I Made It!

I woke up with tears of emotion today. I was ready early and eager to get going. After a quick breakfast I headed out with Steffen, a Korean guy KC and a Finnish woman from Canada. The sunrise was a gorgeous pink color as we walked through the Eucalyptus groves.

At about 8km we stopped for coffee. Steffen and I walked faster than the others and made good time all the way to Monte de Gozo which is at the last hill before entering Santiago. I had hoped for my first glimpse of the spires of the cathedral, but the trees have grown up over the years and now you can't see them any more from there. 

Steffen was laughing at how fast I was walking, he says I'm the energizer bunny, and that I was practically flying on endorphins. I think he was right. I was so eager and excited to get there and didn't want to slow down at all. He needed some food so I reluctantly gave in (mostly for the bathroom facilities) but was impatient to leave. When we got in the old city it became harder to actually see the correct path. It seemed that we had come to the cathedral but on the side, not the front. I kept going forward and saw Julia waiting for me with her camera. She videoed me coming in and rushed to give me a big hug. The three of us went further in so that we could be in front of the cathedral.

It was fabulous to be there and I cried with joy. However, the cathedral is covered with scaffolding and there were tour groups all over the place which I wasn't really expecting. After soaking it in a bit, we went to the other side of the cathedral and down the street to the official Pilgrims Office to get our final stamp and certificates. The line took about an hour to go through, but I officially have walked the Camino now.

Afterwards we parted ways to get cleaned up and then met back together for a beer before the Mass.