Bienvenido a Santiago

800 kilometers, 35 days, 8 books, 2 lost shirts, 50+ ibuprofens and countless cribbage matches later; we are here, in Santiago de Compostela.

Our last day in was great weather,  warm with blueish skies, not even a little rain. The old town is beautiful,  a complex of old stone buildings surrounding a massive cathedral patinaed with time. I had to pee with furry when we got in, and at last we found the public bathroom in the cathedral square. When I walked out an american couple approached me:
"Did you just finish your hike?" The man asked me. I said yes, and his wife eagerly added "that's so fantastic! Where did you start?" I said France, and their eyes lit up. How far? How long did it take you? Did you just get here? Are you tired? I was surprised they didn't ask for a photograph of me, their authentic pilgrim sighting! I rarely receive so many questions of myself, with pure and honest interest, that I nearly forgot all social formality. They were a few steps away when I asked where they were visting from. And sure enough, because the world is small, they are from San Fransisco. They promise I will love the bay, though it's a lot faster pace than the hike, he says. They left me hoping to meet again, on the streets of Spain or San Fransisco. 

And then Ben and I made our way to the pilgrims office, to get our certificate of completion, an indulgence called the compostela. They have you fill out a form with general info about yourself. The final prompt is why you did this thing, this walking day after day. It's either religious, religious and other, or other. Ben checked other, he had read the wikipedia article that said when you check other your compostela calls you a heathen and not a catholic, and doesn't say much about the indulgence.  When we returned the form, the woman was seemingly shocked by this choice of his and she asked him again. And then she asked if he had spiritual reasons of any kind for walking the road and when he said yes she changed his answer to religious and other, giving us both the more catholic certificate. Ben says at least this sin of the lie he was forced to tell has been forgiven.

We went to mass, and it was a bit boring. We didn't get to see the incense sweep across the cathedral as it was not a holy day and no one forked up the 200 euros to see it done. We ate a real fancy weird sea food lunch, which Ben has been looking forward to for the whole trip basically. Turns out, octopus is delicious. As good as, or better than, lobster.