A very relaxed, laid back sort of a day. It was nice to wake up and not have to Vaseline the feet, carefully put on the toe socks, lace up the shoes, load the daily needs into the pack, swot up on what we will see today and remember to take the directions to, and name of, the hotel we are heading to.
A slow breakfast and a wander round some of the squares and narrow streets. I like it when they are empty, the street cleaning trucks have left the cobblestones wet, only a few earlybird cafes are open and it is so quiet. A few souls go into the churches for the early mass. The 500 pilgrims who arrived yesterday are still in bed sleeping off last night’s celebrations. It is far too early for the 500 new pilgrims who will arrive today.
At 10 o’clock we were waiting outside the information centre to check out the buses to Finisterre which we will use tomorrow. Then we settled into a table in a strategic cafe on the Camino path to watch the pilgrims come by. In the warm morning sun, over coffee and chocolate cake, we wished them buen camino as they navigated the last few streets. Some were bright eyed and eager, almost skipping along. Others limped, slightly stooped under their loads, doggedly putting one foot in front of the other. Everyone has their own personal camino.
At 11.30 am we were at the Sagrado Corazon tattoo and piercing parlour. Not for a piercing, but a tattoo. We had decided before we left NZ that if we completed our camino we would follow one of its ” modern” traditions and get a tattoo. Just a small one, in a discreet location. A lovely young Frenchman, with a steady hand, did the deed. We now each have a stylised scallop shell on our leg, just above the ankle. We chose the leg because for the last five weeks the legs have done all the hard yards. The Camino may not have changed us in any profound way, but now part of it will always be with us, we can never forget it.
Last night we went to mass in the cathedral to see the swinging of the Botafumeiro (“smoke-belcher”), a giant incense burner that hangs on a thick rope from high in the dome. The ritual requires half a dozen attendants, tiraboleiros, to get it swinging. Originally it was used to fumigate the sweaty and possibly disease ridden pilgrims. This is a large cathedral and seats 1,000. We arrived an hour early and already every seat was taken. At least another 1,000 of us were standing and eventually the doors were closed to stop even more from entering. It was a full mass and communion with a lot of singing. The singing was lead by a nun who had an amazing voice and with the organ it was magic.
The swinging of the Botafumeiro was started with an almighty blast on the organ. Straight out of The Phantom of the Opera. At the beginning of the service they said there was to be no photography but as soon as the swinging started a thousand iphones, tablets and cameras came out, all popping off their flashes. We were not in a good location so didn’t get a good view due to the large crowd.
Our hotel here, the San Martin Pinario was a huge monastery (20,000 sqm) built mainly in the 17th century and is now a hotel, church, museum, hostel and seminary. As with most of our accommodation it is beautiful, a mixture of the old and the modern. It has three cloisters and is on the south side of a plaza, facing the north side the cathedral. This plaza is one of the sunniest and so attracts a lot of buskers and street performers.
All day people arrive in the square in front of the cathedral. The tradition is for walkers to lie prone on the flag stones, and cyclists to hold their cycles above their heads. Early this morning a group of horsemen rode in dressed in ceremonial costume. They were Cavaleiros de Paz from Brazil. They performed some form of ritual that involved kneeling and a sword being placed on their head. A bit like being knighted by the queen. We heard reports these guys drank an awful lot of beer on the way to Santiago and it was only because the horses were sober and knew the way that they got here. Two other guys on beautiful small horses also arrived. We had seen them yesterday on Monte del Gozo.
Tonight we met up with a bunch of our friends Helen, Carolyn, John, Jackie, Peter, Alison, Vee, Evelyn and two other Aussies for a celebration drink. Everyone was pretty happy to have made it. I had my first Spanish beer. I have been drinking vino tinto all the way and had decided I would wait until I reached Santiago before a nice cold beer.