LIVE from the Camino Is it just me???

[mexicokid99]

I am a fit 66 year old and just finished my first Camino 844 km from Irun on the Northern Way...I have been so strong and so great until the very last day I had 18 km to do to get to the Cathedral and I dragged my sorry body every single km when I rounded the corner into the square saw the hordes of tourists and pilgrims and the whole front of the church covered in scaffolding all emotions all thoughts of an accomplishment left me I felt nothing. I stayed a minute then went to my hotel where i spent two days really just sleeping and I have still not been inside the church....I am going to the coast by bus on sunday but just wondered if others had these feelings Les

 

[Leaningforward]

Les,

I struggled to walk to Santiago, too, and felt disappointed when I saw the cathedral from a distance and felt no emotion. It wasn't until I reached the north side of the cathedral (in front of the Hospederia San Martin Pinario) that I was overcome by emotion -- and then, only briefly, before I walked on past a (really awful) bagpiper and encountered a man (dressed like a wizard) who wanted to sell me a CD he proclaimed held the "music of the camino" (I declined his offer, pointing to my heart, saying "no, the music of the camino is here".

For me, the emotion came slowly, in bits and pieces, as I lingered in Santiago for a few days: at masses, on a tour of the roof of the cathedral, searching gift shops in vain for some thing that would be a worthy reminder of my camino, and at Finisterre, when I reached the 0 km marker and steps descending to the lighthouse.

Get up and out in the city. For you, the emotion and feeling may come a bit later as you recall the places you walked and people you met and music you heard and foods you ate.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Pilgrims have to share Santiago. Thirty years ago there were almost no pilgrims, who were more the intruder than the norm. One of the things we can control on a camino is our attitude. Everything else is out of our control.

 

[simply B]

MK -

I can relate totally to your experience.

I felt nothing

On my first Camino, that is exactly how it was. I did push myself into the Cathedral for Mass and walked the town for a day before walking onto to Muxia and Finisterre and back.

It was upon my return to SdC that everything seemed to come together.

Though it was a bit overwhelming, I hope that you can have the same experience.

Good luck!

B

 

[indyinmaine]

I'm sure everyone's is different and I sort of agree about the crowds but I remember the day vividly. It had poured all day, we were drenched, but even after stopping at our hotel (it was on the way) I felt the need to "finish" that day. We didn't go around to the front so entered by the side door. As I went down the steps I could feel my legs starting to shake and feel unsteady. I didn't make it much past the outside door, knelt in one of the pews and sobbed for at least 10 minutes. Yes, there were others around but somehow it didn't matter. I was there and had fulfilled my promise to myself to walk the entire way. I'll never forget it.

 

[Magwood]

I recall feeling overcome with emotion when entering the cathedral last year on completion of the Frances route, but I felt nothing for the city in the rather miserable weather. Early the next morning my daughter and I set off for Finisterre and five days later we spent a fabulous day relaxing by the sea. I slept longer than I can recall since I was a teenager (too many years ago). We returned to Santiago and I had an enforced stay of four days which I wasn't looking forward to. But like @Leaningforward I discovered a huge joy in just being there, enjoying the cathedral inside and out, including the roof (which is a spectacular tour) and just soaking up the atmosphere of a pedestrianised, unrushed, laid back city. I loved the place - the sunshine may have affected my feelings!

When I arrived this year after walking the camino Portuguese, I was very disappointed to see the cathedral cloaked in scaffolding and walked straight to the side door where I expected to be denied entrance due to my backpack. However I was allowed in by a kind security man and found a place just inside the door to hear the pilgrims' mass coming to an end, and then to my delight preparations being made for the botafumeiro to be swung. I was once again overcome with emotion and felt very 'special' that everything had fallen into place so well.

Give Santiago and the cathedral another chance on your return, you won't regret it. There are four sides to the cathedral - they are all beautiful.

Congratulations on completing your camino.

 

[Magwood]

As a post script to my reply above, here is a link to the video I took of the botafumeiro swing. My big disappointment was that the nun with the most amazing voice who sang last year was not in evidence this year - may be she had a sore throat. Unfortunately even someone without a musical ear can hear that not is all as it should be with the singing, but the music - as always - stirs great emotions in this pilgrim's heart!

