The End is Nigh!

Three more days of walking! That´s just plain nuts! I can´t believe we have been walking for 36 days straight! That´s not normal. But then again, I think at this point it´s blatantly obvious that we are not normal.

I just need to put in my 2 cents on the whole public showering situation.

Yesterday, when presented with the women-only showers with no doors-curtains-or-anything-situation, I thought it was going to be a bit awkward, and had to take a moment to get over my Canadian aversion to being naked in public. But, after a few minutes of summoning up some courage, I conquered the whole naked ordeal. I felt like such a trooper!

Then today´s extra-special shower arrangement came up.

I no longer felt like a trooper, but more like I was being taken to the very edge of my comfort-zone, and then violently thrown off it. ....turns out yesterday was just a warm up. But like Jess said, we prevailed! We planned our timing carefully, and were prepared to scream loudly should anyone have the misfortune of walking by our door-less shower stalls. Just when you think you have gotten the best of the Camino......it throws you another curveball!

Back to the non-public nudity portion of this blog.

Yesterday we walked from Sarria, through some of the most beautiful landscape we´ve seen yet, to Portomarin. During this walk we passed the 100km-to-Santiago mark, and ended the day with about 90km to go! Amazing!

Unfortunately, to get your ¨Compostela¨ (certificate for completing the Camino ) you only need to walk the last 100km, so obviously this is an option that many people take. I mean, who is crazy enough to walk 700km more than needed to get the same certificate? But for us, who are just that crazy, it means we have now been joined by a lot more people on the trail. And nothing against people or anything, but it is a big change from the peacefulness we have enjoyed the last 5 weeks, and I´m not thrilled about it! And I understand that most people do not have the luxury of being able to leave their real lives for 5 or 6 weeks to complete the entire Camino, but still! I think there should be a different certificate for people who have walked the whole thing, perhaps a slightly nicer one on fancy paper or something, something that says ¨Hey, I´ve been walking since France!¨. Is that too much to ask?

Apparantly.

Anyways, enough time spent ranting about the injustice of being a pilgrim, I´m running out of Internet time, and have yet to say how despite the doorless showers, hoards of new pilgrims, hot sun, and sore feet, I am going to miss the old Camino in about 3 days when I have to say goodbye. And on a bigger scale, I´m also going to miss the beautiful country of Spain in about 6 days when I have to fly back to Paris! Where else do they sell wine in vending machines and willingly get trampled by bulls?

But for now, I have to go enjoy one of my last pilgrim´s dinners, and absorb as much of the Spanish culture as I can to take home with me!

Hasta la vista, baby.