Sunday, June 7, 2009

Camino Day 22 to Santiago

Finally, it happened...a day when it rained most of the time...our last day of walking.

We had our best Pilgrim dinner the night before our last day at O Acivro, our delightful, and final, casa rural. The primero course was crepes and the secundo...veal. The chef really knew how to cook and present food...even the creme fraiche with cherries for dessert. Yum as they say in Spanish.

We walked in a heavy downpour twice during the day and arrived in Santiago, 14 or so miles after leaving O Acivro, still in our ponchos. We are staying in a monastery...thank you Phyllis for the recommendation. We got in about 1:00. It is just what a monastery ought to look like...sort of similar to a 60´s dorm. Perfect for transitioning from the Camino to real life again...nice slow changes.

The guide books predicted "hoards" of pilgrims for the final 15 kilometers into Santiago, but they did not materialize in the rain. We saw some students from Ohio, and talked to Irish pilgrims, and met our first canine pilgrim, carrying his water and food in a doggy backpack... but mostly had the trails to ourselves. Initially the trail was in winding eucalyptus woods, then it became more citified as we walked around the airport, under the landing lights, and into the outskirts of Santiago. Still a good walk and we didn´t really mind the rain much.

After resting we went to the official Pilgrim Office and got our certificate of completion...our Compostela. That meant about 30 munites of waiting, but not bad. We wandered around briefly in the rain and then found a local bar to duck into, thinking of Meg and Steve and Prague cold.

A good day, but we are sorry that the walking is over.

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