We made it to SdC! We are actually here, which is insane, kind of. Walking across a country is nuts. The fact that there are thousands of us every day is bananas. The craziest part? We keep walking tomorrow.
“Ultreia” means “even further still”. It’s a superlative of “ultra”. This is apparently what pilgrims said to each other before “buen camino” became a thing. So, even further still we go, Fistrerra and Muxia are waiting where the Atlantic ocean is. Gotta go see them.
My head is a mush of emotions and I’m really tired from today, even though we only had about 10km to go. Good night to me.
Morning after. It’s all very strange. We’re done, but not done. Very ready to go. Yesterday it was a very short stage (10km) and an emotional arrival to Obradoiro (the plaza before the Cathedral). Actually, less emotional, than the last this time, it has to be admitted. I do not have an explanation right now. The Cathedral is gorgeous. Last year was the first time in several hundred years that it was completely restored, clean and without scaffolding. It is still here in all its glory. For someone who’s only been seeing tiny crude rural churches for months on end (and for their whole life, actually), this must have looked like a true wonder.
The reception at the pilgrims’ office has degraded in warmth significantly. I don’t want to sound disappointed, but we were, a bit. I think they might have replaced volunteers with employees, who are much more efficient in terms of time used on each pilgrim. No chairs, no kind 5-10 minute talk, barely a “congratulations”. “Do you want the Compostela only, or the distance certificate?” “Pay at the exit”. Not great, this part was important to me both previous times.
Besides, Santiago is still a crazy mixture of pilgrims and rich tourists, who try to understand why people who enter Obradoiro with backpacks look like they are feeling twenty opposite emotions at once. Some look happy, some are crying, some are excited to see people whom they thought they’d lost along the way, some seem to be in awe for what they’ve just accomplished. It is all very human, and love is everywhere.
