Teo to Santiago
12 miles

Last day! We really couldn’t believe that it was already the last day of our trek. When doing a long distance walk, life becomes very, very simple. By now we had acclimated to our monastic life; all that we needed was contained in a backpack and the top layer of our suitcases. Our purpose each day was to eat, sleep, dress, and walk. That’s it. Simplicity at its essence.

As an aside, on the dress side of things, I was hoping perhaps Walmart might indulge me in our next venture, since my clothing has been reduced and unintentionally coordinated into a grey and black Dri-More Danskin short-sleeved shirt, topped with the same long sleeved shirt, and then covered with the same zip up jacket…all bought with months, if not years in between at, of course, Walmart. I really felt like a walking advertisement, but then it worked for layers and washing. I couldn’t help but wonder about all the expensive hiking gear I’d been longing for over the years…and so yes, another lesson hopefully learned while walking the Camino…this time about what I think I need and being content with what God has already given.

So…today the culmination of all of our planning and work to get to this adventure’s final destination: the Cathedral de Santiago Compostela. I didn’t know much about the cathedral itself, other than Catholics believe that it holds the relics of James and also an enormous statue of him that some believe holds great peace or comfort or even power in being able to touch and embrace. For me, the great cathedral was all about seeing the huge incense burner (The Botafumeiro) swinging throughout the massive building. It takes six men to make this unique and very moving experience happen. Every single day at noon there is a special mass that takes place specifically for pilgrims. Here, on special occasion, this burner is swung. No one knows when or if this will happen on any given day. Because I had seen a youtube video, I seriously wanted to see this in real life. Interestingly, originally the swinging of this enormous silver burner was used to fumigate the sweaty (and possibly disease ridden) pilgrims!! And, considering the numbers of pilgrims congregated en masse when we were there, many of whom had just arrived from walking long, long distances, as we had, I’m not sure if this isn’t still a good reason to let that baby swing!

So, here’s the thing, we got up early, got started to the threat of 100% chance of rain for our final day. All ready with our gaiters, raincoats, umbrellas, and ponchos we were prepared for anything.

One of our fellow pilgrims…alone, with a purpose…to reach Santiago.

…one of our last pit-stops…

…where we were served a potato pie sandwich with our diet cokes!

Santiago!!

…and, so close, but now what??

We continued to wind our way on and off wooded paths even though Santiago (pop. 100,000) was within a mile of us.

…and then finally, we stepped out of the woods and right into Santiago…

…and we wound our way through the town to the very steps of the historic and long anticipated great Cathedral…

Where, I couldn’t believe it. Running up the steps, we threw our “rucksacks” (not allowed inside) down and slipped into the massive building, where, as it happened, mass was just ending. Standing at the back of the crowd, on tippy toes peering over the tops of hundreds of heads and smart phones held high clicking away…there it was, the huge Botafumeiro swinging literally inches within touching the rafters!! I could not contain myself!!!

And, with the huge organ’s majestic sound bouncing profoundly off the perfect acoustics of the stone walls, the Bontifumeiro was just as impressive, just as stunning, just as glorious as I imagined it might be!

And so we celebrated once again that we had made it!!

As a final accolade, after finding our way to our hotel, it was minutes after we dropped everything, fell on the bed exhausted that we looked out the window and the rain began to fall. On our entire trip of nine days, it had rained one hour. After we reached Santiago, it not only got colder and colder, but rained for our two and half days there. The same thing happened when we reached Bath in England. Ten minutes of rain in 10 days. Reaching our destination of the cathedral in Bath, it poured and poured for our two days there. I’m sure God is speaking very profound truths to us in these “coincidences.” For now, we count it all as Grace! 🙂

Check out the following if you want to see Roger’s video of the Botafumeiro swinging: