Day 27: We made it to Santiago!

We finally made it to Santiago to Compostela! Jess and I were waylaid a for a few days at a town 20km from Santiago for health reasons, but we are recovered and we finally completed the first part of the pilgrimage to Santiago.

ALSO, we saw the botafumeiro, aka the massive incense burner! Someone paid for it to be swung today, either a group of Germans or the couple who celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary at the mass.  It was amazing and I have to admit that I squealed with glee when the botafumeiro swung by my head and looked like it was going to hit the ceiling.

The entire mass of almost 1000 people (pilgrims plus tourists) applauded when the swinging came to an end. The priest scolded everyone by saying, that he hoped the applause was for the wonders of God and not for the incense burner which is not meant to be a spectacle but an act of prayer....

However, that massive swinging silver rocket full of burning coals and incense is most certainly a spectacle.

Jess and I are off tomorrow for our 75km walk to Finnisterre or the End of the World. We will come back to Santiago to spend 2 more nights here on June 10th and 11th. On that day we will get our Compostela and hug the stature of Santiago and light candles.

Wish us luck. The next time I post, Jess and I will have walked over 450 miles!

Many exclamation marks today because I am very happy!

Day 22 or something like that of the Camino de Santiago

Leaving O Cebreiro to go to Samos

It has been an intense few days of walking on the camino. Since we found out that the huge incense burner, the botafumeiro, swings on Sunday, we are racing to Santiago. Either 2 or 3 days ago we walked 32km from the mountain town of Cebreiro to Samos, which houses one of the largest monasteries in Western Europe. The last 5 miles of the walk to Samos was a path lined with an ancient stone wall, chestnut trees, and a river on our left side. The walk was hot, but pleasant with the sound of running water to accompany us. Sadly the monastery only houses 12 to 17 monks at the moment. Jess and I attended sung mass, the evening vespers, and then we celebrated a fellow peregrino's birthday.

The path to Samos

The Monastery

Jess in front of the church of the monastery

 Yesterday we walked 28.5km in the blazing sun, today we walked 33km to Melide. My legs are tired, my mind is tired, so I cannot promise much writing today. We are walking in Galicia which is beautiful and green, and I could take pictures every 2 minutes and not get tired of the view. It is foggy in the morning and has been incredibly hot in the afternoon. Jess and I look like twins on the camino because we bought matching off white long sleeve shirts to protect ourselves from the sun. 

Typical Galician farm town, where we did not find a cafe

Jess in front of a Galician cafe with the usual German Shepherd guard dog

This story to explains a typical day on the camino and attempts to demonstrate how deserted Galicia is. Our guide book marks the towns where pilgrims should be able to find a market, internet, coffee etc. Jess and I usually stop for coffee after we have walked for an hour.  The other morning, Jess and I felt motivated and walked 6 miles (2 hours) before stopping for coffee.  Our pilgrim's guide assured us that we would be able to find a cafe 10km into our walk. When we arrived to said town, we found...nothing. A barn, a dog, a few chickens, absolutely no cafe in sight. We consulted the guide book and ascertained that we would have to talk another 12km, or 10 plus miles to get coffee. We were feeling quite defeated. The day before this we had hiked up a mountain and our legs were still tired and needed coffee to fuel the muscles. After 3 minutes of feeling sorry for ourselves, we gave each other a pep talk that went something like this: We don´t need coffee. We can totally walk to the next cafe without caffeine. We are strong young women and tough pilgrims. And then we set off, or rather we trudged off. We walked another mile UP a LARGE hill, we really started to complain, and then miraculously we spotted a blue awning that promised a cafe! So our guide book was mistaken, but Galicia eventually produced a tiny cafe that served us 2 cortados (expresso with a touch of milk) and toast. 

The pilgrims after much needed coffee!

In front of a chestnut tree 

Tim and Jess resting at a albergue outside of Sarria

Overlooking the river at Pontomarin

Pilgrim torture: the stairs you have to climb to enter Portomarin...but check out those muscular legs

Enjoying Lays, Receta Campesina chips at lunch

Gothic cross-roads marker

Detail of the road marker: Virgin Mary holding Christ

Galician granary in the background