22. Melide to Santiago 29/7/12

When I woke up the next morning at 7.30 most people were nearly packed and ready to go.  I said hi to the Danish guy and we introduced ourselves. His name was Andreas. I told him about Jeff and my cycle trip to Denmark - and he was really happy we enjoyed his country and seemed like a lovely guy.

Antoinette and James nearly ready to go - I'm not ready as I've just woken up
 - you can see all my stuff spread out on that top bunk behind Antoinette.
Cheeky Antoinette asked if Jeff was the tidy one in our house. 

We all got talking about shoes and Andreas told us that he started walking the camino in 5-toe shoes. I'd never heard of these so he showed me. He does all his running in these and says they are the best things ever - and he's done 2 half marathons in them.  Unfortunately, they weren't so good for the camino as he kicked a rock and broke his little toe.

Andreas, Antoinette and James

After seeing the others off I went and packed, put my things on my bike and headed off to the coffee shop around the corner before setting off on the trail.

I love these leaf covered paths

Negotiating the stone crossing

I was just wishing that I'd brought some fruit with me and then out of the blue was a little fruit stall with an honesty box. I bought a container of raspberries for 1 euro and 2 nectarines.  The fruit here is great.

The first person from Serbia that I've met on the camino

I love all the hydrangeas along the way

Andreas and others waiting for the albergue to open at midday

Them there are cows

Some kind soul had made an arrow out of sticks at an intersection that was 'yellow-arrowless'

It doesn't look it here in this photo but this house was lovely and these men very friendly

The markers started to show the distance to Santiago

I had a great day's cycling but my tailbone was starting to get sore so I had to stop often to have a cold clara.  I got to Santiago about 7pm.

The cathedral in Santiago - this was at 8.30pm - the sun was still shining and the sky bright blue

Had a lovely seafood dinner with Song at a restaurant he'd chosen during the day

I said goodbye to Song as he was leaving the next day to go to Madrid and then back to Korea.  He was going to find a taxi that he could smoke in for the 6 hour trip to Madrid.  I was meant to be leaving the next day as well.

I never left though. When I woke up my tailbone was so sore I could hardly get up out of bed.  I was in a grumpy mood as I knew I couldn't bike that day and couldn't even sit to do emails. I really wanted to go to the midday mass to see the swinging ball thingee (botafumeiro) but knew there was no way I would be able to sit on the wooden pews.  I got grumpy at Jeff and he did nothing wrong except  it was easy to get grumpy at him as he hadn't checked his phone in the morning to see that I'd texted saying I hoped we could Skype in the morning before he went to work.  So the day didn't start well - so I decided to do my washing.  

I was very pleased that the destructions were written on the wall in English as well as Spanish. I read them over and over just to make sure I had it right. Basically it was a 4 step process: 
1. Put in the clothes
2. Put in the powder
3. Put in the money
4. Push the green button

Both machines looked identical except that one was bigger than the other. I chose the big machine as I decided I'd wash all my clothes - even the clean ones.  After pushing the green button I went to leave - but thought the machine was making a weird noise.  I'd heard that noise before. It was the same sound as Mum's clothes dryer makes.

So, then I spent the next half hour trying to clean all the powder out of the dryer.

I did get the clothes washed after going and changing more notes into coins - but I couldn't then use the clothes dryer as I was sure there were still 1000s more granules trapped in the holes that would then smudge into my wet clean washing as soon as I put it in.  So, the washing was hung in my room, in my bathroom and in the laundry. I had a heated towel rail in my bathroom and decided that the small things could hang on that  - I think it was too hot for my silk sleeping sheet bag - as it's now a bit munted with holes in it and a brown color where it was touching the towel rail.  Mental note to self: if I ever was to own sexy silk knickers in the future - don't dry them on a heated towel rail.

I decided that I needed to get out of my mood and as I could sit down decided to get a takeaway coffee and have that and a cig while walking around the old part of the city. That was perfect and I felt much better instantly.  I think I might have had the post camino blues for a few hours that morning. The afternoon was a different story though. I went and walked the lovely narrow cobbled streets, bumped into people I knew, had a couple of beers in a plaza, walked through the cathedral and had a lovely time.  Then I picked myself up some Spanish bubbles and nibbles from the supermercardo and came home to check on the washing (I think that I've borrowed that line from you Mum).