 

[wayfarer]

Funnily enough I felt a sense of anticlimax when I reached the Cathedral in 2012, I don't really know what I expected but I got more from meeting my wife, and my Camino family who had walked with me on and off for thirty four days. After getting my compostela and having a shower we went to the twelve oclock mass and I really enjoyed this, even though I am not a regular mass goer, the feeling of camaraderie and community in the church was great.
Give it time Mexicokid, it will come.

 

[mspath]

Memories from first arriving in Santiago de Compostela, November 16, 2004. --

Up before dawn for this conclusive day I hoisted my pack and excitedly set off to cover the final 18 k. The camino led through the woods and on country lanes. Villages appeared more frequently and grew larger. At Lavacolla the pilgrims’ world and the contemporary collided. Named for the act of washing one’s bottom, during the Middle Ages this riverside was the last cleansing place, before entry into the great city. The obligatory stop was a pilgrim rite, both physical and spiritual. Today the trail still passes the river, but both abut one runway of the international airport! Culture shock!

At Vilamayor two teenagers tended an information bureau. Noticing my bruised forehead and broken glasses they asked “how long have you been walking?” “Seven weeks exactly” I replied. Delighted, they smiled broadly, clapped hands and said “Oh, happy, happy day! You are almost there! Buen Camino!”

I climbed the last hill, Monte del Gozo or Mount Joy. Across the centuries pilgrims arriving here with great happiness saw at last the cathedral towers on the horizon. Sadly what had been a verdant hillside is now a giant complex with 3000 beds for pilgrims. Quickly rushing past in search of my first view of the city I was chagrined to realize that today this eastern approach is filled with post war construction, hardly a legendary ‘city on the hill’.

The Camino followed the calle de los Concheiros (after conca or shell), rua de San Pedro and finally entered the medieval city through the Puerta del Camino. My heart beat faster as I hurried along the narrow pedestrian lanes, rua Casas Reales, rua das Animas and plaza Azabacheria (after jet jewelry craftsmen).

And there it was! The cathedral! Here I was at last! Oh happy, happy day!

Overcome with emotion I put my hand on the stone. Suddenly the giant bells began to ring; the sound was majestic. I did not enter then, but searched for the pilgrim office. The assistant reviewed my Credencial with all its varied stamps representing each day’s stop on my journey, marked it with one final stamp, and issued the treasured Compostela which stated in Latin that I had devotedly completed the pilgrimage.
Again I cried.

When at last I entered the cathedral through the great western portal I walked down the dim barrel-vaulted nave towards the altar. The congregation was assembling for mass. Other pilgrims whom I had met along the camino were present; we nodded, silently smiled and gestured a euphoric thumbs up, not wanting to break the sacred silence. ...After mass I sat alone in the cathedral for a long time and slowly began to realize that my dream was fulfilled. My camino had now become a memory, but a memory I shall treasure forever.

Margaret Meredith

 

[Deleted member 3000]

1,348 compostelas today. Despite the tourists, there are a lot of pilgrims who have shared the experience.

 

[Olivia Luna]

Memories from first arriving in Santiago de Compostela, November 16, 2004. --

My camino had now become a memory, but a memory I shall treasure forever.

Margaret Meredith

 

[Olivia Luna]

Yes to all that you wrote and then some!

Truthfully, when I saw the cathedral, I cried, heat exhaustion being only one of the reasons for the tears. The joy of accomplishment tears did not hit me until I hit the bed (with boots and pack still on and a trekking pole still hanging from my wrist) at San Martin del Pinario and took in the simple yet glorious room with a view of stones of age and history...

My husband sat on the other bed, exhausted and in pain from shin splints and then looked at me with the silliest of grins, high-fived me, and said, "we did it kiddo"

I not just cried, I laughed and laughed and laughed while the tears tracked down my face

 

[Icacos]

I am a fit 66 year old and just finished my first Camino 844 km from Irun on the Northern Way...I have been so strong and so great until the very last day I had 18 km to do to get to the Cathedral and I dragged my sorry body every single km when I rounded the corner into the square saw the hordes of tourists and pilgrims and the whole front of the church covered in scaffolding all emotions all thoughts of an accomplishment left me I felt nothing. I stayed a minute then went to my hotel where i spent two days really just sleeping and I have still not been inside the church....I am going to the coast by bus on sunday but just wondered if others had these feelings Les

