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.