WE MADE IT!!

We left just after 6 with only less than 10k to go into Santiago! It was dark, uphill, but we went!

It felt pretty quick to me, to get into Santiago. Most of the walk was just walking through the city to get to the center. It was really exciting !

We walked into the town and you could see the Cathedral sticking out above the buildings. As we got closer, it just got more exciting! We turned a curve to walk down the stairs that led to the plaza and the front of the catherdral only to be greeted and cheered on by the Australians and Herman! They were screaming and cheering for us which was just SO fun! They made a little tunnel for everyone to run through and it was just so sweet. Everyone began giving hugs, lots of crying, lots of photos.

It’s rather surreal, being here. We’ve been gone, over a month, with every step, day, and week contributing to the culmination of this day. It’s weird. It’s the end. This is it. This is what we came for. And it was absolutely beautiful!

After everything, we went down and around the corner to get our compostela’s. We waited in a relatively short line and got our certificates! In this line, we saw Doug and Nancy, Ayako and Daich who are a couple from Japan that we have seen often and spoken with, and heaps of people we have never seen. This is where all the Camino collide, so that part pretty neat.

We went to breakfast with the Australians. I was so tired because last night I slept terribly. The lights in the albergue wouldn’t turn off, there were two directly above me on the top bunk that made it so warm. It was awful. My breakfast was not what I was expecting so I was just grumpy! By the time breakfast was done, we had an hour to kill before the Pilgrim mass. We ran to Zara and did some shameless shopping which was so worth it! We left, went back to the church to meet Jens who was saving seats and went to the 12:00 Pilgrim mass. The mass was in Spanish in the catherdral and the church was pretty packed. We had squeezed into a pew but it was too tight so I ended up on the floor next to it, with tons of other people. It was a beautiful catherdral. Very ornate and so incredibly detailed. Didn’t take too many photos and they asked us not to during the mass itself.

After the mass, lots of walking, resting, and fun began. By this time it was almost 2:00 and we had to check into our albergue so we went off looking for that and I was so hungry. I wanted food! We checked in and I immediately went to the supermarket to get food. I ate and felt a new person. After this, Debbie, Jens, and I went back to some shops while Emma, Jen, and Kat got beautiful Camino tattoos. Debbie and Jens rested and I went to meet Jen and Emma to look for some Birkenstocks which was a complete success! Thrilled about that. After that, we all eventually met back up at 7:00 in front of the catherdral with the Aussies and Emma’s friends from home for drinks and dinner. Then, we celebrated. We drank, chatted, and went to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner. It was fabulous. Debbie went back, two of the Aussies stayed behind, and the rest of us went to get more drinks. It was loads of fun. Then goodbyes were said as people left.

The saddest one was Jens. Originally he was going to join Kat, Debbie, and I bussing to Finisterre but now he’s going to walk it with the Aussies. So when Jens said goodbye tonight, it was for the last time. Which was really sad. Jens was sad. This is the hard part and what’s going to happen now, everyone slowly starting to trickle off and head home. Tomorrow will be Jen, the next day Kat, and lastly, Kieran and Emma.

Jens and I walked back to the albergue, talking about what’s to come and went inside and went to bed.

It’s our second to last day! That’s insane to me! We walked practically nothing today and just watched the kilometers drop! It’s so weird being so close! We are stopping just 10km outside of Santiago today, making for a reaaaaaaaaal easy day in tomorrow.

We all got up around 6:30, which is still rather late for us. Eventually, we rolled out. We walked almost 5km before breakfast at another cute place along the Camino. I think it’s finally confirmed that this crazy sound we keep hearing all along the IS infact frogs. No one was really sure because it was a crazy sound and you didn’t want to get too close because you didn’t know what was making it.

Then guess what we did? We walked. How did you know? It still smelled awful. At this point, I’m just pretty sure that all of Galacia smells like shite. But we did walk past a wall that said “I will walk 500 miles” which was great because that’s all Jens has been playing on his phone the last few days. That and “I Love It” (not even sure that’s the name of the song). It was too great to pass up so we took a photo.

We stopped for a drink at a restaurant and Debbie was excited! She had walked and talked with Patrick, who was the piano guy from the earlier posts, you know, the one who played magical music on the piano that one morning? Yeah, him. We have seen him a lot and always say hi, but not much more. He doesn’t like crowds and sticks to himself. His name is Patrick. AND GET THIS. He use to substitute teach in Santa Clarita! Not only did he sub in all of the HSs and JHSs, he use to live off of Wiley Canyon. THATS RIGHT NEAR MY PARENT’S HOUSE. He use to go to church in Granada Hills, which is a church 5 minutes from where I live now. What a small world!! He now lives in Orange County and his father is in Phoenix (which is a small world for Debbie)! Just blows my mind how that happens. So, that was a trip this morning.