You are not alone. I, too, dragged myself into Santiago that last day. I had not slept well the night before, I was suffering from a sore throat and, what I learned later, was ‘the Camino cough’. It was raining, and had been for days. It was definitely culture shock seeing the crowds in front of the Cathedral and that in-your-face guy selling CD’s. I had walked from SJPP, with the exception of a taxi / bus ride from Villalcázar to Leόn, and another taxi ride from Villafranca to Laguna, but I still felt a fraud collecting my Compostela because I could not summon up the emotion that I probably should have felt upon receiving it. (I realize this last bit must seem blasphemous to some, but it probably had more to do with what I was dealing with at the time, than any attitude one might attribute to me.) Having said all this, I will admit that the highlight of my stay in Santiago was the Mass at the Cathedral the next day, hearing the nuns practice their singing in a nearby convent, the camaraderie I shared with my Camino family, and the wonderful interaction we had with the locals, including the very understanding young lady at the travel agency when, in my effort to flee the ceaseless rain (and I am no stranger to rain) I asked her to please get me to Barcelona the following day – where, by the way, I enjoyed three days of glorious sunshine before I got my flight home.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed my Camino, it’s just that it all sort of fell apart on the last day. Now, not a day goes by that I don’t dream of returning, and I think that at the first opportunity I will be off like a shot. I just feel that I have to wait for the ‘call’ – that call that I got so loud and clear the first time, the one that precipitated my first Camino. I keep reading to the effect that one never finishes one’s Camino. I hope that on my next Camino I will be able to give more of myself than I was able to give the first time and I guess it follows that if I were able to give more of myself, I will be able to receive more of what there is to receive.

Les, I hope that on your journey to the coast you are able to find what it is you are seeking. It may take a while, but I know you will find it eventually. Best wishes to you. Please let us know how you make out.

 

[Kanga]

For me there is never a let-down because the point of my whole Camino is to worship at the tomb of St James.

Yes, I know the doubts, I know it is quite illogical, quite lacking in reason, but that is what I choose to believe. So really, nothing else matters; not the place itself, nor the con artists, nor whether the liturgy is uplifting, nor the banality of tourists buses and scaffolding. Superstitious nonsense but to see the sarcophagus and give the Apostle a hug always brings me joy.

 

[Kitsambler]

It's not just Arrival at Santiago. Having completed four walks so far (3 weeks ending at Cahors, 3 weeks ending at SJPP, 4 weeks ending at Nuremberg, 4 weeks ending at Einsiedeln), this is a consistent experience for me. And also I imagine for many others. No more the regular, quiet, systematic routine of the walk, with its steady daily pattern, few decisions to be made, quiet woods and rural farmland, small and uncomplicated towns along the way. Now all of a sudden there is chaos! cars! distraction! noise! decisions needed! I'm always in a state of shock when I arrive at the end of a walk. How can things be so very commercial? How can life be so entirely different, so quickly? I imagine the pilgrims of old had a similar feeling, wandering around with mouths agape at it all.
Cherish that last night before arrival. Finish your journals and blogs. Get ready for the change that's coming.

 

[C clearly]

There is another thread about whether an advance reconnaissance is wise. As it happened, I saw Santiago and the cathedral before walking any of the camino. Then I walked from Astorga and now I am planning a longer one. While I have a tiny thought that I've read the last page of the book already, twice, I also think that my expectations have been moderated and I am ready to be more relaxed and open to the experience, whatever it is.

 

[OzAnnie]

I am a fit 66 year old and just finished my first Camino 844 km from Irun on the Northern Way...I have been so strong and so great until the very last day I had 18 km to do to get to the Cathedral and I dragged my sorry body every single km when I rounded the corner into the square saw the hordes of tourists and pilgrims and the whole front of the church covered in scaffolding all emotions all thoughts of an accomplishment left me I felt nothing. I stayed a minute then went to my hotel where i spent two days really just sleeping and I have still not been inside the church....I am going to the coast by bus on sunday but just wondered if others had these feelings Les

Hola Mexico kid
You've done so well ! It is just that it ended.
All comes down to your expectations. Not many of us see a 'blinding light', but believe me , it will slowly become part of you. 'The full bottle' that is, every step of the way and arrival - Why do we keep being drawn back.

