Day 30+4 - Madrid to San Francisco

And just like that I'm having my old breakfast with my old coffee, thinking about when I should sit down and vote.

The trip back was just long.  Quick shuttle to the airport, short wait to board, but an hour waiting on the tarmac as it was foggy.  Into JFK and while standing in a long immigration line I remembered I had Global Entry.  It took me longer to get out of the line than to scan and exit customs.  How do you forget that?

At SFO Laurie and Brendan met me and Laurie was on a plane to Detroit.  Nice seeing you, babe.  Driving feels weird and really fast.

The End

Just kidding.  There are very few ends in life, just a lot of transitions.  People keep asking me what do I feel finishing?  Did you have any spiritual epiphanies?  How are you changed?  A lot of that kind thing.  It's too soon to answer any of that.  Stuff is swirling around in my head.  I suppose I feel calmer.  Things are what they are and while you can make choices and control your responses you can only influence most things.

What I can tell you is I have a lot of calluses on my feet and it feels like my toes are merging into one giant toe.  My clothes and shoes are showing a lot a wear.

Another question people ask is if I lost weight.  Seems the answer is yes! About 1 pound.

Day 30+3 - Santiago to Madrid

Looking at my gear I knew I had to do my travel pack, again.  I still can't believe I got within 20m of the plane with the wrong boarding pass.  Moving slowly I had a long breakfast in the hotel.  No people around until 3 Primativo pilgrims from Singapore came in for breakfast.

I did nothing all day.  Sat around my room until noon. Checked out and went to the hotel bar. Made a coke last an hour. Made a very nice steak sandwich and a coffee last an hour. Sat around for a while longer and finally started walking to the airport.

It was only about 3km but I did find a nice cycle/pedestrian trail into the airport.  Last night Google maps had me walk a long way on the freeway.  Nobody at security and I had 2 and a half hours to wait for boarding 

The flight was uneventful.  I was at the taxi stand in 5 minutes and at the hotel a few minutes after that.  Then I had to wait while the two slowest groups on the planet checked in.

Walked to a nearby restaurant that turned out to be pretty good and had my last Spanish meal.

Now early to bed and a 7:15 shuttle back to the airport.

Day 30+2 - Santiago to Madrid (almost)

Feeling a bit rough this morning I headed down to breakfast.  Then I got my Compestela tube, packed my knife inside and headed over to the Post Office.  The Post Office was very well organized.  I got a number indicating my language.  I waited a few minutes until called and got an English speaking teller.  She taped it up, labeled it and sent it to Canada for 10€.  I considered sending my trekking poles but I'm afraid I will have to leave them in my hotel room.

I walked back to the Cathedral square.  I think pilgrims are drawn to it.  Sitting and enjoying the scene, I heard a familiar voice and see Wayne, Angela and Becky.  I joined them for breakfast - just coffee for me.

I left to pack up and near my hotel ran into Jim.  He was having trouble finding and messaging Wayne and I ended up forwarding messages between them.  Jim later told me he never connected.

Packing up for the last time was kind of sad.  My bag was compact and smaller than normal and usually that means you left something out.  I double checked the room and everything was accounted for.  I left my trekking poles on the desk table with a small tip.  I left my bag with the hotel and headed to the Cathedral square and sat enjoying the scene.

Tom was organizing a last supper for 1pm and as the time neared I left the square and ran right into Marie.  It is so great to see someone you thought you would never see again.  She had been out with Tom the night before but had not gotten his messages about lunch.  We walked to lunch together and the chosen place was crowded so we went to the second option, Gato Negro.  We sat in the backroom and had the best octopus and other things.  It was a group of about 10.  Old friends and new friends.

After lunch we saw Winand who had just gotten to town but could not go to the Cathedral because his wife was coming in tonight and wanted to walk the final section with him.  It was good to see him again but he could not accompany us to the Cathedral square.  In the square we started goodbyes.  It was sad and happy all at once.  People peeled off one at a time, some were staying and some were leaving.  I was leaving and said my farewells.

On the way back to my hotel I ran into the Colorado crew talked for 10 minutes in the street.  A few blocks later I found Winand pretty much where we'd left him and he made me have a beer.  I got back to the hotel the same time Tom arrived and we jumped into a cab to the airport.

