Waking up to a sore body wasn’t nearly so hard today. I was just as sore, if not more sore as the days before, but I knew that today I would be stepping up the front of the cathedral and completing a journey that thousands of pilgrims had completed before me. This thought gave me energy and the will to persevere the rest of the day.
I walked alone for the first bit of the hike, then with Lindsey and Amanda. My legs were really started to hurt. If this wasn’t my last day of hiking, I would have been more worried about it. I’m pretty sure my stride was changing and that certain muscles and joints were compensating for others. The three of us were all uncomfortable in different ways and tried to distract each other with funny anecdotes and debates.
We had a very heated argument about the notorious toilet paper roll debate (should the paper feed from the top or bottom?) Amanda taught me the turkey-dog scale and Amanda and I introduced Lindsey to the concept of spirit animals. We all had a good laugh when Amanda told us that someone had once given her the krill as her spirit animal! I am undoubtedly a rabbit. We decided upon a kangaroo for Lindsey.
Later, when we had a low point and all feeling tired, Amanda offered us gum and we tried to pretend that it was energy gum and would make everything better. Haha, we were really hurting. The ridiculousness of this idea raised our spirits though, and we once again were laughing out loud.
Later, we came across a group of 3 Spanish men singing/chanting a song. We fed off of this positive energy and intentional followed behind them to listen. They of course noticed our stalking, but knowing they had an audience luckily only made them sing louder. We then decided to reciprocate the favor by singing “We are the champions” at the top of our lungs.
In this manner we persevered and got to Monte de Gozo around noon. The others from our group who had arrived earlier were soaking in the sun, eating chips, and drinking from liter bottles of beer. Even though we were technically 6km from the camino, arrived at this point felt like an accomplishment. Monte de Gozo is the last hill before Santiago and is the first time you get a view of the city. It is also the location of the largest albergue in the whole camino. It has dozens of barrack-style buildings that together look like a military base camp. Once everyone had made it to Monte de Gozo, we had a vote as to how we would go about finishing the camino. After much discussion, it was decided that we would check into the albergue, talk showers, leave our bags, and then continue to the cathedral on foot. The shower felt great, and my feet were hurting, so I didn’t mind this option. I did feel like we were cheating a little though, by leaving our packs in the albergue.
The last 6km of the camino are on paved road, meandering through the city. The signage is much harder to follow because there are signs for everything (roads, museums, parking lots, traffic signs, etc). It was strange walking on the sidewalk with other pedestrians. Before, everyone we encountered had been a pilgrim. Now we were walking alongside women in high heels and men in business suits. What was even stranger was that these women in heels were gracefully walking, faster than I, while I was limping along with an expression of utter exhaustion. These last kilometers were definitely the most painful and I kept thinking how happy I was that we left our packs in the albergue. We had been told earlier that the walk from Monte de Gozo to the Cathedral was about 3 or 4 km, so the 6km that we walked seemed like the longest kilometers of my life.
As we got closer, we could see the cathedral towers and knew we were close. My heart began to race out of excitement and relief. We were just a few blocks away when our guide led us into a restaurant for lunch. After hiking five days with the anticipation of reaching the cathedral, I was surprised to find myself not in the least bit disappointed or upset that we would be taken an hour and a half lunch before reaching the cathedral that was literally a 5 minute walk away. I was so hot and tired and hungry that a chair and food was all that I wanted, and I think I would have been perfectly content spending the rest of the day there in the restaurant too.
The food was delicious. I started with a salad, and then was served more fish. What was more memorable about this lunch, however, was the waiter serving us. Every time he passed by our table, he would sneak a look at Holly. We got a kick out of it and couldn’t help laughing. Then dessert came and Holly decided to have a little fun. Dessert was ice cream cones (drumsticks) and she began to lick her ice cream slowly while making ridiculous faces. The rest of us girls were practically falling out of our chairs laughing – partly for her facial expressions and partly for the waiter’s who couldn’t help staring at her. What a hoot!
