Santiago and beyond

Hello from some tiny village in Spain who´s name I can´t currently remember!!

It´s now day 12 (I think) on the Camino and what an insane 13 days it has been!!

I´ve walked through rain, sun and many blisters...made many friends, walked up and down and up and down countless hills, valleys, fields etc...and had probably gallons of wine at this point.

Oy vey!

It is so hard to try and encapsulate this insane journey but I´ll try.

I guess the most important thing of note is that I made it to the destination point of most pilgrims: Santiago de Compostella!! It was a glorious day walking into the city, after having walked through at least 3 days of rain. You can´t imagine the elation walking up to a cloudless brilliant day, knowing I was entering Santiago. It ended up to be an amazing reunion of so many of the pilgrims I had met and lost rack of over the previous days...it was like a giant pilgrim celebration and it seemed like everywhere I turned I bumped into someone I had travelled with. It was truly amazing.

The days leading up to the entrance into Santiago were suddenly packed with pilgrims as 3 main routes converged. After many days of walking with just a few, it was suddenly a party of walkers and every bar along the way was basically standing room only!! the air was full of anticipation and it was an exiting time leading up to the big day.

After an incredible day in Santiago saying hello´s and goodbyes to so many I am into my second day travelling to ´´Finisterre´´ which was once the end of the known world. It is, essentially, the post-script, of the Camino that not too many do. It was my original intention to do only this part of the Camino so it is great to be starting it now. Hopefully tomorrow at some point I will see the ocean...and man...I can´t wait. I am currently travelling with three Slovenians and a Brit and am having an amazing time with them. And of course there are the countless others who are walking who I also feel like I know. It´s a little international village of nomads here. Its hard to put into words what it is like.

Today I walked about 37 K. It´s the longest day so far, but it is amazing how your feet start to adapt. (Athough I am nursing a few blisters)I think the Camino is one of the only places on earth where it is completely socially acceptable to shove your nasty blister covered foot in someones face, and compare injuries. It´s hilarious. Many hours are spent together taking care of random foot problems. Just this afternoon myself and Dan (the Brit) were soaking our toes in buckets of salt water. How´s that for a snapshot of the Camino!

Although the journey is largely about the people you meet, it is also an interior one, and a physical one. The two seem to go together well, and it is such a gift to be walking through some of the most beautiful landscapes i have ever seen without seeing anyone in front or behind me.

It is a truly delicious kind of alone-ness, and a feeling I'm sure will be hard to replicate when this is over. So I am relishing every moment.

Obviously there is so much more I could write but it is WAY past my bed time.

Hopefully I´ll be able to update soonish?? Who knows.

Much Love from the way.
-Julia