So Close to Santiago!

We are in Palas de Rei this evening and we will be in Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday afternoon.  It is hard to believe we are so close.

Our walk through Galicia has been incredibly beautiful.  The area is know for its rain, but the weather has been warm and sunny for us so far.  It is an area of hills, wildflowers and farms (we worry much more about cow pies than mud when we are walking).  Everywhere we turn, crosses have been erected along the way.  Some are very old (14th-16th century) and some are new (yesterday).

We have had some interesting food experiences here.  One of the local foods is octopus or, as it is known here, pulpo.  It is so good!  Rabbit is also common and while Tom likes rabbit, I have trouble eating Peter.  The other day I ordered an empanada for lunch.  This is a thin pie that is usually filled with cheese, meat and sauce.  I thought mine was filled with chicken.  Weirdly, the chicken had bones -- lots of small bones -- including a jaw bone with teeth (discovered by Tom)!  Yikes!  We had lots of very unappetizing speculation about what exactly the meat in the empanada was until Jacob (who speaks fluent Spanish), asked the bar owner and was told that it was ... rabbit.  So sad but better than some of our speculation!

I have mixed feelings about the end of our journey.  On the one hand I think we will feel an incredible sense of accomplishment and a huge sense of joy when we finally walk up to the Cathedral in Santiago.  I try to imagine the euphoria and I cannot!  We are so looking forward to arriving with all the people we have been walking with.  I know we will meet some people we have walked with who have gotten ahead of us and I am looking forward to seeing them again.  We will go to the mass for pilgrims with many of our fellow walkers on Thursday which is Asencion Day.  Since it is a holiday we are hopeful that the priests will swing the huge sensor during the service.  I get emotional anytime I think of our arrival.  I am not sure I believed I could walk 800 km.  I know that I did not let myself think about finishing the Camino until recently.  I have concentrated on experiencing each day.

On the other hand, finishing means that we will have to return to the real world of cares and responsibilities,  a world of inequities and inequalities.  While we have walked we have been freed from all of these concerns.  I wrote before about the incredible feeling of knowing that our only task each day is to walk.  In addition we will leave the wonderful people we have come to know so well as we have walked.  I know we will keep in touch with some of these folks.  But we will lose track others who touched our walk as soon as we leave Santiago.


Buen Camino,

Liz