Waiting at the gate we had a beer and tried to sum up some of the feelings.  It feels like it will take some time to process.  My plane started boarding and we said our goodbyes.  I was in the last group to board and close to the last person in line.  When I got to the gate my QR code rejected.  Furious typing ... what's wrong?  Boarding pass looks fine, not on manifest.  Not on the manifest because Leo is a day early!

The Camino puts you in a time warp.  It's hard to book places because dates don't mean anything.  Dates are confusing on the Camino.

I was at the airport day early because several weeks ago in a Camino time warp I thought I had two days in Santiago.  Tom was laughing at me on WhatsApp.  I checked and double checked.  Yes, I was a day early.

Not wanting to go through another Santiago farewell scene I thought I would just lay low and stay near the airport.  I booked a decent place within a 40 minute walk along a freeway to the airport.  Realizing the hotel was almost on the Camino I thought maybe I could see Eddie, Renae and Zeanna if they were walking by in the morning.  Eddie messaged his location on a map and it was next door to my hotel.  I checked in and walked over to their albergue.

I saw Tom and Kira and Thomas from Stuttgart.  Eddie, Renae and Zeanna had a dinner planned and I drank wine while they ate.  I invited them back to my hotel for desert while I ate.  It was so good to see them after so many weeks.  They are my favorite Camino people.  Yes, Zeanna, I said that.

So it turned out the missing day was a good thing and I'm going to put it in the Camino miracle list. 

Day 30+1 - Santiago

Today was different.  I woke at 6 as usual and didn't know what to do.  I went down to the hotel breakfast at 7:30 and spent a long time reading the news and drinking coffee.  I wanted to see the Botafumeiro but is was hard wo find when it happened.  I didn't know what else to do so I went to the Pilgrim Mass at 9:30.  It was about half full in a large Catherdral and was just a regular mass in Spanish.

After I went out to a bright sunny day and saw young Max come into town.  I went to the Cahterdral square and looked for others I knew. I saw a sunny stone bench on the north side and sat down.  My body was fine walking around but everytime I stopped things swelled up or stiffened up.  It felt like my body wanted to walk.  

I chatted with an Italian girl who had started on the Via de la Plata and switch to the Primitivo.  She was not done walking.

Through some WhatApps messaging I learned the Botafumeiro was at 11:40.  I headed back into the church and found it much more crowded than the earlier mass.  I talked briefly with Fergus and Tara.  I found a spot where I could see but not too far from a door I knew I could escape.  The Botafumeiro was pretty cool and even though there were many loud and clear announcements about no phones or cameras when the proceddings started the phones when up and the recording started.  I escaped  before the mass started ... hey, I did a mass already.

Robert messaged me to meet for lunch and I met him and Camilla.  Robert was a little rough from the night before but Camilla was delightful.  As we left lunch I ran into Jim and I said, "Beer?" and he said "Yes!".  The first sidewalk cafe we found featured our Colorado friends.  We had a few drinks and then walked around the Cahterdral square before heading back to out hotels for a little rest.

I had to wash my pants and shirt to get the pork chop from lunch that I dropped on my lap out.  A little lie down was nice too.

Jim messaged me and we where back to the sidewalk cafe where we found and joined Boti, Thomas and Fergus.  We were looking for Wayne and Angela for dinner.  Jim went off to find them and I drank with the boys.   A bunch of beers later I got a message from Jim and went to met them for dinner.  It was there I found that Becky was missing because she had been ravaged by bedbugs in an albergue that only she had stayed in and had to go to the hospital.  Yuck!

Dinner was great and for the first time in a long time I got more food than I could eat.  After dinner we headed our separate ways and I immediately ran into Boti on his own.  We got drinks until Fergus messaged and we joined a larger group.  A good bunch I had seen but only a few I knew well.  After that group broke up Fergus, Boti and I went to another place and closed it down.  Strange that in a country that doesn't have dinner until 10pm the bars all close at midnight.

I said goodbye to guys I may never see again but feel like I got to know pretty well.  Today was  strange day.  It may take some time to process.