Get out to the pilgrim office,- I hope you've been for your compostela. And a maybe just 'sit' and meditate in the cathedral for a while . You are weary and possibly need to share with someone there .Johnny walker has a list of many things to do while you are in Santiago

I'd love to hear how your Norte went for you ? A bit in awe of you actually. I'm hoping to walk the Norte in sept.
Let's here how you go
Buen Camino

 

[kmrice]

And there it was! The cathedral! Here I was at last! Oh happy, happy day! . . .

Overcome with emotion I put my hand on the stone. Suddenly the giant bells began to ring; the sound was majestic. . .

My camino had now become a memory, but a memory I shall treasure forever.

Margaret Meredith[/QUOTE

Margaret, what a beautiful post.

Karl

 

[homa_bird]

I remember meeting my birth mother for the first time after a decades long search for her, I was about 40 years old. I felt disappointment too. I think at the end of a long, long journey of the soul or of the foot, there can be a sense of disappointment, no matter how you have carefully schooled yourself away from feeling that way.

"No expectation, no disappointment" is a very wise saying, but almost impossible, I've found, to live. There are yearnings and idealistic hopes and fears hiding between heartbeats where you can't call them out. But that's precisely why these long, difficult journeys are so important. We get down to what's in the shadows, because we opened ourselves up for the search, or the walk, or the climb...

 

[trevorcc]

After 8 days in hospital looking at the cathedral towers from a distance I cried as the cathedral and the pilgrim office represented the journey not the end. As I walked the town I was in great admiration for all those past, present and future pilgrims who come to pay hommage to St James. I am back again in 6 weeks.

 

[Linda SLP]

We were told on our roof tour that the North entrance (the one you come to first, on the left side of the catedral), is actually the original pilgrim's entrance (and the south door is the Pilgrim's exit). I'm assuming that is why the Botafumeiro swings that way (to fumigate us!). The West doors (the main entrance off the Plaza de Obradoiro) is the one we associate with arrival now. And it did take a couple days for me to feel like I'd really arrived. I was glad we had a few days in Santiago (including a bus tour to Finesterre and the Costa de Muerte).

I'm sure everyone's is different and I sort of agree about the crowds but I remember the day vividly. It had poured all day, we were drenched, but even after stopping at our hotel (it was on the way) I felt the need to "finish" that day. We didn't go around to the front so entered by the side door. As I went down the steps I could feel my legs starting to shake and feel unsteady. I didn't make it much past the outside door, knelt in one of the pews and sobbed for at least 10 minutes. Yes, there were others around but somehow it didn't matter. I was there and had fulfilled my promise to myself to walk the entire way. I'll never forget it.

We were told on our roof tour that the North entrance (the one you come to first, on the left side of the catedral), is actually the original pilgrim's entrance (and the south door is the Pilgrim's exit). I'm assuming that is why the Botafumeiro swings that way (to fumigate us!). The West doors (the main entrance off the Plaza de Obradoiro) is the one we associate with arrival now. And it did take a couple days for me to feel like I'd really arrived. I was glad we had a few days in Santiago (including a bus tour to Finesterre and the Costa de Muerte).

 

[CatherineAnn]

The guy blasting the bag pipes was a bit jarring for my tired, hot, weary bones to take. As I ambled into the plaza and looked up at the Cathedral, nothing..... same as you! The next day I went inside the Cathedral, pleasant, but not much going on. The next day, I hugged St James and my socks were on fire and I never wanted to let go. You just don't know when the stars or Soul will align. Thanks for sharing you experience!

 

[david g]

I remember the final day of walking, a part of me full of anxious energy, wanting to HURRY UP AND GET THERE!, the other, more rational part saying to slow down, drag my feet, relax and enjoy the moment. Coming around the corner these two ideas collided and I couldn't help but cry. Ecstatic tears for having succeeded in such an undertaking and for reconnecting with fellow pilgrims who had arrived before me, and tears of sadness because it was finished and I'd soon have to re-enter the real world. However, my son was less moved by it all, perhaps because of his age. Whereas I felt emotion immediately, he didn't seem to feel as much, until after we had arrived back home. Maybe that's what it will be for you, MexicoKid. A slow growing awareness and appreciation for all that the Camino is.

