Camino Final Chapter, A Walk with Ricky

 It was our last day walking the Camino.  Part of me, mostly my feet, wanted it to be over as fast as possible and part of me, the part that felt like it was finally experiencing the true spirit of the Camino, wanted it to go on a lot longer.  So it was with mixed emotions that I headed out that morning.  There may have also been another part of me, the part that was deflated when I saw yet another wet morning on the horizon, that was just "over it!".  With dry socks tucked away in my backpack and the best attitude I could muster up; I headed out that morning for the final walk.  

We wiped the mud of Pradron off our shoes and headed north.

Almost every church had a cemetery attached.
Staying close to God.

Each day on the Camino, I chose a group or groups of people to dedicate my prayers to while walking. With so many disconnected hours spent walking, there was plenty of time to pray...and it is, at the base, a religious pilgrimage. There were some groups, like my kids, siblings and Mom who got daily prayers but then there were also groups of people I focused on.  If you are reading this, I probably prayed for you at one point or another. This final day, I decided to pray for all of our family and friends who had passed away.  Sometimes I would just remember things about them, sometimes I would see things and think about how much they would love those same sights.  Sometimes I would pray for specific blessings for them.  Sometimes I would pray to them to help me make it up the next hill, or to take the pain of my aching toes off my mind or to just give me strength to make it to the end.  One prayer always led to another, and one thought always led to another.  I was also enjoying being "unplugged".  I had decided that while walking I would only use my phone as a camera.  I put it on mute and many days I kept it on Airplane Mode to save battery and avoid the temptation of checking any communications.  It led to a very peaceful time.

Look!  The rain stopped!

A peaceful walk

A church next to our morning coffee/bathroom stop.

So of course, we went inside!
A youth group was up front being told about the church.

A little way out of this town the youth group caught up to us.  It seemed that for the rest of the day we played cat and mouse with this group of teenagers.  Either they were passing us, or we were passing them.  Youth and energy abounded...and honestly, I was a little irritated if I must confess.  Here I was being all contemplative and just trying to get through the day and these kids were just...having fun and being kids.  How dare they!  One funny story...at one point they said, "Buen Camino" to TJ who was passing them and the thing to do was to say it back, but TJ had not heard them because he had taken out his hearing aids due to the rain.  I was a bit behind the group and saw one of the kids turn around to his friends and make a face and throw up his hands at TJ's ignoring them and they all snickered and joined in the mocking.  I just had to come to his defense and told them, "He can't hear you", implying he was deaf or at least very hard of hearing, which he is, at which point they apologized.  I knew they were good kids...or at least normal kids.

One or two rain showers later, I passed one of the groups of kids and was trying to get far enough ahead of them to have some space when I heard the sound of someone listening to YouTube or TikTok on their phone.  Up to this point, I had not heard anyone playing music or listening to anything out loud on the Camino.  I am sure people listen to stuff on their ear pods, but no one played anything out loud.  I thought to myself, "really?!" and kept walking.  It continued and I tried to listen and figure out what it was.  It sounded like comedy or a skit since there was a lot of talking then laughing.  I figured the kids were watching a video or something...and I listened.  It was in English; they were Spanish speaking.  Hmmm.  I listened more.  It was Ricky Gervais!  I thought to myself, "of all the irreverent things to listen to on the Camino... Ricky Gervais?!!".  I also wondered how these Spanish speaking kids were listening to and understanding Ricky Gervais.  Their English must be better than I thought.  Then two guys, late 20's or early 30's passed me and I thought to myself, "Ah, it must be they who are disrespecting the Camino with their Ricky Gervais" and figured at least once they passed me up the irreverent comedy would be out of earshot.  But it wasn't. Mind you, I like Ricky, but there is a time and place for everything.  At that point, I decided to look at my phone for some reason.  To my utter horror and mortification, on my muted-airplane-mode phone, was Ricky Gervais Live playing for all the Camino to hear!!!  I have never pushed "stop" faster in my life!  I wanted to crawl in a hole!  OK God...message heard, loud and clear!  "Judge not, lest ye be judged!"  Talk about getting a smack down!  It took Ricky Gervais in my pocket to get that message through my hard head. I immediately asked for forgiveness for throwing those kids and the two guys under my Ricky Gervais bus of judgement! 

