We Made It!

Well everybody, we made it. After 38 days of walking, we finally arrived in Santiago yesterday around 3pm. It was a great walk from Arca, but turned into a very hot day, so we were very hot, tired and thirsty when we got here, which made the fact that we were pilgrims so much more obvious. It still hasn´t quite sunk in that I´m really at the end.

We immediately headed to the cathedral, which is where the Camino technically ends, so we felt we had to walk there first before we could do anything else. We sat in front of the church for a while admiring the architecture and people watching before decided we wanted our Compostelas. So we headed to the Pilgrim´s Office, to register and get our documents making us certified pilgrims. From there we found a small hotel to stay in, and dropped off our stuff, got showered and dressed and headed out to explore the city. Our timing was excellent, yesterday was the first day of the Fiesta, so there were tons of people everywhere, people busking on the side of the streets, marching bands and fireworks, the whole shabang! We decided that the festivities were in our honour, and that they were just welcoming us to Santiago.

We found a few other pilgrims and met a few new people, had dinner, and started celebrating our arrival! We left the bar around 2am, and the streets were still packed with people, and music and craziness, so we felt it would not be right to go to bed, instead we got some ice cream, headed back to the bar in our hotel, got another bottle of wine and continued the party! The 38 days of walking caught up with me around 4am, so I turned in for the night. Jess, being the hero that she is, ended her night around 7:30 this morning! We were both quite slow getting up and ready this morning, but because we are good little pilgrims, we got our butts out of bed and headed to the cathedral to attend the mass they hold for the pilgrims at noon.

Since then we have wandered around the city, found a nice cheap room for tonight and have been on the lookout for any pilgrims we may know that are arriving today. Now I believe it is time for a snack, as it usually is.

All around, it has been an amazing trip. Lots of tears and lots of laughs, definitely the best thing I could have possibly done for myself. After finishing the Camino, I feel like I can do anything, I am Superman!

Anyone else have a country they want me to walk across?