Days Three and Four..Hell to Pay

Day 3 and 4 to Finisterre

Since we were all sleeping together, we all got up together. Well most of us anyway. Some get up early but they turn on the lights at around 7am in order to kick you out and get you on your way.

We met in the bar for cafe con leches and toast and jam.  We would walk most of the day with our friends johncasey, Brett and Barb.  John and I were only planning to walk 14k today to a small place called Olveiroa.  The others were planning to push on to Cee. That would have been a 32k day and we were just not willing.  I was so glad john was on the same page with me.

We had such fun walking and talking and laughing, acting silly and goofy, putting on the ponchos for the occasional downpour that never lasted too long.  This was probably brought on by walking about 7k out of our way in the rain to walk close to some of those huge wind turbines that dot the landscape of Spain.  We stopped and shared snacks in front of an old cemetery. What a great time.

As we arrived in Olveiroa everyone stopped for refreshments and Barb received a call that her father had gone into the hospital with a possible heart attack.  Johncasey being the EMT firefighter that he is, calmed her fears as best he could. They would go on to the next stop and call for a taxi forward.  We said our goodbyes, wished he best for Barbs dad and checked into our small pensione.  After showering and retreating to the bar, ordering two glasses of vino tinto, the waiter pointed at the glasses and said 2 euro, as in one euro per glass.  Pretty typical as we have learned.  Then she pointed to the bottle she had just poured from and with a smile said 3 euro.  WHAT???  Ok twist our arms, give us the bottle! Another very good dinner and off to bed.

There are of course no pictures of this day due to the ipad being locked away and dry.

We listened to the rain fall and the wind buffet the building we were sleeping in all night long.  This was getting so old!  Sure enough, getting up the next morning, I knew this was going to be a hellacious day.  While it wasn't exactly raining when we left, it soon would prove to be one of the worst days of severe weather conditions I have ever found myself in.  And walking no less with absolutely no place to retreat to!

After walking 6k, we came upon a small cafe where the lady told us there would be nothing else for 15ks.  We ordered a bocadillo with egg, cheese and tomatoes.  I don't know why we didn't eat it there and then because I knew in the back of my mind there would be no picnic today.  The reason would be revealed later that day......

No sooner than we took off into the wilderness did the wind pick up and I mean pick up.  I don't know how many knots or mph it was blowing but blow it did.  Add to that sideways pelting rain that would not relent for what would be the rest of that days walk. There were times I cried out being so scared that I would be blown off my feet.  I had to dig down with my walking sticks, stop and steady myself more than a few times. If there were any other pilgrims on the way with us they'd have thought I was drunk...maybe not, they'd be in the same predicament.  I was afraid of debris that could be flying around such as trees and the like.  John as always was walking ahead of me....but not too far.  He would look around at me every so often to make sure I was still there.  This was every man for himself type stuff.

I kept thinking of the bible story of Jesus in the boat on the ocean with his disciples and the ocean pounding their small fishing boats and the doubt and fear that set in. It reminded me to just trust and have faith that this would all be ok. We would be ok. I knew somehow that we would, but the world I found myself in was not exhibiting that at the moment.  There was nothing to do but go into survival mode and put my head down and watch my steps putting one foot in front of the other on that rocky water swollen path, the rain hiding my tears.

After figuring out that crying was not going to help, I found myself having another Forrest Gump moment.  I remembered the scene when the legless and angry Lieutenant Dan was in the crows nest on the shrimp boat during a hurricane, shaking his fist at God.  I stopped and shook my fist and screamed out as loud as I could, above the blasting rain and wind, what were to be the first words John had heard out of me in hours. "IS THIS ALL YOUVE GOT?" And other expletives.  John had no idea I was just being an idiot and quoting from the movie when at that moment the wind and rain blasted us even worse than it had before! I learned later that John didn't know whether to think I was the most courageous person he had ever known in that moment or the stupidest and would I please just shut the hell up what did I think I was doing screaming at God like that?  I think God had a pretty good laugh.  I know I did.

