2nd July Done
It's official. I am done. Physically, mentally, emotionally. So much so that I forgot to post my entry for coming into Santiago so you might have to back track a day...sorry.
Yesterday I had a farewell lunch with Robert, Bryant, Matt, Eric and Dimitri, and then in the evening I said hello and waved goodbye to Ernesto, Stefano and several of their friends through another meal facilitated by Google Translate. That's it I thought, camino complete.
Then this morning I discovered Dimitri in staying in the same hostel as me so we chatted over breakfast. In Praca de Obradoiro, where I had 40 mins or so listening to some 'tunes' as today's first wave of pilgrims arrived, I ran into Ashley, one of the American group, I had walked alongside on the Primitivo.
Then at the bus station who should be there but Bryant and Matt on their way to Finisterre, so there was time was quick last hug. And not to be left out of the act, I hadn't even got on my bus when a WhatsApp message dropped from Robert!!!
Even on the bus here (I am now in Porto by the way) fellow bus passengers, who had obviously walked the Camino Portuguese, were busy tracking our journey alongside that of the trails they had walked. And just so you know it took the bus a little under three and a half hours to cover what it took 12 days to walk.
Just like the Hotel California, it appears you can check out of the Camino anytine you like, but never actually leave it. Which might not be a bad thing.
Porto is supposed to be a bit of a treat, a buffer, a decompression point at the end of the trip a little like Bilbao was at the start. Expect now, full of the Camino spirit, the city on the Douro feels very full on, very full of tourists but thankfully also full of good memories.
TOM and I spent 5 days here a couple of years ago and so this afternoon has been a trip down memory lane revisiting some of the p,aces we saw together. An exercise in nostalgia perhaps but that's okay. I'm not sure after everything I have experienced during the past 30 I could have dealt with anything new. The familiar has a comforting feel to it.
To be honest if I had to go home tomorrow that would be fine. I will find something to fill my day here, hey who knows I might even walk the initial stage of the Portuguese route as it leaves from the catherdral, but to all intent and purposes it will be a time filler rather than how I will recall I filled my time.
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