But apart from mass........

Apart from mass I wandered around a bit looking at things

and meeting up with people I had met along the way. Right after mass for example I found Tony and Shirley the macpackers from NZ just walking into town.

and not long after Trish who I had met back in the Leonie days. (Neither of us had seen her in weeks by the way so not sure if she ever kept going). Trish had had a few problems with her heel and ended up bussing from Burgo to Leon to the hospital there. she is not staying in albergues and herchosen destination in Santiago was the Parador right next to the cathedral. She invited me to meet her and her friend from Sydney (who had only begun in Sahagun) for a drink there at 6. I went at 6 and Trish was just coming out to meet me to advise that we would not be alone. A Scotsman had joined them in the lounge bar.

Turns out any friend of Trish´s was a friend of his and insisted on buying mine as well, explaining he was a Scotsman with a difference.A- he was a Catholic and B - he shouted drinks!

His story was interesting in its own way. A friend had asked him to walk the Camino 18 months ago. He thought what a crap idea. No golf courses, hated walking anyway....why would you bother. His friend explained he wanted to walk with a devout Catholic and Burt explained he wasn´t that bloody devout!

Anyway a few months later his wife got very very ill, on death´s door. they had been married 40 years and he had never spent a night away from her. They asked to have a mass said for her but all the masses were booked for the next wee while and the first date they could get was July 25th. Instead of talking about her at the mass they told all the life of St James (25 July is the feast day of St James) and mentioned the Camino and next year being holy year. He recognised the name his friend had mentioned and made a kind of pact with God. Let her live and I will walk to Santiago.

She lived.

The minimum he could do for it to count was from Sarria so he began there but was damn sure he wasn´t roughing it (which is why he was at the Parador). Said it damn near killed him but he was that damn proud of himself he could't do anything but buy drinks and tell his story to any person who could understand English (or should I say Scottish).

So after a couple of drinks with him we decided to wobble off and meet some French friends of Sinead´s who had a particular restaurant in mind.

Unfortunately the restaurant didn´t even open until 9 so we had to stop for more drinks.... and so it went. In summary - I was not the first one out the door for my walk to Finisterre the next morning..

Mass

Mass in Santiago is a BIG deal.

This photo shows the line up to hug James bust from the doorway back to the van. Then from the van across the back of the photo and around the other side of the cathedral is the queue to get into mass.

I wanted to leave in plenty of time but only just got in. This line behind me was almost certainly turned away.

I managed to wedge myself in beside a pillar in a small side chapel so most photos are taken with my arm in the air not really being able to see what I was taking.

First off there was practising of hymns. This priest was our conductor.

Then there was a long silence as we waited for 12 noon start time. I found this the best time of all. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on all that I had been through and then to allower my mind to linger  on each of my friends and family individually, acknowledging who they were for me and offering up this mass for them. I felt so fortunate to have such a collection of very bright lights in my life so thank you all.

Then all too quickly it was on with the show. In came a veritable army of priests and the service began. You could tell it was a moving experience for all the Catholics that had come from around Spain on their holy year pilgrimages. Even if they hadn't walked the Camino they had driven from all over (other countries too, not just Spain) to be here. Santiago is the third great location for Christian pilgrimage after Jerusalem and Rome because it is the only place other than St Peter's where there is a tomb of an apostle.

The communion was something to behold. The army of priests marched out to all corners of the cathedral so that the thousands of people were processed ery quickly. I would estimate at least 30 communion stations!

And then the benediction. Wow.

None of this hand held thing they use in the Cathedrals and churches in NZ. This thing was a beast and took nine people to control it.

Here it is hanging during the service

Then at benediction they bring it forward.

The easiest way to see what happens from there is to look at this youtube clipsomeone posted a couple of years ago (someone who was in a better spot and in a less crowded mass!) Unreal! People say that it has always been huge because they needed to knock out the smell of stinky pilgrims arriving at mass.

At the end there were a lot of church groups going up and making offerings and singing hymns of various kinds and then the priests and bishop filed out. In all there were 100mins of service not counting waiting time.

St James

For the non (or forgetful) catholics, St James was a pretty heavy hitter. He was not only one of the 12 aspostles but he was one of Jesus three best friends and highly likely to have been his cousin (mother related to virgin Mary and all that).

After Jesus death he left Jerusalem and travelled to the end of the earth (Santiago and Finisterre) to tell everyone he encountered ¨death has been defeated, Jesus Christ has been resurrected¨.

