On Saturday, footsore but happy, we arrived in Santiago. Like thousands of pilgrims across the years, we went to the cathedral square on top of the hill and soaked up the message of the journey while we delighted in meeting others that we had seen sometime along the way. It was surprising how you can share such an experience with people who do not share a common language with you. We got to take our sellos (stamps) in our credential (stamp booklet) to the priests who gave us the official certificate in Latin of our journey...
We have washed away some of the road dirt, had meals and talks with others about their "takeaways" from the trip, and learned a lot from the museums and churches. There are wonderful musicians in the streets and bands playing as the next week is a Holy Week celebration. At the pilgrim´s mass today, they swung the largest incense burner in the world through the church. A raft of men controlled it swinging up over the congregation which was an amazing sight (and a bit frightening.)
We will spend another day here and then head out to the end of the known world in the middle ages, Finisterre, on the Atlantic Ocean, which will be a three day walk (yes, we will actually put our boots back on!). We have walked 798 kilometers so we will hit 500 miles during the walk to the sea....
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