 

[Vincentayd]

I am a fit 66 year old and just finished my first Camino 844 km from Irun on the Northern Way...I have been so strong and so great until the very last day I had 18 km to do to get to the Cathedral and I dragged my sorry body every single km when I rounded the corner into the square saw the hordes of tourists and pilgrims and the whole front of the church covered in scaffolding all emotions all thoughts of an accomplishment left me I felt nothing. I stayed a minute then went to my hotel where i spent two days really just sleeping and I have still not been inside the church....I am going to the coast by bus on sunday but just wondered if others had these feelings Les

 

[Vincentayd]

Scaffolding is undoubtedly a huge eyesore and I can appreciate your disappointment. I came across a similar situation in Rome at St. Peter's . The beauty of the Camino is found on the path and especially in the people you meet along the way. The Santiago Cathedral is even more beautiful in the inside, so try to get past the work outside. Buen Camino

 

[Al the optimist]

For me there is never a let-down because the point of my whole Camino is to worship at the tomb of St James.

Yes, I know the doubts, I know it is quite illogical, quite lacking in reason, but that is what I choose to believe. So really, nothing else matters; not the place itself, nor the con artists, nor whether the liturgy is uplifting, nor the banality of tourists buses and scaffolding. Superstitious nonsense but to see the sarcophagus and give the Apostle a hug always brings me joy.

Same for me Kanga. I was close to tears talking to the two Irish Amigos in the Pilgrim's office after receiving my first Compostela. I spent most of the service with mixed emotions but when I visited the tomb all was good in my life. Kneling there and praying you are sometimes consious of the parade of people passing behind you, some hardly breaking stride. What are they gaining I wonder? Are they just doing it as a tourist and missing out?

 

[xin loi]

Everyone we talked to were disappointed to end up at the side of the church. They should change the yellow arrows so that pilgrims enter the courtyard in front of the church. Saw the bagpiper and the Wizard and maybe they really do belong there--it is a Druid pilgrimage after all. Got my "Get out Of Hell" Compostella and hope it works, but in general, the ending in Santiago was not as dramatic as expected--nothing like walking into Machu Picchu or Tikal or Chitzen Itza where one senses that one is truly in the presence of Gods.

 

[fernandezr]

Memories from first arriving in Santiago de Compostela, November 16, 2004. --

Up before dawn for this conclusive day I hoisted my pack and excitedly set off to cover the final 18 k. The camino led through the woods and on country lanes. Villages appeared more frequently and grew larger. At Lavacolla the pilgrims’ world and the contemporary collided. Named for the act of washing one’s bottom, during the Middle Ages this riverside was the last cleansing place, before entry into the great city. The obligatory stop was a pilgrim rite, both physical and spiritual. Today the trail still passes the river, but both abut one runway of the international airport! Culture shock!

At Vilamayor two teenagers tended an information bureau. Noticing my bruised forehead and broken glasses they asked “how long have you been walking?” “Seven weeks exactly” I replied. Delighted, they smiled broadly, clapped hands and said “Oh, happy, happy day! You are almost there! Buen Camino!”

I climbed the last hill, Monte del Gozo or Mount Joy. Across the centuries pilgrims arriving here with great happiness saw at last the cathedral towers on the horizon. Sadly what had been a verdant hillside is now a giant complex with 3000 beds for pilgrims. Quickly rushing past in search of my first view of the city I was chagrined to realize that today this eastern approach is filled with post war construction, hardly a legendary ‘city on the hill’.

The Camino followed the calle de los Concheiros (after conca or shell), rua de San Pedro and finally entered the medieval city through the Puerta del Camino. My heart beat faster as I hurried along the narrow pedestrian lanes, rua Casas Reales, rua das Animas and plaza Azabacheria (after jet jewelry craftsmen).

And there it was! The cathedral! Here I was at last! Oh happy, happy day!

Overcome with emotion I put my hand on the stone. Suddenly the giant bells began to ring; the sound was majestic. I did not enter then, but searched for the pilgrim office. The assistant reviewed my Credencial with all its varied stamps representing each day’s stop on my journey, marked it with one final stamp, and issued the treasured Compostela which stated in Latin that I had devotedly completed the pilgrimage.
Again I cried.

When at last I entered the cathedral through the great western portal I walked down the dim barrel-vaulted nave towards the altar. The congregation was assembling for mass. Other pilgrims whom I had met along the camino were present; we nodded, silently smiled and gestured a euphoric thumbs up, not wanting to break the sacred silence. ...After mass I sat alone in the cathedral for a long time and slowly began to realize that my dream was fulfilled. My camino had now become a memory, but a memory I shall treasure forever.

