Farewell to my Amigos y Amigas

What can I say about my companions for the past weeks except "un mill gracias."  This journey was special because of all of you.  My life is fuller because of your stories, and my life is richer because of your friendship.

Windy Cities: we will see you again

Chica #4 and Chica #1, the pride of the Maple Leafers

Iron Man and Hollywood with Lorenzo. Rocky Mtn  High

Twinkle: My Favorite Peregrino

Tally Ho

Chica #2 and Chica #4

Repeat Customer and Lorenzo

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Southern Comforts; an inspiration in many ways

Chicho,  Ignacio and Lorenzo

My Perfect Traveling Companion

And of course, Jake made many friends along the way also!

This trek is dedicated to my old friend Jake, who has walked every step of the Camino with me.

Santiago, and now the real Journey of Life Begins

It is fitting that our last day before the final 5 kilometers into Santiago started as the sun rose up at Monte de Gozo (Mount Joy).  This is the spot where the first pilgrims saw the town of Santiago from this high peak and felt joy.  The two statues depict that joy and we are humbled in our sharing of it so many years later.

As I have done for the past 154 miles, i walked into town alone while the rest of the group moved ahead of me.  This gave me time to reflect a bit about the journey.  We were out earlier than most pilgrims and so it was a nice solitary walk.  There was a lot of emotion here. I did feel like Sinatra from "Pride and Passion" but I was making it alive.  Although I never thought of this as a competition, I did feel that finishing was a great accomplishment.  And also, while the finish was going to be tremendous, it was the journey that will be the most memorable.

As the morning grew later, more and more pilgrims started appearing on the road.  Much of the walk was through the city itself and pilgrims came out from their albergues and coffee shops, etc. to make it to the plaza where the cathedral stood.

Pilgrims in the Morning Making their Way

As I turned one corner, I could finally see the spire.  Soon I got a text from Peggy.  She was already there but wanted to know where I was.  She wanted to come back and walk in with me.  I never really thought about it but we had not really walked together on the Camino.  It was nice.

Walking In Together

Seeing the Spire

Biker Peregrinos at the Plaza

When we arrived, Lorenzo had been there earlier and went to the Cathedral.  We were going to be on time for the special Pilgrims' mass.  He had arranged a special VIP  seating in the crowded church for me and Peggy.  He had informed the Church that I was a Peregrino that made the journey on crutches.

I didn't know what VIP seating was. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in the chur ch.  When I arrived, Peg and I were led to seats behind a chained off area that was right in front of the altar, like twenty feet away and just below the Botafumeiro.  Wow...After the mass, the Archbishop came over, nodded at my crutches, and shook my hand with a smile.  I mean...Wow!

Yep, that's us right up front!!!

My friends seated at the Cathedral

Afterwards, I had to return to the hotel.  I was very tired.  Peg and I ran into Francesca, who was a German girl that she walked many miles with a few days before.  When she introduced me to her, she immediately knew who I was.  She had come in the final miles with my friend Bree from Ireland with whom I walked with earlier on the trail. Bree had just told her my story.  I thought how special this coincidence was.  Yes, there is 'magic' on the Camino.

My legs which served me so well for these past 154 miles finally gave out.  It wasn't just the fractured heel, or the amputated toes, or the poor blood flow to my legs.  I think it was all of this plus the effort required to keep moving that did me in.  I think my brain finally gave my legs permission to rest.

And so I do.  Thank you for joining me on this journey.  I hope to be able to take my lessons learned back into my life post-Camino.   After a good night's rest, tomorrow will come and I'll say once again, "C'mon Jake, let's go for a walk."

Santiago in Sight

What is a trek on the Camino through Galicia without rain?  So far,we had been fortunate with the weather but today, the skies opened up.

Rain!

It was a great day today. Despite the torrential downpour the 20 kilometers seemed to just whisk by. I missed all three checkpoints on the way and I walked almost the entire eight hours without stopping. 

Along the way I met up with many of the peregrinos that I had encountered earlier on the trail. It was like greeting old friends. I think everyone was timing the finish to be on Sunday so they could attend the noon Mass as we were. As we parted we said "Te vere in Santiago."

As we neared Santiago I noticed that homes started looking more affluent and middle class. This was in stark contrast to the rural hamlets we had been traveling through. Some of the houses were quite large and had gated properties.

At one point the rain was so hard that you couldn't see. A few of us found shelter in a tunnel. This cyclist waited with us. All during the Camino, other pilgrims called out to me "Animo!"  It means "I encourage."  I finally got a chance to call it out to someone and he gave me the thumbs up.  It soon became apparent that we could not outlast the rain so we pulled our ponchos tighter and soldiered onward into the wet.  I soon passed the only peregrinos who were doing the Camino by horseback.

Animo!!

Caballeros

There were many shrines along the way on the Camino but this one touched me most.

