2012-10-08 Monday

2012-10-08 Monday

O Pedrouzo / Santiago de Compostela

Camino day 31: Just 20 Km to go!

We woke up to a rainy day. The forecast is for heavier rain in the morning, tapering off after 1200, with occasional rain in the afternoon. During our breakfast at 0730 we debated what to do: go out in the rain? Wait until after noon? Paulo suggested we just go by bus - suggestion immediately rejected. I suggested we all send our packs so we could walk faster, but Terry said he will carry his pack, which made the issue moot, if one carries the pack the others will reduce speed, we all wanted to  walk together into Compostela. Finally, we settled to wait until 1000, hopefully the rain would diminish by then, and then reconsider the issue. 

Gunther called Dieter to inform him that we had decided to postpone departure until 1000 at the earliest, but Dieter did not want to wait, he was eager to get going, and went out in the rain, by himself. 

I think everybody else was antsy to depart, because at 0900, I was comfortable seated in the living room reading the news on my iPhone, when Nancy came in to tell me that everybody else was suited up and ready to go. I quickly put on my rain pants and rain jacket, put the rain cover on my pack, and joined the others to start the walk under a light rain. Jeovan had already departed 10 minutes earlier, he was walking with a stiff knee and said he needed the head start. 

It was miserable walking under the light rain, everything gray and cold, I quickened up the pace to get faster to the first rest stop, about 8 Km away. Going faster got me warmer and reduced the time in the rain. I gradually distanced from the others, eventually I reaching Jeovan; I reduced my pace for a while, to keep him company, he was walking slower, with a stiff knee. When he stopped for a nature call I kept going, resuming my fast pace. I got to the first bar ahead of the others, and waited for the rest to arrive having my usual "cafe con leche." The bar was jam packed, people jostling for the seats, everybody wanted a respite from the rain.

Terry was the first to depart the bar, I was next, but soon I overtook him. It continued to rain on and off, I continued to walk by myself and again reached the rest stop ahead of the others and waited for their arrival. By then the rain had stopped, and we were able to sit at outside tables, avoiding the crowded bar room. I was the first to head out, but Paulo soon joined me and we walked together for a while, at a fast pace, distancing from the others. We began to came across some of our acquaintances that had left O Pedrouzo earlier than us, and Paulo slowed down to chat with each group. He enjoys talking to everybody, but I kept going, and soon I was well ahead, walking by myself again. 

When I began the ascend of the Mount of Joy ( "Monte do Gozo"), that got this name for the happiness pilgrims of earlier times felt when they first saw the Cathedral from the top of the mountain, a thick fog formed quickly, enveloping the mountain, visibility dropped to less than 150 feet. I kept the pace up while focusing in making sure I did not miss any of the yellow arrows marking the way. I reached the first bar near the mountain top, our third and final stop before Santiago, the bar was small and completely full, with some people drinking their coffee standing up outside in the mist, so I kept going, my guide showed another bar just ahead. The second one was not as crowded, I went in, saw Maude, the young French-Canadian, at a table and I joined her after placing my order for "cafe con leche." I kept a lookout for the others and called Paulo in when I saw him walk by. We both stayed in the bar, with an eye out for the others, and after waiting for quite a while, we concluded that they must have stopped at the first bar, and we departed to the top of Mount of Joy, where there's a monument and a chapel. We stamped our credentials at the chapel, took some pics of the monument still enveloped in fog, we barely could see the huge monument, much less the Cathedral down in the valley. We hung in there to wait for the rest of our group, greeting the arriving acquaintances. When one hour passed since I had stopped at the bar, we concluded that the rest of the group must have bypassed us without us seeing there, and we decided to march down to Compostela. I called Gunther's phone in an attempt to reach the others, but it was turned off. 

Paulo and I walked down the mountain together, went through the suburbs, towards the city center and the Cathedral. When we were about 15 minutes away, Gunther called me, they had reached the Cathedral, they had stopped at the first bar and then went ahead to Santiago, thinking that Paulo and I were ahead of them. They did not check the second bar or the monument on top of the mountain, to see if we were there.

We caught up with Yvonne, the shaman, a few blocks before the Cathedral, and the three of us walked together, stopping to take some pics as we approached the Cathedral, and then walked into it's majestic front plaza. We arrived. The time was 1445. The walking part of the pilgrimage is over, what's left are the final rituals. I felt relief and happiness. Happiness for having accomplished my goal, for having completed the Camino with my friends; relief for all of us having arrived without major incidents or illness. We stood there for a moment, taking in all the sights, and the grandeur of the place.

Paulo and Erico

Paulo, Yvonne and Erico

We saw Terry and Nancy, and we went to the nearby Pilgrim's Office to present our dully stamped "credentials" showing our stops along the way, evidence of our walking the Camino, and received our "Compostelana," our certificate that we accomplished the pilgrimage. My Latin name is Ericum. 

Gunther and Jeovan were waiting for us at a sidewalk bar across the street from the Pilgrim's Office, and we all had a celebratory beer. We all returned to the front of the Cathedral for group pictures, and then went to our hotel, checked in and then Terry, Nancy, Jeovan, Paulo and I went out right away to have lunch, before the restaurants close for the siesta. Yvonne did not have hotel reservations, she came along with us to the  hotel and was able to get a room there.

The Gang of Four made it! Terry, Erico, Nancy and Paulo

Gunther, Nancy, Terru, Jeovan, Paulo and Erico

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of activity: we booked the overnight sleeper trains to Madrid for Tuesday evening. The ticketing agent wanted to put Nancy in a separate, woman's only cabin, I convinced her to put the four of us in the same cabin saying that we were a family. We booked a hotel in Madrid (very hard to find a hotel, Friday is a major holiday, Spain's National Day) and booked a van, with a driver, to take us to Finisterre tomorrow afternoon, at 1400. 

Terry and Nancy, as usual, did not want to go out in the evening to eat. Paulo, Jeovan and I did not want a full dinner, but Gunther did, so he went at 1930 to have dinner with Dieter; Paulo Jeovan and I would go out later to a bar to eat something light, and Gunther would join us for drinks after his dinner. 

We ended up finding a small bar, it was really a small cheese, ham and wine store with a bar in the back room. We ordered a platter of local cheeses and another of cold cuts and called this "dinner," all was washed down with good wine. Günther called when he finished his dinner and he joined us. We had a good time remembering our journey together, the challenges, funny moments, and the interesting (in many different ways) people we met. We ended the night with a round of "chupitos de orujo de cafe," shots of coffee liqueur.