Margaret Meredith

Margaret: That was beautiful.
Robert Fernandez

 

[lfamiglio]

Hello everyone and especially Mexicokid,

The Camino world changed for me at about Sarria. The feel of the villages changed. They were no longer as Camino centric; less isolated from the global business world. Fewer little Churches and less often open. Many more short trippers and tour groups. Groups of Spanish teens partying their way to Santiago.

I adjusted. We (I came to think of my camino family as the pilgrims on camino for a month already by then) all adjusted and turned inward a bit more.

Santiago did not flash for us at first but we gave it time. We Visited the cathedral repeatedly and stopped to say hello and congratulations to anyone we recognized. We started talking camino talk to anyone and everyone who wanted to talk. We gave wide berth to the jarring too loud street musicians and sat quietly with St James. We took a guided tour of the portico of glory. Then it really hit us in a deep but quiet and subtle way.
We were pilgrims of St James.

It was not tears and revelation. It is deep sensations and experiences felt in wordless ways. It was the gift of time and being on camino.

It is not just you. Camino is not captured easily in words, is not easily understood or felt and not completed just by arriving in Santiago.

Linda

 

[indyinmaine]

Hello everyone and especially Mexicokid,

The Camino world changed for me at about Sarria. The feel of the villages changed. They were no longer as Camino centric; less isolated from the global business world. Fewer little Churches and less often open. Many more short trippers and tour groups. Groups of Spanish teens partying their way to Santiago.

I adjusted. We (I came to think of my camino family as the pilgrims on camino for a month already by then) all adjusted and turned inward a bit more.

Santiago did not flash for us at first but we gave it time. We Visited the cathedral repeatedly and stopped to say hello and congratulations to anyone we recognized. We started talking camino talk to anyone and everyone who wanted to talk. We gave wide berth to the jarring too loud street musicians and sat quietly with St James. We took a guided tour of the portico of glory. Then it really hit us in a deep but quiet and subtle way.
We were pilgrims of St James.

It was not tears and revelation. It is deep sensations and experiences felt in wordless ways. It was the gift of time and being on camino.

It is not just you. Camino is not captured easily in words, is not easily understood or felt and not completed just by arriving in Santiago.

Linda

"Camino is not captured easily in words, . . ". I would go even further and say, "The Camino can not be captured in words".

 

[mexicokid99]

Margaret: That was beautiful.
Robert Fernandez

"Camino is not captured easily in words, . . ". I would go even further and say, "The Camino can not be captured in words".

Well it is now exactly one week since i walked into the square and wrote that post...I leave tomorrow until Monday I did not go into the cathderal...Yesterday I took the bus to Muxia and it was a wonderful day most of my gear found it's way into the ocean and i cried for over an hour...tears of joy and I sand Amazing grace as loud as I could...this morning i took the self aduio tour, attened the 12 noon Mass which included the swinging and i am at peace...I know now why I did the Camino and I know now what it has done and will do for me...thanks for all your replies as a side note i just wonder if my lack of strength last week was due to three bed bites I received one is still very nasty but happy to report that I feel strong and 100 % again and ready to walk but just not going to yet................les

 

[wayfarer]

As I said mexicokid, if you give it time it will come. I am so glad it all worked out for you.

 

[MichaelSG]

hmmmm, I had sort of a different experience. Here is part of my journal from the day:
30 September – Vilamaior > Monte do Gozo > San Lazarus > Santiago (8.5km, 1 ¾ hours)
It’s an easy stroll today and I even climb the mount to Pope John Paul’s monument to get something of a view of the cathedral in the valley below. I now share the same joy with the many millions of pilgrims who came before me. We practically skip the way into town through the modern outskirts and into the ancient old town. It’s a walk back in history. When we eventually reach the side of the cathedral on our left, we are slightly confused for a moment as to which of these glorious edifices is in fact the cathedral. We keep following the crowds though, past a piper, into the Plaza de Obradoiro and then we see the most beautiful building we have ever seen. There are many tourists but also many pilgrims, hugging, posing, crying, laughing, smiling from ear to ear, everything. There are some pilgrims for whom this is not the end. They plan to walk to Finisterra or Muxia on the coast. That’s not the same for Melanie and myself. I would love to be walking tomorrow too but this was always our goal and we are here. We enjoy just hanging out near the cathedral meeting up with all the people we have seen along the trail. We arrived at the cathedral just in time to sneak in at the end of an earlier mass and see the botafumeiro swing. It was a tremendously emotional experience but no tears, which I expected. Later we see the indentation on the entrance column, made by the grateful hands of millions of those who proceeded us. Again, tremendously emotional but no tears. In the evening, we went to get our compostella (certificate of completion) from the Pilgrims’ Office. When the amigo asked where we started our walk, I proudly say “St. Jean Pied do Port in France”. He further asks if I walked the whole way and that hits the button. I burst into tears and reply through the sobs, “every step of the Way”.