After lunch we started towards the cathedral again. When we were just around the corner from the cathedral plaza, our guide instructed us to link arms and look at the ground. Without looking up, we were guided to the very center of the plaza. On the count of three, we all lifted our heads and reveled in the grand cathedral and all its magnificence. We made it!
Next stop – Oficina de Acogida de Peregrinos. Pilgrims who have walked at least the last 100km of the camino (o biked the last 200km) is qualified to receive their ‘Compostela’. The Compostela is a certificate, written in Latin, which proves your completion of the camino and certifies you as an official pilgrim. (This is where you show your camino passport with all the stamps.)
Side note: As we were waiting for everyone to get through the line and receive their Compostela, Lindsey accidently stepped on Alberto’s foot! (Alberto is the one who had to go to the hospital to get his feet treated). Oh, if only you had heard him cry out in pain. Yikes!
Then we went into the cathedral. It was somewhat surreal seeing with my own eyes all of the features and parts of the cathedral that we had learned about in class. I would point them all out in my mind…“mira, un arco apuntado, eso es gótico” o “la planta es un típico cruz latina y los transeptos tienen un bóveda de canon, eso es románico”.
Unfortunately, the Porta de Gloria, the first central facade of the cathedral, which is an elaborately decorated masterpiece by Maestro Mateo, was under construction and almost completely covered by plastic tarp. But, we were still able to see the handprint indentation that in the parteluz that had been formed by the repetitions of placing millions of hands on the same spot. Unfortunately, the bust of Mateo at the bottom was blocked off, so we couldn’t bump our heads on his forehead 3 times, which is supposed to transfer some of his genius to you.
The main altar was open, however, so we were able to embrace the 13th century statue of Santiago (another tradition for pilgrims). Then we took the stairs below the altar to the tomb of Santiago. This didn’t really have any religious significance to me; I highly doubt that the bones are those of St. James. Even if they were, it wouldn’t mean a whole lot to me anyways because even his existence to me is questionable. What I found most intriguing was how millions of people from all over the world have been coming to this exact spot for centuries. I thought about how many miles have been walked, blisters been popped, tires gone flat, all for the purpose of reaching this silver box of bones.
Sometimes I wish I was more religious. Like right then, for instance. Imagine how one must feel to reach a relic like this that you truly believe contains the remains of an apostle that you believe in. Or, how it must feel to know that all the sins you have ever committed in your life have been pardoned; that you will now be safe and go to heaven. While today most pilgrims do the camino for reasons other than religious motives, this was the principal reason during the middle ages. During this time, hell was greatly feared, such that people were willing to risk their life (and often did), in order to assure entrance into heaven. Nonetheless, this was still an emotional, surreal moment for me.
We also walked by the sacred door to the cathedral. This door is only open in the years when St. Jame’s Day (July 25th) falls on a Sunday. This happens every 5-11 years. The last year was 2010 and the next won’t be until 2021. During these years, the number of pilgrims is significantly higher. Our group thinks we should have a camino reunion and do the camino again in 2021, how fun would that be?!
The cathedral was beautiful, but the truth is I didn’t appreciate it very much. I was so tired and exhausted that all I wanted was to get out and sit down for the rest of the night. By this time my right ankle was swollen and red, and I had a noticeable limp. Stairs were the worst and almost impossible without a hand rail. I never thought you could hurt so badly from just walking!
Finally, we were given free time. And all that everyone wanted was pizza and a place to watch the futbol match (Madrid vs. Barcelona). So, we went to a pizzeria, ordered food and drinks, and watched the match on a big TV screen. It was perfect!
The bus came to pick us up at 10:30pm, before the match ended. We could have stayed longer to watch the end of the game and catch a cab, but the prospect of a bed was too appealing. As soon as we got back to the barracks, I fell right asleep.
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