As we neared civilization, the trappings of humankind also appeared.  This was a motion activated voice box that gave a commercial for a church in both spanish and english.  It caught me off guard as I came around the corner and heard it.

For some reason my mind wandered away to a 1957 movie "The Pride and the Passion" with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren.  Sinatra plays a Spanish guerilla fighter during the Napoleonic War who vows to never stop fighting until he can stand before the statue of St. Teresa, patron saint of his hometown Avila.  I had vowed also never to quit until I stood in the square in Santiago.  As it turns out, Sinatra is killed but Cary Grant carries his body to the statue at the end of the movie.  Hope I do not meet the same fate.  

From Boente to Salceda; A Physical Challenge

Of our original fifteen only one has needed to stop walking.  Tally Ho experienced some major swelling and redness in her lower legs. They were hot to the touch and it was wisest to quit rather than risk permanent damage.  Chica#2woke up vomiting and had to take a day off. (I've numbered the Chicas. One is the nurse, 2 is the one who got sick, 3 is the golfer and 4 is gluten free).

Although I am a strong believer in the power of the mind, these two incidents reminded me of the reality of human frailty. I had awoken in the night with a deep ache in my hips and I thought "please, not now that I am do close to home."

Heading West

I know that Windy City 1 has had some ankle problems and is also tending to blisters while his wife is still nursing a bad knee.  Most of our group thankfully are injury free. 

I was very much aware of my aching feet and calves throughout this leg of the journey. Each uphill and downhill was painful. 

If the Camino was a metaphor for life , then this life was definitely bipolar. The ups were steep and long. The downs seemed even steeper and longer. I needed to adjust the use of my crutches many times. 


The route was mainly under the canopy of trees which was great because the temperatures got into the high 70s and the sun was taking its toll on me.  I welcomed the eucalyptus  groves.

The heat and hills was broken up by the ever present livestock.  The smells sometimes were overpowering, especially in the heat of the day.  

One of the things I noted was that toward the end of my day, I was just about the only pilgrim on the road.  Most other sane pilgrims had completed their stages by around three o'clock and had checked into albergues to get out of the hot sun.  I, however, was on the road for a little over nine hours and had to make it to Salceda.  Near the end, I ended up taken off my shirt which was covered with sweat.

I was truly glad when this stage was over.  Tomorrow would be about the same distance, but it would be the truly last stage before we hit Santiago.  It seemed strange that this would soon be over.

Los Peregrinos

The trek today took us from La Cabana to Boente, around twelve miles. It was a tough stage with lots of ups and downs and stretches of great challenges.  To get past these challenges, my mind took me through a period of reflection.  Rather than post pictures of the landscape, which remains about the same, I'd like to dedicate this post to the many peregrinos that I met on the road.  They filled my memory with a living tapestry.

Galen makes a new friend

I know that all during this trek many pilgrims expressed an appreciation of my effort because of the crutches.  I was a little embarrassed by the notoriety at first but then came to just accept the comments.

However, I must say that I found lots of inspiration from my fellow travelers.  This started immediately when I first went to the Pilgrims' mass back in Roncesvalles that first evening.

I didn't have time to snap pictures of all but I'd to mention some of the more memorable pilgrims.

There was the seventy-eight year old dutchman with only one eye that was doing a second solo camino.

There were the wonderful Koreans with air masks on.  I met several.  One was on a tour bus similar to us, one was a small group and there was one solo hiker who was lost and we spent time trying to communicate.

Koreans

There was the family of Columbians that traveled with the grandparents, the adult son, and then his ten year old son.  Three generations!  You could see the tenderness of the adult son as he aided his mother through the trek, and also his patience with his own son.

There was the Australian minister who had a prayer for me every time we passed one another.

Australian Minister

Sylvia from Australia was a young solo hiker who took the time to help me with my pack and water.  She had come from Burgos and had miscalerculated her distance so had to make up 40 kilometers in one day.  And yet, she had time to stop and help me.

There was Ivo, from the Netherlands who came on the camino to find himself, yet found that he fell in love with a girl from Budapest.  Alessandro, the Italian boy, who passed me days ago, but caught me on the late stages.  He was trying to get into MIT.

There were the pretty German girls who were together for a final 'fling' before getting on with more 'grown up' stuff.

There was Bree, the nurse from Ireland who was hiking with her overstressed husband, Jamie.  She had convinced him to take a sabbatical from teaching and try to reconnect with himself.  When we parted, she said "let me look at your face and admire you a bit".  She wanted to remember me.

Elizabeth was the daughter, Rachel the mother and Bob the father.  Rachel and Bob are divorced but Elizabeth wanted the family to do something together again.  So why not walk the Camino.

There was the Canadian woman sitting by the roadside reading a map who commented when I passed by "you must be Galen from Idaho.  I've heard about you."