We finally made it down off the mountain ridge and started to descend, knowing we would be seeing the ocean soon. And see the beautiful sea, we did. It motivated us to keep going.  We came to the gritty seaport town of Cee. Maybe it wasn't gritty but with all the rain and wet it sure felt that way to me.  We ended up losing the yellow arrows for the first time this entire journey.  We walked in circles in the pouring rain for an hour.  Once we asked a couple of people to point us in the right direction we found ourselves in the even smaller town of Corcubion.  We mistakenly thought here would be plenty of accommodation choices here which there were not.  Remember we had just come through an entire day of hell and no food, the bocadillo still tucked away in John's backpack.  Sorry for yelling at you like that earlier, God.  After wandering around in that town in a straight downpour for an hour we went back to the only pension we saw.  They had a room.  I was never so thankful for that room and that bocadillo in my life.  There was no way to go back out and try to find something to eat.  John did think it worth it to go out and get wine. You gotta do what you gotta do.

By now I had had it! I meant it this time.  I am getting a taxi tomorrow even though we are getting to Finnesterre tomorrow.  I'm just not doing this any more. I quit! Good night.

The Second Day To The End

Finisterre day 2

Since we were only going to walk 19k on this day we decided to sleep in.  The bed was SO comfy.  Listening to it pour rain all night, I just didn't want to get up and the thought of putting on all that damp stuff that just does not dry out in this weather was beginning to test my mettle.

Because we had all moaned and groaned together about the rain the day before, when we finally did get up and come down for coffee, we met our friends, johncasey, Brett and Barb who had devised a plan.  Guide book out, johncasey informed us that the way to the next stop would be mostly along road with no shoulder to speak of.  He had it on the good advice  (another Camino rumor) of some other pilgrims he had met that you should just taxi through this certain section.  That it would be too dangerous to walk, especially in the rain.  This sounded good to me.  John was not having any of it and really unbeknownst to me was personally committed to walking all the way.  As for me... It really wasn't that important.  I seriously considered going with them until johncasey heard that John was walking and said if he was walking, he wanted to walk it too.  Barb had been having some stomach issues and was struggling with her thoughts out loud to me as to why she wanted to taxi forward.  I looked at the partly cloudy sky and said, well hell if you guys are walking, I'm walking! I thank (or curse) my brothers for making me this way.....Damnit it all!!!

We packed our packs and their contents with plastic trash bags the guys had bought to keep things as dry as we could in case of what seemed to be, inevitable rain.  I'm finding that my pack cover is just not cutting it in these kinds of deluge.  I always end up with a puddle in the bottom of my cover no matter how tight I cinch it.

Ok we are all set.  Johncasey said he was going to the room to pack up.  About 25 minutes later and much pacing back and forth, John and I decided to leave.  I hoped no one would be offended and I wasn't when I learned later that it would be about an hour and a half until they finally shoved off. And I thought women were slow to get ready.

It turned out to be a really great day with overcast skies and no rain.  Perfect walking weather!  The sections of road we had to walk were minimal and even though it was pretty scary with little to no shoulder, it was a Saturday and the traffic was light.  We had plenty of walking on pretty forested paths and empty country roads. At our usual midday stop, we met an Ozzie walking back to Santiago, a round trip that is done more than I had first imagined and would come to learn is quite a common exercise. No thank you very much. He informed us we would be better off staying right there for the night as he had not noticed an albergue at the town the guide book had us stopping in 7k down the road.

When the day is done, I am usually pretty spent and wanting to be through.  This time, with it so late in the year, I also worried that the lone albergue in town would be closed for the season. The Ozzie was coming back to haunt my mind.  Sure enough it was pretty quiet when we got to the town of Maronas and I was hoping and praying the place would be open because the next town was another 13 kilometers away and I just couldn't do it.  As I clicked along, paranoia had me looking seriously at empty barns and chicken coops as possibilities for down for the night.

