The two days walking from Ribadiso to Pedrouzo Arca, and then on to Santiago were basically typical, with beautiful views, thousands and thousands of eucalyptus trees, and a couple of gorgeous sunrises.
Ribadiso is such a large metropolis that there were two hostels available for sleeping and one café for eating. So we had lunch and dinner at the same café.
JOn our way to Santiago, we once again met Yama, the man from Tokyo, whom I mentioned earlier. I can no longer say “young man” because we found out during breakfast with him that he is actually 42 years old and not in his early 20s as we had wrongly presumed. We would meet him again in Santiago. He always had a huge smile on his face when he saw us because we think we might have been the only pilgrims with whom he interacted. He was clearly thrilled when we offered to treat him to breakfast and then later on to a beer.
We arrived in Santiago around noon on the 24th, the 13th day of our pilgrimage. The feelings that you experience upon arriving in front of the cathedral are almost overwhelming after days of climbing and descending mountains, meeting and making new friends, experiencing the physical and emotional highs and lows of the journey. It was especially energizing to welcome and be welcomed by those new friends as we all arrived within several hours of one another.
The previous two days (about which I did not have the opportunity or the internet to post anything) were very similar to the previous few days, with beautiful scenery, wonderful “rest stops” when re-connections with friends surprisingly occurred.
The first thing we did upon our arrival in Santiago was to go to the Office of Pilgrims to receive our official certificate to signify that we had completed our part of the Camino. We presented our “credential,” which is the official Camino booklet in which we had collected dozens of rubber stamps from churches, hostels, cafés, and so forth. For the final 100 km of the Camino, you must gather at least two stamps, “sellos” in Spanish, to receive your certificate. We had far more than that.
Every church, lodging, café, bar, or restaurant has its own unique rubber stamp. It was fun gathering as many as we could. In fact, we used up all the space in our original booklet and had to purchase a second one toward the end of our journey.
We have frequently talked about the marvelous “coincidences” of bumping into friends in the midst of large gatherings. That has been a special blessing.
For example, early on, we met an Asian mother and her nine-year/old daughter (I think I wrote of them earlier.) The daughter seemed tired and unhappy; but she perked up when she found out we were Americans. As we parted, I told her, “Be happy!” From then on, every time we saw them I asked her, “How are you?” and she always replied, “I’m happy.” We saw them this morning in a souvenir shop and we had the usual exchange. The mother told us that her daughter had asked ll morning where the two men were. A special memory.
Nine of us met for supper and celebration : Brother Ronnie and me, Peter and three young women also from Australia, Serv from Ireland, Oliver from Belgium, and Kate from Alexandria, VA. Lots of great memories were shared.
After supper we “ran the streets” with thousands of others, walking through a huge amusement park (think State Fair), listening to concerts, watching a fantastic fireworks display for 20 minutes, and bumping into friends. Peter, Oliver, and. I rode the largest Ferris wheel I’ve seen in many years. The two ticket-takers were from Senegal and knew of our school in Dakar. As we we waited to board the Ferris wheel, we spoke in French; and before we got into our car, I heard them tell the man at the controls to stop the wheel when we reached the top. And it happened. We stayed at the top for about three or four minutes and had the opportunity to take some great photos of the activities below us.
After a good night’s sleep, we were ready for a full day in Santiago. We went to the cathedral at 8:00 am, hoping to get into the church for the 1030 Mass, at which rumor had it that the king would be present. After waiting in line for over an hour, we found out that we would NOT be allowed into the cathedral because only dignitaries and about 100 ordinary folk were able to be present for the mass. So, we had breakfast instead. At the Pilgrim welcoming center, we found a medical person who was able to re-wrap Ronnie‘s hand. We then spent time walking through the city, dropping into souvenir shops, and greeting new friends in the streets. We were able to attend a 4 PM mass and had the incredible good fortune of waiting only three minutes to enter the cathedral.
At 5:30, we met Peter and Kate for what had become our favorite drink, a Tinto Verano, which is red wine with a sort of Sprite and lime juice. We were later joined by Gen, Ally, and female Peter. We left the group shortly after 8 o’clock to head for home. On the way I bought a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.
We returned to our lodging, finished repacking, and went to bed, thus ending our pilgrimage.
We left our login early Friday morning and walked 20 minutes to the train station. We left right on schedule for Madrid.