We walked through lots of forrests today and up a few more hills. At this point, we are just so close we could be there. We passed the “Last 12km” town/sign and a stone Santiago carving. We stopped for more food, where I proceeded to have more ice cream and Jens decided to feed one of the cats hanging around food, so it vomitted and caused Emma and Jens to move seats. We walked up one last big hill by near the Lavacolla airport and do

wn and around to our albergue.

There were quite a few people here. More than I expected, but makes sense. We got our beds, napped, showered, and went to the market. We decided to cook food. I made one final salad filled with all the things I wanted, with help from Jens, Kat, and Debbie. Kieran made hard boiled eggs and pasta and we all sat together outside to eat. It was really nice. A nice way to spend one of our last night’s on the Camino. We finished up, Emma and Jen came in clutch doing the dishes and everyone crawled into their beds. Just in time for the insane thunderstorm to kick in! Definitely wasn’t expecting that one.

Day mileage: 14.6
Total mileage: 475.8ish
Personal mileage: 15.03

We. Slept. In.

Well, for us anyways. The sun was up this morning when we left by 7! That’s sleeping in. More and more our morning selfies are being photo bombed by the wonderful people we are with and I love it!

Again today, the miles are getting less and less. WE ARE SO CLOSE. We will be in Santiago on Saturday! Thats crazy! Everything we have done up to this point will all come to an end and culminate.. in two days! I can’t believe how far we have come and how much we have conquered. Debbie says her bag finally feels lighter, I think she is just stronger. I think she knows she is too.

Today’s walk was shorter than most, only about 20km. Don’t worry, it still smelled AWFUL. But looks pretty. More and more people every day which feels frustrating. But, it’s just part of it.
I can at this point safely say that the last 100km of the Camino are the least pretty. After Sarria, it just isn’t that great. Don’t get me wrong, parts are still beautiful. There are amazing forrests and landscapes, just not as jaw dropping as the rest of the Camino, I feel.

We had lunch about halfway, in the main city stop from the book. The patatas bravas was delicious. My salad, again, not so much. We ran into Daniel, Audrey, Scott, and Stuart again and talked. They will be in Santiago in the morning! We stopped in a shop that had Pandora charms because I saw one about the Camino that I loved and Debbie so very sweetly purchased it for me. She wanted to get me something and now she has gotten me the perfect charm for my bracelet! It’s a Camin shell that we always see with beautiful green rhinestones. I absolutely love it and will now always remember (like I would forget) this trip and who gifted it to me. We had a moment in the store and then carried on!

We got to our albgerue an hour before it opened. There were three cats that just wanted all of the loving. The place was in the middle of nowhere, so we just sat on the deck and waited. Some of us loving on the cats, others demanding they go away, haha.

This albgerue was pretty stinking cute. It’s run by a northern Italian woman who has lived in Spain for close to 10 years now named Heidi. She is the kindest. Her albergue includes her washing, drying, and folding our laundry. She only has 8 beds and isn’t open every day. She says the albergue isn’t her business, just something she opens sometimes and has. She takes the phone calls and judges by her gut whether she will host the group or not. It’s actually quite great. She had the best kitchen, which I loved and took way too many photos of. I also smacked my head on the low fernace top thing and got a lump immediately. Also, kittens. The adorable cats we loved on also had adorable KITTENS.

We walked 600 meters more down to the nearest shop for some wifi and snacks. I’ve been so great about food on most of the Camino until about this last week or so, it’s just absolutely gone downhill. I’ve had all the ice cream. Anyways, after we walked back, finished showering up and had some tea.

A of bikes rolled in, four of them, with a camera crew asking for beds. When there were no beds, they asked if they could camp. Heidi said yes and then they began. The main guy is Dave “the moose” Morissette who is a Canadian guy that played 11 games in the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens. He now does a sports TV show in Canada. Oh, right. They were from Quebec. French-Canadians. He is biking the Camino with his two sons and his father, who is 68 I think, and the TV channel is making a documentary of it. It was weird to me that he just walked in and told us all of this out the gate, but, they were nice. One of their crew members took the 8th bed in our room. He had the most uncomfortable nervous laugh between every sentence he said. So these guys were all here. Pitching their tents, filming, and making a fire. Heidi made them dinner and did their laundry as well! She was phenomenal, working over time. Kat and I didn’t take the meal, but it smelled delicious! And I know she made crepes. So sad I missed out, but I wasn’t hungry!

I laid in bed a while, watching Queer Eye, writing my blog and then decided to go outside. I sat with Jen and Jens (who was so drunk on wine!), Kieran, and one of the crew guys that were with the cycalists who’s name I don’t know. It was a good conversation. Jen and the crew guy talked a lot about the tensions in Canada, the divide between the Candians and French-Canadians. I learned a lot I didn’t know about Canada. As far as I’m concerned, everyone in Canada is holding hands and singing kumbaya because they’re so awesome and nice. But, I guess it isn’t quite as harmonious as one would imagine. It was great to listen and to learn. After a while, I was tired and climbed into bed.

Day mileage: 12.7
Total mileage: 461.2ish
Personal mileage: 13.91