Day 40: Santiago de Compostela and My Final Day of the Via de la Plata
Hello Dear Friends & Family!
I have walked alone for 114kms without folly or strife and have experienced a powerful and lovely transition over these past four days! I am very ecstatic to report that I am a fully liberated woman! Walking solo has been exhilerating and Juan and I could not have parted at a better time. The Way from Ourense to Santiago is very well marked and extraordinarily beautiful! I have had absolutely no problems manouevering the trail! On Sunday I walked a whopping 40kms by myself without seeing another single pilgrim! Yesterday, 36kms. The forests have been enchanting, the birds sing just for me, and my body feels as though it is soaring! I have absolutely no pain anywhere in my body and my spirit is dancing! I have manifested lovely people all around me at the albergues and again here in Santiago! I feel super fit, strong, and I am brimming with joy!
Last night was the full moon and I enjoyed an incredible night with 5 lovely individuals! Kari from Ottawa(!), Sandra from Brazil,and Bridgette, Emmanuel, and Bill from France. We feasted on pasta, tomato and avacado salad, empanada, wine, bread, chocolate pastry, fresh cherries and champagne! And did we deserve such extravgance! The final four kms of our walk was straight up, smack dab in the heat of the day, and we had to carry our groceries in our packs as there was no market anywhere closer to the albergue! Just knowing that today would bring us to Santiago was reason enough to endulge and we did! We had a wonderful evening! Today I walked the final leg of the Via de la Plata (a mostly uphill 16kms) with another lovely young man named, ironically, Juan. I can hardly believe my journey along the Via de la Plata is over. I don't think it's really sunk in yet.
Today I have been again reunited with Renata (I love this woman!), the same Italian woman that I befriended over my last three days in Santiago and will meet with the same group as above tonight at 8pm for drinks and tapas. I am staying at a beautiful albergue right in the heart of the city that is always, always booked full to the brim, yet they just happened to have one single bed left when I arrived just before noon today that I've booked for two nights. I have much to do before Paris, including booking a hostel for the night I arrive, laundry, and, hopefully another blog post...and it is forecasted to rain tomorrow so will also stay in Santiago for an additional day and head out to walk the Finesterre-Muxia Way on Thursday. I have seen the mountains and the plains...I am ready for the coast! On Sunday afternoon or Monday morning I will return to Santiago for the last time and fly out to Paris Monday night. Life is so sweet. I hope that, wherever this finds you, dear loved one, that life is equally good for you.
Lovingly,
Kim