People out this way weren't having much truck with that notion and James was spectacularly unsuccessful in getting any traction. So he headed back to Jerusalem, where he was even less successful. Instead of the 'yeah right' attitude he met out here, when he got back to Jerusalem he had his head chopped off by King Herod Agripa. It was, as John J would say, a good career move; died in his prime, talking passionately about his message and thereby inspiring his few followers to beg for his remains. They took them back out here, first to Finisterre where they had to ask the Roman legion stationed there if they could bury him in what is now Santiago. The legion weren't over keen but after killing one or two of the followers allowed the others to take James and bury him. He lay there for 800 odd years before a hermit 'had a vision' about where he was, dug, and found him.

Finding holy relics was big business by then. Pilgrims started coming, and, papal indulgences also being pretty much in vogue the pilgrimage became something that could earn a papal indulgence. (You must remember that this was in the days when papal indulgences meant something more than covering up the crimes of kiddy fiddling priests!)

When pilgrims arrive now they visit three places; the gate of glory where they put their hand on the central column and recite the apostles creed (I suspect John J is the only member of our family who could still do that from memory), the tomb of St james and the big bust of St James which they embrace.

After this they also go to confession and then to mass.

Problem upgrade

Chris Howard is always stresses that everyone in every walk of life has problems and a financially successful life doesn't mean that you will not have problems.What you want to aim for is top quality problems; to be constantly upgrading the quality of your problems. E.g. if you are at the stage where you have the problem of whether to buy food or have electricity next week, then choosing which car to buy would represent a problem upgrade.

So now that I am in Santiago I have the problem of what to do with the next week prior to the course beginning in Portugal. Simon and Deb saying come and stay in a gorgeous apartment in Monaco with us, Beatrice and Jessica saying come to the Costa del Sol and stay with us, me tossing up between finding a quiet beach and lying low for a week, and carrying on walking to Finisterre.

I was truly getting a bit stressed about it until I thought, shit, I have had a massive problem upgrade here. Out of four delicous one week holiday options I can only choose one!

Despite my comings and goings and some of you thinking I might be doing one or the other, I just want to say that I have decided to carry on to the end of the earth. Yes I am walking to Finisterre as you read this.

I have drafted some more posts about Santiago and am waiting to find a card reader to upload photos to and I will of course take some more photos as I walk. But for now.... if you want.... feel free to follow me to the ends of the earth.

I expect that I have another week or so of blogging this Camino before I wrap it up. I will make sure I advise when the last post is done.

Meantime here is the link to the route

Santiago arrival

The mist cleared a bit walking into Santiago so I did capture a bit of it.

Of course the first stop had to be the cathedral

but then the next priority was to get to a shop and to the toursim office because it was after 1pm Saturday, and you know by now what that means.... life as you know it ceases to function until 10am Monday. So the exhilaration of finally getting here was put on hold while some info and logistics got sorted out but then it was a shower and out again with first stop being the cathedral pilgrim office.

Some people have been intent on getting their passport stamped at every little spot they come to, whereas to me that felt too much like some weird school days star chart. So I had just got one from each place I stayed the night thinking 'whatever'

But walking into the pilgrim office, I was looked in the eye and asked if I really and truly walked. They then looked through all the different stops stamped in the credencial to see that I had truly stopped all those places before entering my name (in Latin) into the cathedral archives along with all of the thousands who have walked this route for more than a thousand years. all of a sudden I got present to what I had actually done, and I did feel like I was receiving a reward when they placed the stamp of the Cathedral of Santiago in my credencial and filled out my compostela (certificate to say I had done it)

Apart from the personal achievements of simply getting here, there are also the plenary indulgences. For the non catholics among you, it means that all my sins have been forgiven. In the old days papal indulgences were pretty big things and even criminals could walk in their chains and get them removed when they arrived to avoid jail time. I dallied briefly with the idea of changing my honorific from madam (adopted when I bought the brothel) to Saint Jennifer. But apart from the fact that I am not sure that is going to win me too many friends I can't honestly believe the papal indulgence extends to cannonisation. So, reluctantly, I have let that idea go. Besdes I like the corset and feather idea better than hair shirts and ill-fitting sandals!

Arco O Pino to Santiago

It was hard to believe as I packed up this morning, running through the same routine as I have done every morning, that this is the last time I will do it before reaching Santiago.

It was a strange morning in other ways though as it was extremely misty but very hot and humid. We couldn't see views coming in to Santiago, in fact could see virtually nothing until we were right in there. Other than squillions of people of course, but then they are the camino also.

Here is one character ready to meet st James in his traditional Alicante dress.

And this wee fella with his own backpack for his lunch!

Not many photos till Santiago because of the mist but here is a selection that came out

And then before you know it we're there. Well technically in Santiago, but from a camino point of view , the cathedral is where you need to get to. 

Just another 10kms away. And deserving of its own separate post!

Arzua to Arco Pino

I don't always take photos in the early morning because it feels nice just to walk quietly in the lightening sky.

