Santiago de Compostela

Last night´s laundry line. Clean dry socks.... nothing better than....

The sunset I walked into and well beyond the other night. I walked until about 10 at night.

I just finished eating this delightful seafood salad in a tapas bar in Santiago. Muy muy rico!

Another Galician delicacy... queso con membrillo, Soft heavenly cheese with a sweet fruit paste

Los pulpos (octupus, the signature dish of Galicia) Oh... my... god... these were sooooooooooooooooo good! Bread wine and pulpos and I shared the table with a couple of Spaniards that go to this pulperia once a week no matter what to eat these lovely morsels. This was my favourite meal to date but I have had many close seconds...

There is a short period of time in the morning just when the sun gets up that the shadow is super tall.

Somwhere just outside of Sarria in the last 100 km stretch

One can walk for hours and hours in these shaded corridors that outline the fields.

Spanish shaggy manes

I am just puckering up to kiss this cow in Fonfria.

I strolled into Santiago at 10 am this morning. I haven´t even pulled out my camera to take the obligatory picture of one standing in front of the oldest cathedral in Spain... but I will. Before I forget. I loved the walk here but I must say the journey was more fun than reaching the destination. I only walked 1o kms today. I miss having my pack on. Crossing bridges and seeing what is around the next bend. I am finally hitting my stride. My body decided it was happiest walking 30 kms a day, especially into the sunset. I found myself having a delicious leisurely lunch complete with wine, dessert, cafe solo with a splash of orujo for digestion, 2 hours later I was good to go.

I went to the pilgrim´s mass at the cathedral this morning. The place was packed. Cameras were flasihing. Poorly dressed tourists/pilgrims were everywere walking around looking rather stunned. As I sat in the uncomfortable pew, I realized who was I kidding. All I really wanted to see was the giant perfumeria, the giant inscence ball that takes 8 men to pull the rope to move the thing in order to get it to swing in the church. All of a sudden, the organ gets loud and the men starting heaving on this rope, It was used to hide the scent of the smelly stinky pilgrims. Now it is a huge tourist spectacle and people watch it through the screens of their digital cameras. I heard that the ball would swing at the end of the service, so I gave my seat up in the pew to go out to walk around.

So no pictures of the perfumeria. The internet is full of them. Not sure I have the right word.

So I found myself a delightful pension near the cathedral for 20 Euros. Originally, I thought I might like to hand around for a day or 2 but instead I think I will continue walking tomorrow for another 90 kms to Fisterre, the end of the earth. That bides me 3 more days of walking and then gulp it´s time to carry on the camino.... at home.

This has been the best trip ever. Walking for days on end solves a lot of problems and clears the mind or rather empties it out. I still think of John from time to time and surprisingly I think of him rather kindly. He wasn´t a great dad. Some how I am managing to cut him some slack. I think I am relieved in some ways that he is dead becuase that means he can no longer hurt my feelings by not acknowledging my existence on countless birthdays and many Christmases. I am grateful he died while I was away. It has given me time to just be. Nothing else.

I am feeling a tad lost today in Santiago. I feel like I am all alone and have lost my camino friends. I have run into a few and I am hoping I run into a great group of Spaniards I met a few days ago. One professed undying love for me as I was washing my socks two days back,. I ran into the trio earlier today but we seem to have gone our own ways for the time being. The day is still young and Santiago is a small place. I feel like kicking up my heals a bit.

One observation about Spain before I sign off. In Cuba and Mexico, music, over modulated music blares everywhere. Where I have been in Spain, I barely hear music. The odd store might have some playing and I always make a point of finding out what we are listening to. Today I heard music from Colombia and Puerto Rico... Nothing else. I asked Gabriel why this is and he says Spaniards like to hear themselves talk.

I would like to live in Spain one day in the not so distant future. I particularly like Galicia

I am off to wander around some more, and maybe have some more morsels of mariscos.

I probably won´t post again until after I get back from Finisterre in 3 or 4 days. It will be wonderful to see the ocean again. Saludos a todos.

Oh yes, and I better get that picture taken in front of the cathedral.

More later