You can imagine by now that I would be ok with one last dorm situation. Sure enough Casa Pepa would be the place.  We walked in and the only person there was an old man sitting at a table in the bar.  I asked "albierto?"  Open?  He called for someone and a person I bet to be his son appeared and said yes he had two beds.  12euro. Done.  Picked our bunks, took showers, went to the bar, ordered vinos.  Typical is the routine we have become so comfortable with on this journey.  It was then our
friends johncasey, Brett and Barb ambled in along with Suzanne, a German girl we had walked with since the very beginning in Orrison! Always such a fantastic homecoming. We truly have become "family".

We all had a great pilgrims meal and I really tried to savor the experience of one last night in a dorm, with all my equals slumbering and snoring around me, knowing it would all too soon be just a distant but profound memory.

On Our Way To Finisterre

Warning: There are no pictures from today since it was  raining and the ipad was in plastic.

Ok, say in your best Forrest Gump impression, "I didn't know what else to do so I just kept on walking and walking and walking......" Ha, I heard you...pretty good!

We packed up our backpacks at the Hotel  Montenegro with a feeling of almost dread at the thought that we would be walking once again after such an epic finish two days before.  I had been wrestling in my mind as usual, with the thought that after walking all day in the rain into Santiago, miserably wet, that I did not care if I walked to lands end or not. The bus or taxi would be fine by me.  While John agreed with me for all of about two seconds, I knew he would be walking but I was perfectly willing to meet up with him there.  I knew I wanted to go there but walk another 88k or 55 miles? Not so much.

Most people who walk to Finnesterre after completing the Camino walk usually do it in a three day stretch at 30 some kilometers each day. I was not willing to do this much less even think about it.  Ok, for those of you really reading this blog, I am here to tell you that we took 4 and 1/2 days to complete this section.

Our few days in Santiago were celebratory for sure. Meeting up with friends who had the very same feelings as I did initially, but ultimately deciding to walk again, finally convinced me. And they were right.  After letting the finish sink in, I knew I wanted to walk.

Until we got too far out of Santiago, following the familiar yellow arrows in the pouring rain once again, to turn back....  About 10k into the walk, we came upon a bar where we dripped in, shed the packs, ordered cervesas, changed into dry socks, wrapped plastic bags around our sock feet and marveled once again at the kindness of our hosts who put up with our sopping wetness all over their floors and in their chairs like I'm sure they are used to. Used to pilgrims anyway....but being brought a tapa with your drink instead of the dirty look you want to give yourself has been so appreciated along the way. When we left here we found ourselves on a steady steep incline for another 6k or more in the poring rain. It made me feel the exact same way as I did on a childhood hike with my family up to Mt. Leconte in the Smoky Mountains in soaked through tennis shoes on trails like creek beds so long ago.

We walked 21k to Negreira which upon arrival did not look real inviting.  Let the search for accommodation begin again.  We went to an albergue that had been advertised, asked if they had a private room, yes, can we see it, yes, does it have a private bathroom, no, let's look at it anyway, I'm so wet and tired.  She let us drip to the room which was in a place with 2 bunks. I looked at John's face and knew we would not be staying.  She said it's ok.  Trudging back out into the rain in the coming twilight, as if light was a factor at all, which it wasn't, John said he couldn't bring himself to stay in what felt like a bomb shelter....even though that is what we felt like.

We wandered around saying OMG lets go back to the ugly hotel we spied upon arrival thinking it would be the only shelter in the storm.  Something told us to just walk another half block more and as we rounded the corner, there was an inviting light with a sign saying La Mesquita Hostel.  As we walked into the bar where the reception was we saw a familiar face. Larry, who we had walked with for a few days off and on coming into Santiago! He asked where we were staying and said we didn't know yet.  He told us this was a good bet.  As we sat and dried out after checking in, our friends johncasey and his walking friends, Canadian Brett and his Irish girlfriend, Barb, walked in covered in ponchos and rain and were a sight for sore eyes.  We were so glad to be meeting up with our fellow pilgs or pilgees (as we taken to calling ourselves) once again. Feels like a mini Camino!

