Amenal to Santiago

We started our last day on the Camino in the rain, which intensified as the day went on. We reached Santiago about 1 PM, standing in the plaza mayor in front of the cathedral, trying to grasp that we had finally made it. We had wanted to see the cathedral from the hill above Santiago, as seen in the movie The Way, but it was far too stormy and foggy to see much of anything.

the tunnel approach the church in Santiago — bagpipes wailing

in front of the church

We made it!

We went to the Pilgrim’s Office to get our certificate of completion. On the application we needed to indicate whether our reasons for walking were religious, spiritual, or other. I marked other. The lady questioned me further, and I described my motivation as philosophical and psychological. The lady told me, “Certainly there must be at least a little spiritual motivation in there somewhere.” I agreed to that, and they printed up my certificate in Latin.

We are treating ourselves to a night at the Parador, a 500 year old hotel directly across from the Cathedral. Everything in our room is antique except the beds and the bathroom facilities. We must have been quite a sight, three wet and tired walkers with backpacks standing in the reception room dripping water onto the marble floor. They gave us a hefty peregrino discount. The deep bathtub was warm and comforting after days in the rain.

We keep running into people we hiked with earlier on the Camino and others we’ve met recently. We had hot chocolate and churros with a Dutch hiker friend, and when we came out, it was raining even harder, and there were no pilgrims finishing up in the square before the cathedral.

Sjokje made it too!

lounging in the Parador

other friends that completed the Camino

Karen and Skokie

Robert made it too! That’s happiness!

     We toured the interior of the Cathedral. I looked at the tomb of St. James, or more accurately the tomb identified by the Catholic Church as belonging to St. James. I wondered briefly if it could indeed be the tomb of somebody with tremendous life force, but if that were so, I did not feel it emanating from the tomb. That could be because the person in the tomb is a Gallicean farmer of no particular distinction, or it could be my own limitation in being able to sense the deeper truths, despite them being right in front of me. I suspect the former, but I am biased, I admit.