 I still am mystified by how Ricky Gervais Live started randomly playing, out loud... from my phone... in my pocket.  Yes, I did watch his live show on Netflix...months ago.  Why didn't my pocket play The Great British Baking Show instead?  Just think of all the pocket punches that had to happen to get it to play again, I did, and it was mind boggling.  I also need to give a disclaimer as to why it probably took me longer to figure out where the sound was coming from.  I am deaf in my right ear.  My phone was in my right pocket.  I don't hear in stereo, I only hear from the left, which made me think Ricky was swearing and telling irreverent jokes from somewhere on my left side, not from my right pocket!  Ugh...I was so mortified!  I feel like I owe all of those people an apology. I sure hope God has a sense of humor too, because it really was funny in a slap your head kind of way.  Needless to say, the rest of my day was spent walking in humility!

Only 4.7km left!!!

We were wishing they all looked like this!

Why is it that last bit seems like it takes the longest?  We hit more rain, of course, and decided to stop for lunch with about 8 km to go. We were getting close!  At lunch we aired out our soaked feet and put on our dry socks for the final trek.  With our bellies full and our socks dry, we set off for the final leg.  Less than 5km/3.1 miles to walk which I continued to equate with one of my easy morning walks.  This perspective helped me along the Way because I knew I could walk that far at any time.  It felt like it took forever.  We could see our destination in the distance but first we had to walk through neighborhoods, parks, past schools and into the city.  Once in the city the bottom dropped out and it poured!  I mean, poured!  So much for those dry socks we put on at lunch.  We were soaked to the bone.  We kept going dodging getting splashed by the passing buses and cars.  City walking was very different than country walking.

The time we had to seek shelter in a doorway.
Nobody but us silly pilgrims on the road.

Santiago de Compostela
Old Town....we must be getting close!

It was with unexpected tears in my eyes that I entered the area in front of the Cathedral.  I was overcome with emotion...and exhaustion.  One of the other reasons for my tears was that for the entire day I felt very close to my dad, in prayers and thoughts.  He had very limited physical abilities towards the end of his life and for some reason, my ability to do this Camino made me so thankful for my legs, my feet and my capable body.  All things that he did not have at the end of his life, and I knew they were things he dearly missed.  I carried him with me, because I could.  This day definitely hit me with a few surprises!

The Santiago Cathedral

We did it!!!

Both our friends, Rick and Patty and we finished our Camino segment of 100 km.  In all, we probably walked closer to 110 or 120 km, but who is counting?  I am!!!  We took the obligatory photos in front of the Cathedral and then made our way to the passport office to get our Compostela.  I was so proud and regardless of the length of the line, I was going to get that piece of paper!  Turns out, 4 people constitute a "group" and we got to skip the line and go to a "group" office which was much faster to get our certificates.  I was chosen to fill out our information on the computer and the hardest part was choosing our professions...listed in Spanish.  Basically, we are all retired but that was not a choice.  Some choices were easy, "artista" which I assigned to Patty, "technical" which I assigned to TJ.  Rick and I were not as easy.  I clicked something with the word "professional" in the title...hope it wasn't wrestler!  I have no idea what the Compostela office thinks my profession is!  Something to do with "casa"...there was not a "mother of 4, wanna be photographer and golfer, loud player of irreverent humor on the Camino" choice.  With our beautiful papers safely tucked away in their tubes, we proudly and with great relief, made our way to our hotel.  