40euro for the best most comfy bed on the journey, lovely people who whisked our soaking wet boots away (we didn't know where they went but were told they would be dry by morning), and an amazing proprietress who put up with my impatiently pushing buttons on her washing machine whose Spanish instructions I did not understand.  She also served up a mean Galician caldo soup and other really good food.  When asked what we wanted for postres (dessert) I said torte heilado and John said ice cream cake.  She brought the desserts and set mine down and looked at John saying "torte heilado" and set the exact same dessert in front of him and said "ice cream cake".  Spanish lessons included,  we had a good laugh about that one.  Oh, and did I mention we had one of the best bottles of wine with our pilgrims meal too?  The good with the bad, I am reminded of what is so magical about the Camino experience. Wine makes everything better.

Santiago! The Holy Grail.

Walking into Santiago is a feeling I will never forget but let me back up to our start that morning.  We had originally told Ken and Elise that we wanted to leave early and by that I mean around 5:30.  We had all agreed that it would be great to be in Santiago for the pilgrims mass at noon.  After hearing it pour rain all night long, I snuck down to our friends room and tapped on the wrong door. Thankfully no one stirred.  I saw the light on under Ken and Elise's door and figured out in my sleepy haze that it must be the right one.  They were getting ready with worried looks on thier faces that belied what John and I had been thinking too.  It's stupid to walk in the dark in the rain.  Let's wait til light.  Ok another couple hours of sleep on tap.

When we finally left that morning around 8:30 after coffees and the typical Spanish breakfast of toast and pastries, it was still dark and we had to use the headlamps for about 5k or so.  Walked all the way in sheets of rain.  No way to stay dry.  We stopped at most bars on the way and had a coffee in the patient energy of our hosts who put up with our dripping clothing, hats and backpacks.  Despite this, we were energized just knowing this day was the culmination of our long journey across Spain.

As soon as we hit Santiago proper my tears began to fall.  The four of us walked quietly, sometimes hand in hand with our partners but mostly alone each probably contemplating what this experience has meant to each of us.  It took a while to get to the center of the old town where all the pilgrims gather and find the office where we would get our compostella.

Upon arrival through the city gates, our friends John and Debbie were there to greet us. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks and it was an emotional reunion.  They took us straight to the pilgrims office where we we lucky to find no line.  We took off our soaking backpacks and found someone behind the desk who asked for the passports we had been having stamped all along.  She looked at us both with kind eyes and asked if we had walked the whole way.  Yes, John said, every step with my wife of 30 years. She smiled and asked us to fill out a small statistical questionnaire that asking the usual, male/female, age, nationality and the reasons we were doing it, giving us three choices.  Religious, spiritual, or for sport/tourism.  If you chose tourism, you received a small certificate instead of the regular one, I heard.  Could be a rumour, we had heard so many on this trip!  She filled out our lovely frameable certificates which were in Latin with our names in the Latin translation!  Well John's was as there is none for mine!  His was Johannen something latiny like that.

We checked into our hotel for the night, the Monumental San Francisco. I'm not using an adjective to describe it, that was the actual name.  It was very posh.  We left to gather with our friends and have one last vino since John and Debbie were leaving for London that evening and the next leg of their journey.  Somehow we missed meeting up with Greg and Melody and ended up having dinner at La Tarara, where John had recommended. We wouldn't be disappointed.  The best thing I ate was mussels in a sort of gazpacho sauce.

We were not satisfied with our hotel as there was a black mold in the shower and with John a former pool guy, refused to stay another night.  We found the hotel Montenegro, very nice little upscale boutique hotel right in old town for half the price! And no black mold.

