Santiago!

The end of El Camino, the church in Santiago

Celebrating Spanish mass with pilgrims from around the world.

Streets of Santiago, ready for the celebration.

Finally in Lisbon, ready to return home.

After Leon, we left our good friend Marcus to skip ahead to Sarria to finish the final five days of El Camino.  In order to receive a certificate of completion from the church, you are required to get at least two stamps per day on the final 5 days.  Stamps are given out at albergues when you spend the night and at churches and other stopping points along the way.

We were all growing road weary and the girls were starting to get home sick and miss their friends.  I didn't think that we could last much more than 5 more days on the road and prior to Sarria, there were plenty of hills and difficult days with few good stopping points.  So, we took a train to Sarria that was packed with pilgrims, most of whom were just starting their journey.

Arriving in Sarria, there was an immediate change in the atmosphere.  People seemed much more religious and were attending pilgrims mass at the local church.  Earlier on, very few pilgrims were attending mass or praying before meals.  The albergue that we spent the night at had a group of nine that prayed for about 15 minutes prior to dinner.  It seemed that the people who wanted to complete this leg of the pilgrimage were more focused on the religious significance of El Camino.

We felt like the experienced pilgrims in the crowd with over 2 weeks of walking experience.  There were a lot of groups with matching t-shirts and for the first time we saw lots of groups of junior high and high school kids traveling together.  We started the day at 6:30 and were the first ones on the trail, setting a brisk pace.  About 30 minutes into our day, Julie gets a panicked look on her face and says "I forgot my I-pad!"  She checks her pack, and sure enough, it was missing.  We raced back to the albergue passing many puzzled pilgrims wondering why we were going the wrong way.  After waking up the owner of the albergue, we retrieved the I-pad and set off again, this time later than most of the pilgrims and with 3 miles already walked.  At least we knew what to expect.

Stopping at the first cafe for breakfast, we were shocked at how nice the facilities were for eating.  The bathrooms had soap, paper towels and toilet paper, a first for El Camino!  This was definitely a different Camino.  There were small cafes about every 2 miles, plenty of places to rest, and the weather was cooperating with low 80's.  With our late start, we were forced to eat lunch on the road, which extended our day by an hour.  My shoulder was starting to hurt again and I took a couple of advil.

We continued on our way, and my left should continued to get worse to the point where I couldn't put any weight on it at all.  I carried my pack with my hips and right shoulder, but my left shoulder continue to get worse.  We finally found the town to spend the night and there was a giant stair case to climb.  I needed to rest for 10 minutes before even attempting to climb the stairs.  At the top of the stairs was the albergue where we planned to spend the night, but it was sold out as were all of the other albergues.  We would have to spend the night in a hotel for the first time since Pamplona.  The manager at the albergue warned us that this would be the norm for the remainder of the Camino.

Gisela made the argument that it was time to end our walking.  My shoulder was only getting worse and this was after a rest day in Leon.  Julie's knees were no better.  We were breaking down.  I tried to persuade her that we could continue, but at the same time, she had a point.  No since risking a significant injury when we had already walked for more than two weeks, our original plan.  I was willing to cut the pilgrimage short if we could get a flight home earlier, a near impossible task since we were traveling on an award ticket with reduced mileage.  I searched the United Airlines site and there was one day in the next two months that was available, in 4 days, Saturday out of Lisbon.  It was time to go home.

The following day we took a car into Santiago.  The town was alive as it was the eve of the festival of St. James.  We attending mass at noon, standing room only, with hundreds of other pilgrims.  We walked the town and celebrated the ending of our walk.  Although we didn't complete the last 5 days, we felt accomplished in what we set out to do.  We had walked for 2 and a half weeks, covering about 170 miles, averaging 10 miles per day.  Our kids matured and took charge of situations.  It was more than we ever imagined.

As we arrived in Porto that night, we heard news of the train derailment in Santiago.  The grand celebration of St. James was replaced with three days of mourning for the loss of 80 lives.  In a way, I'm glad that we weren't completing El Camino after the tragedy as that would be the focus of conversation amongst the pilgrims.  We had picked the right time to head home, giving us a couple of days in Lisbon to relax and unwind from our walk.

It's difficult to summarize the pilgrimage as there were so many different positive aspects;  spending time as a family, meeting people from around the globe, the physical challenge, time to think, allowing our kids to take charge.  We will value this experience and know that it has changed our kids lives, opening them up to more challenges and adventures.