Santiago is a place I would love to visit again.  We only spent one night there and really enjoyed the old town shops and restaurants.  We ate to our hearts content that night.  After all, it had been a 20+ mile day, we earned it!  Dinner was delicious!  The next morning, we experienced the icing on the cake!  We attended Mass at the Cathedral.  We arrived an hour early!  We had been told it was necessary to get a seat, and maybe it was.  The Mass was lovely and the countries of all the pilgrims who had finished the previous day were named at one point in the Mass.  It was touching.  But...the reason for the crowd, and a most unique experience, was when they lit and swung the botafumeiro (incense burner) and sent it into motion.  A once in a lifetime experience.  Share the experience below.

Would I do it again?  Yes.  Rain and all!  

Take aways from the Way.

-There is something so peaceful and contemplative about getting up every morning and knowing that all you have to do is walk until you get there.

- The Camino is the great equalizer.  We are all just putting one foot in front of the other and hoping to get there.

-There is something to be said for extended quiet time spent in nature.  

-  I cannot say how thankful I am for the patience of my husband and for his help in my rehabilitation post-surgery and his encouragement along the way.

- I am also thankful for my body.  It carried me through and amazed me this year.  There were definitely times I thought this was not even a possibility.  

-Spain is beautiful and the people are wonderful.  Does not hurt that the prices were the most affordable of our entire trip.  

-You will not melt.  We were rained on more times than I can count on this trip.  At the end of the day, you will not melt, and your shoes will eventually dry.

-The Camino is a microcosm of life.  We are all on the same path, doing it differently and at our own pace, faced with our own obstacles and advantages.  

I am sure there are many more lessons that will make themselves obvious as time goes on.   I knew the aching feet would be fleeting but the experience will last forever.  It was a blessing and a privilege to walk the Way of St. James.  

The Middle, Camino Part 2

Day 3 of our Camino was when we really started to feel the Camino spirit.  We had spent the night in Pontevedre, an absolutely lovely town we had the pleasure of exploring between rain showers, rest time and meals.  We were now in the rhythm of waking up, getting ready, packing our bags that had to be at the front desk by 8 a.m., eating breakfast and hitting the road.  Apparently, hundreds of other pilgrims were also on the same schedule.  We had our first experience of a mass exodus that morning as we all crossed the bridge and walked through the town and eventually spread out into the countryside.  Sooo many pilgrims, of all ages, wearing various types of rain gear, carrying everything from all of their possessions for the entire Camino to the most minimal crossbody bag.  We jockeyed into our comfortable position eventually...the middle.  It turned out to be a pretty good day.

Morning traffic on the Camino

I found myself wondering where all of the pilgrims had been hiding.  It did not seem like there were that many people in town...where were they all?  By not staying in communal albergues, we did not see the crowds.  One woman I chatted with said she had started the French Camino and bailed after she could never find a room because there were so many pilgrims on that path.  She came down to Porto to do the Portugues Camino instead.  She said she was pleased with her decision.  I must say I have a lot of respect for the women who venture out on the Camino solo.  I am not sure I could or even would do it.  

The day began dark and dreary.  We had a bit of rain but not too bad, until the half hour drenching.  Imagine getting rained on while it is already about 99% humidity and a bit warm.  We were sweating on the inside of our rain gear and soaked on the outside.  This was the day I was very thankful for the pair of dry socks in a ziploc bag in my backpack.  I just knew walking in wet shoes and socks was going to result in blisters and I did not need blisters.  My toes were already bruised from the constant walking.  The good news is that about halfway through the day the weather improved dramatically!  We were treated to some of the most scenic and beautiful paths of the entire Camino.  We herded sheep!  We talked to cows.  We walked through grapevine arbors.  For TJ and I it was one of our favorite days.  I think our friends would not say the same.  They were hurting.  Between the sore feet, the hurting backs and hips from sleeping on rock hard beds not to mention the constant state of being wet from either sweat or rain, their stamina was waning.  But we all did as you do on the Camino.  We just put one foot in front of the other until you get to where you are going.

The muddy trail after the drenching rain.

