Santiago and Finnisterre

WE DID IT!!!!

We arrived in Santiago yesterday morning, a little damp, but with a great sense of satisfaction. We headed straight to the pilgrim office and received our compostelas (certificates of completion). 

We were in time to attend the pilgrim mass at noon. We were lucky to be at a mass where they used the botafumeiro, a giant incense burner that is swung back and forth high in the church. It is quite a sight and requires several men to pull the ropes in order to manipulate the botafumeiro to swing so high. Apparently it was originally used to fumigate the sweaty, and possibly disease-ridden pilgrims. 

In Santiago we met several people who walked with us along the way. A couple who had started with us and who we often ran into on the Camino were staying at the Parador, a ritzy and historical hotel. They invited four wet and slightly stinky pilgrims to join them for wine in the posh bar. We gratefully accepted and enjoyed being warm and cozy in such a delightful place.

We walked out into the rain and ran into more Camino friends who invited us to join them for tapas. It was great to share Camino stories with them.

When we left the tapas bar, the rain began in earnest. It was not a light rain. It was a torrential downpour. We were totally soaked in seconds. When we read this morning's newspaper, there were several pictures of flooding in the streets and in buildings. One picture showed the cathedral in Santiago in the background with men walking in the street. The water came up as high as mid calf as they walked along in the rain.

We had intended to walk to the bus station to catch the 7:00 pm bus to Finnisterre but the rain was too much even for these hardy pilgrims so we took a cab instead.

The bus ride was quite a thrill. The driver almost hit a car on a round-about. Outside it was continuing to chuck buckets with extremely high winds. The driver almost ran into a post. At one point we had to go up on a sidewalk to get around the flooding in the street. The driver rarely used his bright lights in the dark and was constantly driving over the speed limit as we went around big curves and through small villages. We didn't realize that we had taken the slow route with lots of stops so we arrived in Finnisterre at 10:00 pm tired but glad to be safe. We hadn't booked a room so luckily a passenger from the area gave us some names of hostels to stay at.

Today we walked out of Finnisterre to the "End of the world". It was a lovely walk with sunshine and lots of wind. At our destination the sea was on three sides of us. The views were fantastic. We had lunch and walked the 3km back to town. 

Tomorrow morning we will head back to Santiago and explore the city for our final two days.

Some of our pictures may need a little explanation. One shows a helicopter landing on a rock that is sticking out in the ocean. There is also the zero mile marker, although you can't see the number and lettering in the picture. We also ran across these cube buildings on the steep hillside going down to the ocean. They have been abandoned for some time but we have no idea as to their original purpose. Let us know if you have the answer.