Alas my loved ones, I have arrived back home a week early. When last we talked I was standing in a plaza in Santiago de Compostela deciding what to do next. I could have gone on to Finisterra for a few days ..... or stayed in Santiago ..... what would possibly make me leave my beloved Spain early? Well, I did complete the pilgrimage, around 120 miles on foot. This was my purpose for the trip. To spend more time in Spain would have felt like a tourist trip and I needed to remain the pilgrim. On top of that, there were bedbug problems in some of the alburges earlier on the road, which I had learned from some of my fellow pilgrims who started around Burgos. Ihadno problems .... until my last two nights ! By Wednesday I was covered with bites, and was constantly scratching everywhere, hard while carrying a backpack. The thought of staying in another albergue was absurd. I was already hot and sweaty, and so the decision to come home was an easy one. Sure, I could have gone off to see my friends in San Sebastian and enjoyed a few spa days, but home seemed to be the real answer. You may remember one of my earlier blogs where I said that I wanted to go home ..... There were some days on the trip, early in the mornings, when I thought I would not be able to do another day. It was not so much the physical part, but my emotions simply took over. The Camino can do that to you. You spend so many hours of the day walking, just looking at each step, talking to yourself, contemplating whatever your "monkey mind" may conjure up. It can be hard. The first part of the journey was filled with beautiful scenery and the most wonderful people. The last part became more of the tourist path, and then the situation became less heart warming. Even the locals seemed to be be annoyed with all of these people taking over countryside. The warmth really wasn't there. But still you go on. And so it was an easy decision to come home. I walked to the train station, got a ticket for the overnignt train to Madrid, and waited for about 5 hours. Couldn't sleep on the train, so when I arrived in Madrid around 8AM, I was a mess. Then a taxi to the airport ..... in Madrid traffic. Once at the airport, I had to try to find out who was handling Air Canada ticketing as they did not have a kiosk anywhere. Another hour trying to sort this out, and finally was able to change my ticket to leave the same day. Thursday, 12:40. Sat in the airport for another few hours, but was entertained by the group of Chinese people getting ready to fly to Bejing. They were speaking Spanish to each other, not Chinese ! Who would have thought? They apparently lived in Spain. So, finally on the long 15 hour trip back to San Francisco. At this point I had been up since 6AM Wednesday, Spain time. Finally arrived back in my little house in Campbell around 11PM Thursday night, and immediately into a hot shower. I've had a few days in order to get back into the US routine, but the Camino still haunts me. Was it "fun"? No, not in the sense that we all think of as fun. Was it a challenge? Hell, yes. Was it worth it? Yes, even with the pain and joy. Would I do it again? Probably not, but you never know. This was for my personal achievement, and I did it ..... 120 miles in 12 days, including a few rest days. And so I would like to thank all of you who kept in touch with me during my trip. You have no idea of how much your love and encouragement meant to me !