One of the stops along the way and the point I decided walking the Camino
is a lot like a day or a week skiing.

A stone cross along one of the flattest paths we walked.

One of my favorite parts of the day, walking through grapevine arbors.
Oh...and the blue sky!

Herding sheep along the way!

The day ended in Caldas des Reis.  We quickly found a place for lunch along the river and ordered to our heart's content.  We were hungry!  Again, we had to call a taxi to take us to our accommodations.  The accommodations were amazing!  Set along a river and top notch.  There were not many people staying there, maybe 20.  The rooms were lovely, and the beds were super comfortable for those of us who were suffering from the hard mattresses.  The best thing was that there was a section of the river diverted onto the property and formed a waterfall into their pool.  That beautiful cold water provided TJ and I with some much appreciated and needed ice therapy.  At dinner that night we sat next to our new friends Maria and Juan from that morning in Pontevedra.  We were making Camino friends as we chatted at the large table that night at dinner.  

This was my favorite place along the way...
and the most comfortable bed!

A river runs next to it...

And through it!
Yes, that is my husband under the falls...freezing!

And me, icing my aching knees and feet!

The next morning was...wet.  I also began the day behind everyone.  I woke up late (I'm blaming the comfortable bed), they were ready to go much earlier than I was, so I was scrambling to leave.  This place is also the new home of one of my adapters due to my scrambling.  I ended up spending the entire day...behind everyone and wet.  I just never caught up.  We left with the hordes of other fools/pilgrims who left early.  The closer to Santiago de Compostella you get, the more pilgrims there seem to be.  Also, most of the people staying in albergues leave early so they can make their next destination early enough to get a bed.  Our beds were guaranteed on our Camino Light.  I walked wearing my raincoat, which I was very thankful I packed and am vowing to burn once I get home because I have never gone on a trip and experienced more rain than this one....it must be cursed!  I also wore a rain poncho over everything to cover my backpack and provide extra protection.  It was brutal.  We walked through a National Forest, up and down some steep, muddy trails.  At one point it was so dark in the forest it seemed like night.  It would have been very spooky if I had been alone, but there were many other pilgrims.  I was very thankful once we got out of the forest.   The forest and the challenging hills gave me plenty of opportunities to pray, because at the end of the day, I was wet, sore and struggling to keep up but in the grand scheme of life, these were mere transient inconveniences when so many others in our world suffer from permanent health challenges.  I had nothing to whine about and just kept moving forward.

This was a day we decided to stop for lunch along the way.  We needed a break!  We stopped at an aptly named lunch place, Buen Camino.  I had to best Galacian soup ever!  Warm with chorizo and kale? or cabbage? in a delicious broth!  It again reminded me of lunch stops when we are skiing.  Everyone burns a lot of energy in the morning skiing and battling the cold and then at lunch everyone piles into a restaurant for warm food to keep us going for the rest of the day.  It was that same feeling except instead of cold we were wet!  Similar level of exertion and exhaustion.

After lunch we happened upon a woman who was part of a larger group that we had seen all along our Way and always greeted when we saw each other.  She referred to us as her "Vigo friends".  We walked with her for about an hour and she just talked and talked.  I decided she was one of the reasons I made it through that day.  Listening to her for an hour made the time fly by!  Thank you "Vigo friend"!  Before I knew it, the rain had subsided, and we were closing in on our destination for the night.  Padron.  Famous for Padron peppers which are served roasted with salt and are delicious.

That night we had drinks and dinner with our new friends Maria and Juan and their friends from Australia, Steve and Cheryl.  It was also Maria's birthday, so we celebrated together!  Back in our rooms, our soaked shoes, socks and clothes were scattered around drying...we hoped!  We all went to bed that night praying for better weather and in disbelief that tomorrow would be our last day!  We might just be able to do this!

At least 6 miles of this today.

And then prayers were answered at the end of the day!
The sun came out!

I hope they dry by morning!!!
This had become a nightly ritual.