A funny thing happened while I was wondering around the cathedral - I was looking at one of the wax priests in the confession booth - and then got a hell of fright when it moved. I honestly thought the priests were made of wax!  They did not look real.

It's now day 3 in Santiago. I didn't leave yesterday - and it was yesterday that I decided that I probably am best not to bike for a few days so I will walk to Finisterre (or Fisterra as they call it here in Galacia).

I was chatting to Jeff on email yesterday morning telling him that I was thinking of walking to the coast and he emailed back saying that he didn't think it was a good idea in Crocs - but I was sure they'd be okay.  Anyway, I had to say bye to Jeff as I needed to leave as I wanted to go the midday mass.  Anyway, I walk out of the hostal and go to put something in the rubbish bin outside the door and there on top of the rubbish bin is a plastic bag with walking shoes in them. I look left and right and there's no one in sight so I take one out of the rubbish bin and it looks about my size. Taking off my Croc and quickly trying it on - it fits like a glove. Voil! I now have a pair of walking shoes.  Warren said they were obviously a present from God.  So I bring my shoes from God back to my room, wonder about how dirty they are and whether they are smelly - but decide not to check or breath too deeply, throw them in the wardrobe, wash the hands well before venturing out to midday mass - hopefully to see the swinging thingy.  After an hour  the men in white robes all leave - so being smart, I gathered they weren't going to swing their thing today.

These are a couple of links showing the swinging of the botafumeiro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqtibTztOAQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFd_55El1I

Photos of the cathedral:

These were taken during the midday mass - I was thankful I could stand on the side during the mass and that it only lasted one hour.

Pilgrims' Midday Mass

This nun had a lovely voice and she sang a few times during the mass. I loved listening to her.

After going to the midday mass I met up with the Danish guy Andreas. He was looking for accommodation. He'd booked and paid for a hotel room in Santiago on the internet and had been trying to find it - but then realized he'd got the country wrong - there's also a Santiago in Brazil!  I felt sorry for him as he was in a lot of pain from bad blisters and he can hardly walk.  He really wanted to have a single room so I brought him to where I am staying which is a good position as it's only 10 minutes walk from the cathedral.  Luckily they still had a room available so I left him to it while I had some snacks in my room and chatted with Jeff for a couple of hours on email and then met up with Andreas to go and have a drink in the plaza.  He's a lovely guy and I loved hearing his 'camino love story' - as he met a girl from Holland and he's looking forward to meeting her in Portugal in a few days. 

Snacks in my room - I love the fruit and olives here - these ones are stuffed with anchovies

One of the plazas Andreas and I had a beer in

Dinner with Andreas - we were smart and found out that if we took the 9 euro menu del dia (menu of the day) we only got one glass of wine each - but if we took the 10 euro menu del dia we got a bottle of wine

After dinner we went to find an outside table for a post dinner drink so I could have a cigarette. We wandered to another plaza and spotted a table for two outside and sat down. It just happened to be below the window in this photo - and who should be sitting at the table beside this window but the Kiwi couple I'd met in Melide.  They spotted us so called us up and so we had a bottle of wine with them. 

I left Andreas at about 10.30pm and wandered back to the hostal and watched the half hour fire works display from the common room lounge on the top floor. It was impressive.  I'm pleased I didn't go with Andreas to meet his friends as he got home very drunk from Tequila at about 2.30am.  He was not feeling well today but still came to the mass at midday stating along the way: 'I'm not going to drink again'.  We found out halfway through the mass that the swinging thingee wasn't happening again so we slipped out as Andreas was in dire need of a coffee and something to eat.  We sat at a central place and I had some beer and tapas and he had coka cola and ham and cheese toasted sandwiches Spanish style.  

It's now raining so I'm happy to be back in my room with some nice supplies (nice bottle of red, bottle of port, olives, nuts, mussels and fruit) until going out for dinner later. 

The plan is to leave tomorrow to go walking to Finisterre. I met an Irish woman today who told me that there was no way I'd be able to walk to Finisterre in my Crocs - so I might definitely have to wear the shoes from God.  Although part of me would love to put the Crocs to the test... 

I'm just hoping that it's a fine day tomorrow.