 

[jmcarp]

From the earliest days on the Camino I started formulating in my mind the scenario for my arrival at the Cathedral. Big mistake! I had this preconceived notion of a big emotional moment, and when the reality of first standing in the square before the Cathedral actually took place, I have to admit that it was nothing like I had imagined. Emotional? Yes, but not in the way I had imagined. There's an old saying that if you wish to make God laugh, tell him your plans. So true. His plan for my arrival and experience in Santiago was, while not totally different from my imagined scenario, in the end turned out to be a much richer experience than the few tears I shed in the plaza. It was what took place in the few days after my arrival that I learned the true lessons of the Camino. So I guess my advice for current and future pilgrims would be to not overthink what you will experience when you finally arrive in Santiago. Spend the time walking just experiencing the sights and sounds of the Camino and the people you meet, and remember that every one of them is there -- in your Camino -- for a reason, just as you are in theirs for a reason. Let go and let God, and when you reach Santiago (or maybe a few days or weeks later) you'll hear your message.

Jim

 

[tploomis]

I remember feeling a sense of sadness that the walk was over. It was never really about the destination for me. I always had a sense of detachment from the mythologies surrounding Santiago and St. James and their present day representations. The fanfare of Santiago, the bagpipes, the people in costumes, the gargoyled church, the milling crowds of tourists, the hawkers, all had a medieval fair flavor to it, a happening I felt disconnected from, as though I had arrived at a party where I did not feel I belonged. I stood in the square in front of the cathedral and understood that this adventure was over the same way everything else ends eventually, and that was sad for me.

 

[Peter Hulme]

Les that is exactly how I felt,I suspect in my case I realised the walk was the emotional bit and the end was just end of a wonderful journey.

 

[Kanga]

This is a great thread. Wonderful human stories.

 

[musicman]

The last few KM into S de C are totally uninspiring,drab streets, could be anywhere
until you enter the Old City.
That' s a place to stop....have a beer, Tinto Verano, whatever.
Then make your way to the Square, realising there will be hundreds of others,
particularly in the Summer,Thank God, else where would the money for the renovations
come from!?
Sure, the Cathedral is important to every Pelegrino, but there is more to S de C than that
and surely far more to your Caminho - the friends, the service, the kindness you gave
and received along the Way.

Guess you were both physically and emotionally fatigued.
Hopefully, given time, you will look back on all the aspects of the Way
with joy and are busy preparing your next!
Best check when the scaffolding comes down

 

[pilgrim b]

This is a great thread. Wonderful human stories.

I agree Kanga, I even wept tears of joy at some of them, Amazing Grace indeed.

 

[gidivet]

I did not anticipate the emotions I would experience when walking into Santiago. My body coped quite well up to Portomarin. After that my knees really got painful, I had a cold, and missed my Camino friends. Walking the last few days was an anticlimax and a struggle.

Nevertheless, when I walked the last few miles through the streets of Santiago the emotions hit me out of the blue. I stood on the square in front of the cathedral for half an hour before I could bring the tears under control. I was totally exhausted and overwhelmed with the experience.

It was good that I stayed on for nearly a week after finishing the walk, and was able to see many more of my camino friends arriving in the square. We ate together, talked about our experiences on the way and said our final good byes during that week. I left the city, knowing that it was finally over.

Or was it?

It took nearly 2 months for my feet to heal sufficiently to go out walking again. As soon as my feet hit the trail I knew I had to go back. I'm already checking my diary to see if I can sneak off, even just for a week, to spend some time on the Camino again.


SJPdP to Santiago de Compostela, April-June 2014