We did it!
Today we arrived at our final destination: Santiago de Compostela.
We woke up early at around 4 AM to take advantage of the coolest hours of the day, and also to try and beat the crowd. It worked for about an hour, before we reached the albergue at Pedrouzo. There we joined a steady stream of pilgrims who also wanted to beat the crowd.
Ironically, in this way all of us formed a small crowd of our own. To say it in Kurt Vonnegut’s words: “So it goes”.
The first hour was actually very pleasant. We were walking in the dark with no one around, sometimes in a wooded area, sometimes in more civilized surroundings.
Laura didn’t enjoy walking in the dark as much as I did, however. Having all those people for company at least helped her in that regard.

First light arrived at around 7 AM, just after we climbed to walk around the perimeter of the SCQ airport. Then, we reached the small village of San Paio, where we found a bar to take a coffee and eat something light.
I felt like I could have walked the whole 24 km in one shot, without stopping. Something strange takes a hold in my head whenever I get close to Santiago, it seems. I just want to get there, no matter the cost to my own health.
Luckily Laura was with me and gave me good advice on when to stop.

We walked pretty well today, besides an annoying strange feeling in Laura’s left heel. The stage itself was not too difficult, and we were in good shape all things considered.
Reaching the outskirts of Santiago is always a good feeling. Seeing the towers of the Cathedral for the first time, once you are only 1 km away is great. Actually walking down from Praza de Cervantes to Praza de Obradoiro is the best feeling of all.
Hearing the gaitas play in the tunnel that brings you to the Cathedral from Praza da Immaculada brought back so many memories. I had been playing those gaitas in my head for days (one might say even for years) whenever I was thinking of finishing the Camino. Absolutely unique feeling.
It’s funny how tears can either be a sign of joy, or sadness. In our case, it was pure joy.
And now it’s time to celebrate.
We have already collected our Compostela, and will start looking for some of the other pilgrims we have met in the past weeks.
For the first time in a month, we will not have to leave our room tomorrow morning. We will be able to actually sleep without putting an alarm.
We will not have to put our bags on our shoulders and walk.
Life will get busy and complicated again.
That doesn’t matter now, however, as we have just taken a big breath of oxygen and happiness. Now it’s that beautiful moment when we are holding that fresh air in and enjoying the feeling of having our lungs full and our eyes closed.
We will open our eyes soon enough, and get back to everything we left behind.
For now though, let’s just enjoy this one, beautiful, moment. Together.