Some interesting conversations last night with yet another knew set of faces. At each stage recently more and more people have joined, either directly on to the Camino Frances or joined the Camino Frances from the Camino Portugues, Camino Norte or one of the routes coming up from Seville or Madrid. 

The Camino Norte people were aghast at so many people on Camino Frances. They had been walking along the norther coast for weeks and generally found only about 15 people in any albergue. I understand that by the time we get into Santiago there will be 2000 per day arriving there. 

Its hard to get any pics of the green Galician lanes without loads of people in them.

The very bad thing that happened today was that I realised that I had left my memory stick (choca block full of photos) in an internet cafe two stops back. Not a show in the world of retrieving it.

Casanova Mato to Arzua

Well the teenage boy lead the charge this morning, out the door at 5.30am! Bit excessive I thought. However I got up when I heard him leave and had another early start myself.

I knew I had to spend a couple of hours on some admin at an internet cafe and there was a town on my way that I knew would likely have something. Yesterday there was no internet anywhere! So I did end up walking in quite a lot of heat and quite well into the afternoon.

The big relief was finding a deepish river hole and spending half an hour in it. So by the time I arrived in Arzua I was damp but relatively fresh. OK, I still needed a shower.

The thing of most signifance today was this marker. Jo should now be able to tell me how many fractions of an inch I now have to walk!

Portomarin to Casanova Mato

I set off especially early today because I knew I wanted to cover more than 30kms and we have had a few days in a row where the temperature is back in the 30´s and there was a decent sized hill to begin the day.

It was not completely light when I set off and the river looked lovely.

I was also grateful that some kind soul had put a homemade marker just where there should have been one.

It was more Glaician lanes like yesterday with the odd difference here and there. For example these grain stores are very much a local thing.

The place I was staying was not really a village so much as a single house with three bunk rooms, a bar and a communal meal in the evening if you wanted it - Pretty good actually. Pretty much all Spaniards at this point who don't speak English but a couple of Swedes who spoke good English and a teenage boy who was our interpreter.

Sarria to Portomarin

Not sure what my problem was today but after breakfast I felt so incredibly sleepy for about 3 hours. I stopped and stopped and stop but couldn't seem to shake it until I finally found an amstel beer and a fig tree next to one another. Took a few sips, lay under the tree for half an hour and was right as rain.

Speaking of right as rain, the forecast is dry till at least Sunday so the dreaded rain suit has been bequeathed to an albergue for some soul who comes through in bad weather. I am glad to be shot of it as it was very heavy.

The walking today was through loads of green Galician lanes most of which were lined with dry stone walls.
But has anyone ever seen ones with these door like stones in them?

From there it was out in the open for a couple of kms until I reached Portomarin.

This is a new town built since 1961 when they damned a river and drowned the old town. The approach is no like anything I have walked into before and it was a very nice place for my third sangria afternoon of the camino, with Shirley and Tony the kiwis.

Later found a great spot for dinner with wonderful views out over the river.

Triacastela to Sarria

Last night was very sweet in its own Camino way. I wound up in a small room with Nell from England, Dave from Australia a trolley puller from Holland (he had pulled his trolley from home!) and an old Spanish couple who curled up together (in their separate bags) on  bottom bunk.

I had been warned that because all you have to do to get your Compostela is to walk the last 100kms and because Sarria is 115km and an easy hub from other parts of Spain, that there would be a press on accommodation. Also that I was likely to see a huge influx of overly fresh and loud pilgrims at this point. Both were true. For the first time since week one I saw people wearing jeans, carrying umbrellas on their packs and smelling of aftershave.

Despite having pre-booked accommodation in Sarria for this reason I was still woken and ready to go early.

Not long later I found myself walking with Nell and David the rest of the way into Sarria. I was keen to find an internet cafe with a card reader and up load some more photos but it was a mission to find one. Closed for siesta, closed because it´s Monday.... Anyway as you will have seen by the additions I did manage to find one and it was a nice way to spend a hot afternoon (in a dark airconditioned room!)

Then I wandered off to find a nice place to sit and have food and drink. Dave soon wandered by and we had a goog long natter with a couple of Germans who spoke great English. Dave, like many I have met has been stopped in his tracks by tendonitis. People who try to do consistently long days just seem to cave in at some point with foot or leg problems and after 4 days of 35kms per day he had done himself in and was going to have to hole up in Sarria for a few days getting it right.

Luckily for him he had his kindle with him loaded with books. It was my first real look and play with one of thos things as they don't have them in NZ yet. He says now the second generation of them has come out they should work in any country. I think I will wait to have a play with Simon's ipad and make a bit of a judegment call about the next wave of technology I go for.

Anyway, here is Dave. An IT man from Sydney. Seems to survive totally on coke, cigarettes and coffee.