Day 35: Lavacolla to Santiago (Guendolinam’s version)

 Everything Bob said is factual, so I won’t repeat the story of our walk to Santiago, only to add that much of it was disappointingly similar to the walk into other biggish cities, standard suburban and urban sprawl fare. I also found that while Bob had an extra spring in his step today, I kept unintentionally walking more slowly, apparently unwilling to have the walk end.

On the outskirts of town, we passed rows upon rows of what looked like bunkers. Bob hypothesized they were military, government, or industrial buildings. I guessed an albergue. When we came to the heart of the complex and saw they had a laundromat, store, cafe, restaurant, and farmacia, we knew I was right. We later passed two pilgrims squatting outside one building with an open door, next to lines of drying laundry. I’m grateful we are staying in the complete opposite to the albergue bunkers—a parador. 

The Parador dos Reís Católicos was commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1499 as a pilgrim’s hospital. (By the way, Ferdinand and Isabella also commissioned one Cristobal Colon to find a new route to the East Indies.)  It’s huge, with four inner courtyards that twist us around every time we leave our room. The heavy oak doors and deep stone windows and thick hallway carpets are oddly comforting. The hotel is not just for pilgrims now, of course, though they do offer a substantial discount to pilgrims, which is cool. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the parador. 

The hotel overlooks the giant plaza where the pilgrims gather in front of the cathedral, taking congratulatory photos, meeting up with fellow travelers, resting against the stone pillars of the surrounding buildings or just in small heaps of bodies and backpacks strewn across the plaza.

After we took our first photos, we wandered down a side street to get our Compostela. We had no wait at all, which is another benefit of coming  near the end of the season. We’ve heard stories of people not getting their certificate until the next day when there’s a big crush. 

The kind volunteer from Ohio checked my stamps from the journey carefully, commenting on some of her favorites (a hedgehog!), and gave me a sincere congratulations many times. I will admit it was a little emotional. By the time we checked in to the parador, I felt overwhelmed, not quite able to take it in that we were/are really done.

We did a bit of souvenir shopping this afternoon at a shop I’d read about that only carries crafts from local artisans. We had lunch at a place the shop worker recommended, away from the tourist center, then spent a couple of hours on a rooftop and tower tour of the cathedral. It was amazing and something we would never, ever be allowed to do in the U.S. We were literally walking around on the stone roof with a tour guide, who explained the architectural history of the building to us, first in Spanish, then in English.

Tomorrow, we’ll go to the pilgrim’s mass at 9:30, where it’s rumored they will swing the botafumeiro. We heard this from David, a 75-year old pilgrim we had dinner with last night. His was a fascinating (Silicon Valley tech startup kind of fascinating) and sad tale. He’s here to recuperate, it seems, since his wife, who got early-onset Alzheimer’s at 62, and for whom he’s been the caregiver for 8 hard years, finally went into a care facility. She’s Norwegian, so they moved to Norway in large part because the healthcare system is so much better there. The Camino has been a healing release for him.

But next up for us: Champagne toasts and a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant! And after mass tomorrow, I’ll get a much-deserved and anticipated pilgrim’s massage.