There was the couple for Seattle who had just retired and looking for that 'spark' in life that they somehow had lost.

I really wish I had a picture of the two young French girls who took a break and were painting their toenails.
There were so many wonderful peregrinos on the road with an amazing set of stories...

And of course, there was our group.

I

I am just a couple of days from Santiago.  I am hoping to see many of these peregrinos there when I arrive.  Even if I don't, I will know that for a short time, all of us, regardless of our nationality, political views, backgrounds or heritage...we all traveled the same path for a few glorious moments.

Survival Mode

Today's stage seemed especially long. Coming out of Portmarin and onto La Cabana , it was just shy of 15 miles, all uphill.  There were two hills that took me about 45 minutes to crest. 

Most of the morning was covered in deep fog.  Ignacio continues to teach me a new word every day.  "niebla" means fog.  Therefore, not a lot of pictures.

At the crest of one long hill I was greeted by this fine looking horse.  I had kept apples in my bag just for this occasion.

I also captured this video of some cattle folk training their German shepherd to move a herd.

The rest of the day was just a real slog to the finish.  I passed this Scottish woman who saw me on my crutches and said "Atoning for your sins I see.  Aye, ya must have been an evil bastard in a past life to being on the camino on those!"

The other high point for me was when I met a Canadian journalist from Ontario who asked if he could take my picture.  He was writing a journal article and so I agreed to an interview as we walked together for about 40 minutes, which is the longest that i walked with anyone on this trek.

I finished around two hours after the last of the group.  All in all I was on the road for 9.5 hours with just one half hour break.  My feet, my shoulders and my wrists are exhausted.

The First of the Last

In order to receive the certificate of completion in Santiago, the peregrino must walk the final 110 kilometers of the trail and document that passage via the stamps in one's passport. Today we began this final leg. No more bus rides from here. 

We immediately start with an ascent into the misty mountains. After a while you begin to notice road markers along the way every few kilometers. This was taken as we broke the 100 k mark.  

Another thing is you start running into more and more of the same people. This is because everyone is probably on the same timetable you are, each walking around 20 kilometers a day.  I walked into a bar along the way and heard someone call out "Idaho." It was a family from Chicago that I met on the road earlier.  Peg traveled a ways with a group of Italians and American men.

Up to this point I have already walked about 100 miles. The wear and tear is starting to show a bit. My feet are holding up okay but I'm being extra careful with my toes. The downhills are just murder on my amputation scars. Because of the crutches my arms, particularly the wrists are very tired and my shoulders are sore.  

It is sort of like being a soldier in his last month of tour of duty. You don't want to get injured this close to coming home. 

 We crossed this bridge as we entered Portomarin, our stopping point for this stage.  This 11.6 mile stage ended our first day of the final push to Santiago.  Of course, there was a staircase to go up before we would end,

Las Flechas Amarillas (the Yellow Arrows)

I had often wondered about the yellow arrows that are on the path from St. Jean Pied du Port all the way to Santiago.  How did they get there? It turns out that it was really through the efforts of one man, Elias Vilina from O Cebreiro, Spain.

He was a scholar and priest who was obsessed with the story of St. James and had walked the path himself. He wished everyone to be able to experience this. The problem was finding a consistent route.  

In the late 70s , he and his young nephew set out to mark this path by painting the now famous yellow arrows.  When he died a shrine was built for him in his home town of O Cebreiro.  I had the incredible honor of meeting his sobrino when I passed this town. I shook his hand and thanked him for the hundreds of thousands of peregrinos that have made successful pilgrimages because of his uncle and his efforts. 

We are in Galicia where the forests are dense and the skies are clouded with fog and mist.  Many of the pathways are lined with ferns and the traditions here go back to Celtic origins. Of course there is livestock all along the way. I keep apples in my backpack so I can feed horses. 

Along the road I met a Spanish couple with a beautiful and very large German shepherd. When they stopped to chat the dog sat dutifully beside them. I learned that the dog didn't belong to them and just started following them in the last hamlet. It turns out that he has a canine friend that he visits daily in the next town and prefers to accompany pilgrims. I wondered why he didn't just travel alone. Jake whispered "wolves ."

At one  point I encountered a herd of bulls being moved along the road.  I laughed thinking this is my version of Pamplona!

Dogs were everywhere and sometimes they would join pilgrims for lunch.

The final 800 meters going to Acerbo was a rock scree and shale path that went straight up.  It was by far the steepest incline that I encountered on the hike.  It took me almost half an hour to get up. At the last 150 meters, Jake's hip dysplasia kicked in and he could go no further.  I said not to worry.  I will carry you friend.  And so both of us found the spirit to finish.

We stayed at a Galician manor this night.  Here is a view from our room.  Lorenzo found a guitar for me so I serenaded the group.