My friend has a tattoo that says “The only constant is change“. Even though this phrase irritates the physicist inside of me, I like what it stands for. Whenever I face a difficult decision, I ask myself: “Would you rather regret doing this or not doing this? What scares you more? The change or the lack of change?” As I learned over the years, feeling stuck somewhere terrifies me more than stepping into a big unknown. I usually embrace big changes with fear & tears, but in the end, I am forever grateful for my courage to step outside of my comfort zone.
Walking this Camino was an attempt to shake things up in my life. Mission accomplished. One of the outcomes was to change my job and do something good for the world. I have had so much fun at my job, but lately I stopped learning. I was executing tasks more than creating solutions and I was missing a personal purpose. Camino also taught me many lessons on how to take care of myself that I hoped to implement into my future. What I really aimed for was bringing the Camino spirit into my daily life instead of walking another pilgrimage. One of the ways to do this was slowly writing about my journey, getting transported back to this important adventure and reminding myself of what I learned.
I’m now reaching the end of my writing pilgrimage (more than one year later) with the same emotions as I felt in Santiago.
Accomplishment, relief, sadness, gratefulness, happiness, emptiness… All mixed up and ready to crawl in between the letters and last photos. Let’s enjoy the last stretch of the Way, shall we?
One last day on the Camino. My cozy hostel had an amazing comfy bed, so I woke into a rainy morning feeling brand new. No throat pain or headache, I was fully ready to finish in Santiago today. 17 km to go. I started my walk in rain and after some hours I realized that my jacket needed a new waterproof layer. Luckily there were plenty of bars where I could dry it off with a cup of chocolate in hands while soaking up the pilgrim atmosphere. The excitement was in the air, and it was stronger than humidity and coffee vapor. The number of stamp traps increased (random places to stop for a passport stamp) and they often played music. I ate everything in my backpack except for some crackers because finishing my food was a part of the “closing”.
During the whole day I tried to stay in the present and enjoy the last steps, but instead my brain invented a problem: “Who’s going to take my victory photo?” Even though I very much enjoyed my own company in the past couple of days, victories always feel better if they are shared with friends. As soon as the cathedral tower appeared above rooftops in the city center, I felt the tears coming. When I entered Praza do Obradoiro, my face got covered in tears.
Guess who greeted me with open arms in front of the cathedral? Kathy and Diane! They went to pick up their certificates and saw me on the square. Hugs and tears, I could not have imagined a better ending. Thank you, Camino, for this gift!
Kathy and Diane left me on the square to land my mind. More crying, heavy breathing and observing the madness in front of me. There was a wedding, old-timer cars and a speech from a nearby balcony. I asked a random person to take my photos once I stopped crying, but honestly I wasn’t happy with any of them. I happily left the busy square and stood in line for my certificate. Since I pre-filled my data online a couple of days ago, it went quite fast. My little reward was a scarf with motivational quotes that I bought because it made me smile.
Once I started walking to my albergue, I swear that my backpack felt noticeably lighter. The albergue was very interesting – a monastery converted into the biggest hostel I had seen in my life. It had a beautiful view of the historical center and the upcoming storm. Kathy and Diane invited me for dinner to celebrate life and the end of this adventure. I couldn’t believe that it was time to say goodbye to my Camino family. Kathy’s and Diane’s life advice and emotional support kept me pushing through this Camino and always reminded me of the broader perspective. They also made me realize that my friend circle contained people of more or less of the same age and/or in similar life stages. I was missing a community feeling in Zürich, a mix of people of different ages. Unfortunately, I missed saying goodbye to Alessandra and Tiberio. But they found a place to stay in the end 😊
I had one more rest day in Santiago before heading back home. Next morning in the monastery was difficult because I felt sick again. I couldn’t just stay in my bed and sleep; they kicked people out until early afternoon. So I went to kill time in the famous pilgrim museum, which was a bit disappointing. Honestly, reading a Wikipedia article would be sufficient.
Many cups of tea later I got my energy back and I felt even better after meeting Maria again!
She finished the Camino one day earlier than me and yesterday she spent her day in Finisterre. The walk was quite easy for her – she did short stages and felt like she could do more. The route was very crowded, but people were nice overall. She also celebrated with Kathy and Diane in Santiago. All in all, it felt over too fast. She wasn’t emotional about it; this rather felt like a start of something new.
I shared my personal development journey on the Spiritual Camino and we both complained that we had shitty photos with the cathedral taken by random people. Well, we fixed that immediately. I needed more rest, so I went back to my albergue and we decided to meet again in the evening.
We found a place that claimed to have the best sunset view of the town. It happened to be a park on top of a small hill. Climbing up we were already amazed by random art pieces. For example, giant donuts with a postcard view of the historical center. What a strange idea, and we absolutely loved it! There was a museum on the top – a building with wavy modern architecture. We only had 30 min before they closed, but we still enjoyed a Viking exposition.
As the sunset was approaching, we decided to check which side of the hill had the best view.
Walking further in the area, it was clear that we stumbled across an architectural playground. Every building was strange in its own way and so much fun to explore!
We ran on a slanted roof, covered ourselves with optical fibers hanging from the ceiling of a tower and explored a concrete block maze. What was this place? Some buildings looked semi-abandoned and some of them were meant to be standing as art. Mind-blowing. What was the idea here? According to Wikipedia, Cidade da Cultura de Galicia is an urban experiment designed by a group of architects led by Peter Eisenmann. Maybe the name doesn’t ring a bell, but he designed for example the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.
Sunset from the hill was stunning and we felt so lucky to enjoy it together. We also had a goodbye dinner, tinto de verano and breakfast. I’m so grateful we got to share a part of this journey! I admired Maria’s curiosity, strength and she brought joy into our Way. She was about to start a new life adventure in Japan, a completely blank page. I wished her all the best and we parted with a big goodbye hug.
How were things on my side? I was ready to go home and recover from this adventure. I have a rule not to make any big life decisions after such a significant trip within a month afterwards. The month usually shows how much I have changed and if I need my regular life to catch up. Looking back at my journey, I got what I needed. So, which way does the wind blow? Somewhere towards Rome (Via Francigena).
One day the Camino will call me again and I will respond. Once pilgrim, pilgrim for life.
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