Some of the gifts of the Camino.

We officially walked into Santiago on Monday, September 24 which completed our Camino goal. But oddly enough we didn’t quite feel finished walking.

Coming into Santiago the first time felt overwhelming. We saw friends who we had met along the way which was wonderful. We wondered where to go and get our certificate, where our hotel was, how to help get Brian, our now good friend and traveling companion, to the airport. This had been our goal and something we had anticipated and thought about everyday for 40 days and it was hard to take it all in. So we decided the next day to keep walking because we knew how to do that by now. It felt good to leave Santiago the same way we had come in with our feet. We walked the first day toward Finisterre then decided to take a bus the next day. We went to Muxía, a coastal fishing village and walked the coast to Finisterre the following day, which turned out to be our longest walking day of the Camino. Somehow that seemed a fitting end on our journey to the “end of the world”. Finisterre is called “the end of the world” and it felt like it when we reached the lighthouse. The next day we took the bus back to Santiago and this time we fully soaked in the scene around the plaza facing the cathedral.

Curiously we thought we still wanted to keep walking and had time, so we got on a bus and took it to A Guarda, the most southern coastal town in Spain. We spent the night and in the morning walked into Portugal and planned on walking to Porto, another five days, but that turned out to be our last day of long distance walking. We both felt a little sick, maybe some seafood we ate, but mostly we just felt done.

We rented a car in Porto and went to Aviero and rested on the beach for 3 days. It was wonderful! It was the first time we had spent 3 nights in one place since we left Seattle.

So that was our Camino experience. We are still reflecting on it and on all that we learned and experienced.

One of the most significant gifts we received on the Camino was all the people we met. I call some of them trail angels because they seemed to appear at exactly the right time and provide the words, encouragement or support we needed in that moment.

Another huge gift of the Camino feels like time. When you walk for an extended period on a path that is clearly marked out for you, (in most places) you have a lot of time to think. Your mind is free to wander and dream and rest from planning and organizing. That was a gift and something we hope to try to remember and incorporate into our lives.