Life Is A Pilgrimage

The bells in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela have just rung to announce the Sunday evening mass. We have arrived. My feet ache, I am tired, if I never see my backpack again it will be too soon, and I am a little bit sad. I am also very thankful, and more than a little bit amazed, that we made it.

It was hard to get up and moving this morning, again I think that this is the accumulation of fatigue that one night's rest, no matter how good, can purge from your system. Nonetheless, we were on the road walking before 6:30 in an effort to get the Pilgrim's Mass in Santiago by noon, some 12 miles away. After a brief stop for coffee, a roadside bathroom break, and a couple of pauses to put on rain gear and take off rain gear...twice, we found ourselves at Monte do Gozo, the Mountain of Joy, about 10:30.

Monte do Gozo is named so because it was the point at which medieval pilgrims got their first glimpse of Santiago and it's cathedral. For this modern-day pilgrim, it was a bit of a disappointment. There are a bunch of cedar trees blocking the view and a herd of people decked out in ancient Aztec Indian costumes (complete with giant headdresses) were forming up to march in to the city, playing guitars and blowing what sounded like hunting horns and burning copious amounts of incense. We did not want to have to fight that ruckus all the way in, so after a very short stop to give our feet a breather, we took off for the final three miles in to the cathedral.

Those last three miles fairly flew, though we did have to battle the marching Aztecs, a herd of 6-year old boys out for a Sunday morning stroll, presumedly with their families, and even more rain. I think Mom was bound and determined that we would be at the Cathedral by noon. We were there by 11:30, which makes think it must not quite be three miles.

Arriving was a bit anticlimactic. The Cathedral, not surprisingly, faces a giant square, and I had imagined it would be quite cathartic to enter the square and have the cathedral facing you, larger than life. But, you don't enter the square that way. You enter by the side of the cathedral, and in fact, we went directly into the Pilgrim's Door of the cathedral to try and get a seat for mass. Our seats ended up being on the steps into the nave, along with 1,500 other people. Mass was...mass, with a nice Italian singing group, a nun with a beautiful singing voice...and those blasted Aztecs, who were pilgrims who had come from Mexico, or something. We were were hoping to see the giant censer, called a botafumeiro, swung to delouse the pilgrims in medieval times, but they did not trot it out for this service. Once they stated serving communion we snuck out. We figured that watching two priests try to serve community ion to a thousand people would be about as meaningful as sitting through the name calling at a very large graduation. By the way, do you know how hard it is to sneak out of a church service with a 30-lb. backpack, hat, and walking stick? Andy, I will not be trying this at Conejo next Sunday, though if you do have need of an Aztec processional, I've got that covered.

I did appreciate that in the homily, the priest told the pilgrims that they had not reached the end of the Camino, that all of our lives are a pilgrimage. A bit cliche perhaps, but very, very true.

We checked in to our hotel, which is the medieval pilgrim hostel adjoining the cathedral, and is the oldest hotel in the world still in use for it's original purpose. It's also a 5-star Parador, which was of much greater interest to me at this point. I took quite possibly the most wonderful shower of my life, and we treated ourselves to a nice lunch in the hotel restaurant. I had scallops for my first course, and they were served on the half-shell, something I had never experienced. They were also served with something that looked like it might have had antennae (sea slug?), but I was too tired to care, so I violated Brian's Rules of Food #2 and ate it anyway. It was quite appropriate, since the symbol of the Camino de Santiago is the scallop shell. I then allowed myself a 2-hour siesta, a rare luxury that may make it difficult to sleep tonight.

I am still processing what all this means, what I wanted to share some initial reflections on the completion of my journey:

1) I am different. I don't exactly know how, perhaps in a number of different ways that won't be apparent for some time. I feel that my faith in God and fellow man has been renewed and refreshed.

2) I will miss the lifestyle of the Camino: wake, walk, eat, rest, relax, meet and talk with strangers, repeat.

3) I am looking forward to re-engaging my "normal life" with a new appreciation for my blessings, my obligations, my strengths and my weaknesses as a person.

4) I hope to be a "better" person, however that manifests.

I also have some initial thoughts on what I would do on the Camino a second time, if there were to be one:

1) Pack less: three changes of clothes, no sleeping sack or pillow, fewer toiletries, and less electronic crap. I would bring an extra pair of socks, and a long-sleeve something.

2) Do not try to cover more than fifteen miles a day consistently. At an average speed of 2.5 mph, this is 6 hours of walking. If that doesn't sound very fast, remember that includes stops, there is ALWAYS terrain to deal with, and you're carrying a pack. Any more, and you cut short time to recuperate for the next day, nor do you focus on much of anything except walking. This is not the point of Camino.

3) Weather and time are your enemies, not distance. See #2 above - if you walk more than six hours you begin to get in to the hot part of the day, and the amount of time spent on your feet is far more fatiguing than the distance you walk.

4) ideally, you should rest a day in seven, or at least one in ten. Having an extra day to not walk makes an enormous difference to body and soul.

5) Reservations along the way take the stress off "where will I sleep tonight" and make the whole experience much more enjoyable. Unless you want to be constantly worried about guarding your stuff, do not plan to stay in albergues. Plus, some of the best experiences we've had were getting to know the owners of the pensiones, Casa rurales, and small private hotels.

I think I will leave off there for now, and process some more. I have included pictures of today's walk, and Santiago for you. I can't tell you how much it means that you've followed me on this part of my life's pilgrimage, and I hope that one day you experience a similar journey of body and mind and spirit.