I DID IT!!!
I walked into Santiago today! It was a beautiful day and a great walk. I thought it would be a long slog through city streets to get to the old town center, but it really wasn’t. I started out walking uphill for a while and around the airport, but on the forest path. That’s when I got my first glimpse of Santiago. Then it quickly faded out of sight as I slowly headed down into the city. It was still all forests and parks for a long while, then I suddenly saw the city again and the cathedral spires. The city was a wonderful maze of roads, roadwork, arrows, signs, redirection, and pilgrims wandering around among the people who live there. There were also tourists everywhere and huge tour groups. I walked in and out of winding cobbled streets until I was in front of the cathedral. I did it! There were about a dozen of us there, smiling, taking each other’s pictures. I’ve completed the pilgrimage! Nothing was left but to bring my stamped cards in and get my Compostela. It’s all done now. This body and these feet just walked across the entire breadth of Spain. I feel great. My feet don’t even hurt today. NOTHING hurts! I’m just so happy! I even got a tattoo on my ankle to commemorate the experience. It will remind me that I’m really always on a Camino.
I did everything I set my intention to do. I grieved and celebrated the past and I’ve set my sites on my future. I’m now a broad abroad for the unforeseeable future!
THANK YOUS
Thank you Eli. I could never have produced this blog without your help. The website was an absolute mystery to me. You managed to sort through my pictures and match them to the writing and make it all look beautiful.
Thank you Courtney for letting me store so many boxes of my stuff in your garage, and thank you Tim for hauling them all up on the high shelf. You have both been unfailingly generous as my “only a few boxes” grew to at least 10 and even more as I mail extra things back.
Thank you Jessica and Hugo for your calls and texts as you followed my “blue dot” across Spain and cheered me on!
Thank you Jill for the long FaceTime chats that kept me feeling connected.
And thanks to everyone reading this and messaging me! Your support has really meant everything to me!
I’m going to take a short break from writing and posting while I relax for a bit in Seville and Granada. I’m definitely planning to write from South Africa and Egypt.
New posts coming in Nov.
