It’s hard to say how we felt about today and about our time on the Camino in general.
It’s impossible to deny there is a “feel” to the travel and travelers along The Way of Saint James. There is a sense of wonder and oneness among the travelers and a sense of history and devine faith in the many towns and villages along the way.
The Spanish countryside is remarkable and the path wanders through a beautiful land which begs to remain as it has been for centuries.
It’s hard to miss the significance of the tremendous number of “coincidental” meeting and conversations along the way. For these things all one can really say is “It was meant to be”.
How do you explain that of the hundreds of thousands of travelers along the way, few though our conversations may have been, an almost unrealistic portion of those we spoke with had a unique connection to Kenyan outreach? For these things all one can really say is “It was meant to be”.
On a very personal note it would be very hard for me not to say that I took our welcome to the final miles to Santiago as an omen for good.
Today as we began our final miles we did so under, as though entering Santiago through, the most magnificent full, beautiful and perfectly placed rainbow I have ever encountered. What a way to start our day!
Today was scheduled to be a short walk so as to put us into Santiago ahead of the rain and, hopefully, ahead of the crowd.
As we closed in on Santiago the pilgrimage seemed more real. From hotels, hostels and albergues pilgrims funneled into the final path to the Cathedral which was our unifying goal.
As we closed in on Santiago the pilgrimage seemed more real. From hotels, hostels and albergues pilgrims funneled into the final path to the Cathedral which was our unifying goal.
As we passed along one of the final paths I couldn’t help but think about the path itself. Worn deep by the millions of pilgrims who have left their mark in the soil and taken away a bit of “The Way” on their soles, wearing the path so deep that in many places the path is well below the surrounding forest. It’s easy to believe that these pilgrims carried away a part of “The Way” on their soles and an everlasting memory of “The Way” on their Souls.
When we arrived in the city limits of Santiago the way was not always marked as clearly on the city streets as it had been in the countryside and indications of distance to our goal was no longer placed on markers along the way. Our eyes continuously swept the horizon searching for the spires of the Cathedral and our first site of it was cause for joy.
Diagonally up and to the right of orange backpack was our first glimpse of the Cathedral, barely one kilometer away.
I wish I had a name and a photo of the lady in Santiago who saw us looking for a marker, a sign post. She saw our backpacks and trekking poles, the ever visible sea shell hanging from our packs, she pointed the way and said “only a kilometer now, Buen Camino”.
The streets were full and the rain had come, dampening the clothes of the incoming pilgrims but certainly not their spirits.
As we made entry into the halls where pilgrims and their pilgrimage were recorded we met others we had known along the trail and waited patiently for our turn to obtain or pilgrims certification.
The Camino brought us far more then we expected and we leave it with far more than you can imagine.
Buen Camino