Our time in Santiago was spent reuniting with friends met all along the way...literally.  We were so amazed at how we saw everyone!  We were in the right places at the right time in order to see them. And this is not a small place.  Just reminds me at how there must be a bigger plan involved in my view. A woman who we had met the first week in, Bernadette, with her son Frank, both Dutch, with Frank leaving his mom at the end of her first week and asking John to please watch out for his mother, obviously not having the most confidence in her, and us meeting her at the end coming into Santiago by herself at just the moment we were leaving.  Writing in Jack Kerouac style bear with me.  Anyway, wow.

We went to the pilgrims mass at the cathedral. We got there at about 11:00 in order to sit in the pews. I cannot explain the massiveness of these cathedrals and Santiago's
 did not disappoint.  There was a nun whose voice was so amazing it brought tears for sure.  She did a sing along even though it was in Spanish and we didn't know quite what she was singing.  Then they prepared for the bufumeria and we were so excited!  That was another Camino rumour dispelled.  That they would only do it on certain days.  Which is true and they don't tell you when they are performing it since it would inevitably be turned into a tourist attraction and they of course insist that it remain a "mass".  Originally this large incense was swung because the pilgrims smelled so bad they had to diffuse it somehow. I don't really know. May be another ancient Camino rumor. How incredible it was.

Our last stop...O Pedrouzo

We started the day in the dark as usual with the Aussie twins Pat and Sue, Greg and Melody and all our backpacks.  John almost got run over by a biker as we were taking pics of the sunrise. We have had to have much patience with them as I'm sure they have had to have with us.

We stopped along the way for an egg bocadillo made with cheese, tomato and Jamon in this little place where the people were so supportive and helpful just because you were a pilgrim and so close to the end of the line. Nice to be in that kind of energy. John and I both felt the emotions of watching the pilgrims file in and knowing they were at the very same point in their journeys that we are.  This waystop was kind of like a biker bar with shirts hanging all around and sentiments written on every square inch of free space.  One in particular touched me and the tears that flow so easily now are certainly apparent.

"Do not keep your shell. Throw it in the ocean. It is the old you. You are supposed to die with your shell to be transformed. Your Camino starts when it ends. This is the esoteric meaning of the Camino. Ponder on this.  You have walked the Milky Way from the old to the new." Colette ...and I just noticed it was written this year on my birthday!!!!   The Camino moments never end!!! Wow.

We walked into O Pedrouzo sort of confused as to where the town proper was but saw our friends Greg and Melody waving us down from a cafe up the street.  Made our way there and no sooner than we got our beers to mull over our accommodation options than they were telling us they had made the decision to continue on another 20k into Santiago tonight!  This was after already walking over 20k!   John, caught up in the excitement said he would do it if I was up for it......  Knowing in the back of his mind (and probably from the look on my face) that it would be a stretch for me, he presented  a scenario that was more personally appealing.  Get a place, grab a bottle of wine and possibly cook our own food and relax.....now that sounds better to me than walking into the evening.  John is a fantastic Camino partner.! By then Greg and Mel were already down he road....buh bye.

Made our way to the first pension, that had a fantastic kitchen by the way, checked in to our private room, showered and walked to the amply stocked grocery down the street.  We bought some chicken breast, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic and fresh asparagus and thought a stir fry would be great since the abundance of fresh veggies in the pilgrims meals is not very......  We also got a tomato, those wonderful Spanish olives and white asparagus for a nice salad.  Oh don't forget a bottle of white and a bottle of red.....

When we returned to the hotel we saw our buds Ken and Elise who were also checked in here and asked if they would join us for dinner which they readily agreed to.  They brought another bottle of wine and an amazing ice cream dessert.  We had a memorable time that night. One I won't long forget.  We are trying to make these moments last, knowing we walk into Santiago tomorrow.  Our long pilgrimage will be over. Bittersweet indeed.