Day 30 - Arzua to Santiago

Last night I had dinner with Tom at my hotel early and dinner was done early.  I had a 5am alarm and was out the door a few minutes after 6.  Walking out of town a Korean guy I had talked to once or twice caught me.  We walked together for a km or two and talked about the Halloween disaster in Seoul, Elon Musk, Twitter and Tesla.

It was dark for almost two hours and I just walked in the pouring rain.  It rained until almost noon.  I passed closed cafe after closed cafe.  Finally about 9am I found an open one and had a coffee and a Napalitano.   I was encountering very few pilgrims.  The rain made it easy to focus on walking.  I sometimes ducked for cover when a bad downpour happened.  An Australian cyclist and I had a brief chat under an awning while a girl that was at the cafe I stopped at ducked under a tree nearby.  Later I passed her and declared, "It's a beautiful day!". She laughed at that.

I walked paying very little attention to anything other than my feet.  One for in front of the other.  Just before noon after walking 6 hours in the rain, the sun poked out. What a boost.

I stopped at a bar and got a tuna empanada, coffee and coke.  I sat in the sunshine drying out and chatting with people at other tables.  I actually started to dry out a bit.  For some reason walking in the rain makes your clothes really, really stink.  Must be steaming in a jacket or under the pancho.

As I left I realized I had no stamps for the day - you need two a day on the last 100km.  I got a stamp and realized this bar was called the 15km Bar.  I was on the last 15!

At that point I put on some music and just walked.  I didn't care what my feet complained about.  I was good with finishing on bloody stumps.  It was a countdown where I tried not to look at the markers.

Coming into Santiago I was listening to music and getting a bit emotional.  Coming into town I saw a few people I knew.  The Mexican couple that passed me every day since day 1 when I got out before them, we congratulated each other.  I saw Laurel, the American girl who had been in town for two days.  I finally reached the Cathedral square and it was done.  I took some selfies. Then I congratulated the Brazilian couple I passed every day since day 1.

Then I headed over to the pilgrim office and got my Compestela.  It was over.  Leaving the office I saw Tom and waited for him since he owed me a beer which we had.  He said meetup at 7 in the Cathedral square and we headed to our hotels. 

Did I mention things really stink in the rain?  My jacket was unwearable but I needed it for the chill here in Santiago on Halloween.  I had to give it a quick wash.  I had a nice hot bath.  I can't remember the last time I had a bath.  It was nice.

At 7 a small group gathered and we went to a restaurant and the group became bigger.  There was Thomas from Germany, Boti, Fergus, Ilene - who I tried to interest in one of my 3 sons, some French I don't rember their names, Sabastion from Switzerland sort of, ... It ended up being 17 at our table and there were some other tables.

After dinner we broke up into smaller groups looking for good bars.  I ended up in an Irish bar with Boti, Thomas and Fergus.  After two beers standing my bed started calling.  This is the latest I've stayed up in a month.  Time for bed.

Day 29 - Palas de Rei to Arzua

The daylight savings time change happened last night so I was up before the alarm, started walking at 7am and it was light about an hour later.  That was a nice change.  It was also not raining which was even better.

This is rolling farm land and you end up doing a fair bit of climbing during the day but it is spread out so it's not bad.  The paths are good and we are not on the roads too much unless they are the very narrow paved roads that connect the little hamlets.  There is very little traffic on them.

I stopped for coffee in a little hamlet and as I was leaving Geo, Yaz and Kat came by.  They didn't know about the time change and thought it was just a nicer day.  It was a nice day but after the last few the standard is low.

Later while sitting on a rock wall taking a quick break and getting the rocks out of my shoes, Jim passed.  He's too fast for me.

Melide was a good sized town and I took a coffee and sandwich there.  It marked the halfway point and I knew I needed a distraction the rest of the day so I got the earbuds out.

Most of the rest of the day I listened to music which made me forget my feet. I watched the country side roll by to a 2010's soundtrack.  At one point I may have been dancing a bit and a few minutes later a young guy passed me and gave me a big smile.

The second half of the day seemed much shorter and soon I was in Arzua.  My hotel is one of the first on the way into town, so I haven't seen Arzua at all.  English Tom pinged me on WhatsApp and we are planning to meet for dinner.  We are both planning early nights and very early starts.