mph can't go fast enough. I am incredibly blessed with an embarrassment of riches in the people I know in my life. My family and friends have all loved and supported me to become the person I am (for better or worse...ha). These are my people. Crystal is my person. Wise County is my home. I feel tremendous gratitude to my family and to my customers for giving me the opportunity to fulfill this dream. I'll be home soon, and when I get there, the REAL Camino will resume.
One last word, please consider supporting Wise Area Relief Mission - WARM, Wise Hope and Jenny's Hope by making a financial donation at WalkingforWise.org. EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR donated goes to support these 3 incredibly important agencies. Thanks so much for following along. Your love and support for the four of us has absolutely not gone unnoticed. 🙂
Buen Camino!
