Hola dear friends,

     I made it to Salceda where I am staying in a new Alburgue/hotel that is very nice.  They are working on making it quite a combination hotel which charges around 30-40 euros for a single room to 9 euros for the alburgue which has about 16 beds in it or 8 bunk beds.  The bathrooms are quite nice and rather fancy and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to work the shower :)  Anyway i figured it out and it was hot so life is good.  And I have a pillow case, sheet and towel.  What a way to begin the end of my journey.   Yes, tomorrow I will be just outside Santiago.  I intend to walk to about 7 kilometers or a little less from Santiago which will make my day tomorrow about 22 kilometers.  Then I will get up early Saturday morning and walk into Santiago.  I am still trying to figure out what I want to do about the rest of my journey.  At this point i think I will take a bus to Finisterre and then walk to Muxia and stay a few days and bus back.  Not sure of all this because I need to look at bus schedules etc.  So, I will know more when I get into Santiago.  Today was a beautiful day, no rain, but that moist damp wonderful overcast weather that has the smells and woods moist and green green AND I walked through Eucalyptus trees today. YES, Euclyptus !!!  No Koala bears though.  It was great to stop and smoosh the leaves and get the smell and the bark on the tree is beautiful  Needless to say I took alot of pictures.  The other amazing think today was a casual encounter.  I was walking down the path through the woods and I see a man walking towards me and it appears he is a priest.  Well exactly.  He is a priest and he stops, smiles and asks me my name and where I´m from  and then takes my hands and gives me a blessing.  I was very moved by this, because that is what happens when you are in Spain walking on a pilgrimage.  Everyone wishes you well in whatever way is important for them.  Be blessed by a Spanish priest on a wooded path on a pilgrimage is powerful medicine. 

 

  I walked with another Irishman who was true to his culture and entertained me with stories for awhile, until he realized his pace had slowed down to match mine  and he needed to move on.  I´ve learned early on that I don´t try to match the pace of the fast walkers.  It does me in and I can´t afford to be done in and more that I already am at the end of the day.  Today was long for me, about 25 kilometers and I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to come to the alburge.  I had just sat down  in a bus shelter of all places to look at my guide book when I see Annette and Hardy coming toward me.  They are the German couple I ate with last evening.  I thought they were stopping at an earlier town, but there they were with the great news that the alburgue was shortly down the road.   We just finished having dinner again and  talked about our feelings about being so close to Santiago.  It is bittersweet.  Like you want to hold on and go every so slowly, yet you can´t wait to see the cathedral and feel the intense emotion and energy that is present in that plaza.   Tomorrow will be the last full day of walking the Camino.  It is amazing to me that I am so close to finishing this amazing journey.  This has been beyond words for me.  So many memories and stories and feelings and beauty and and and, that it will be something I will be processing for a long long time.  Thank you for your support and kindness along the way.  I would never have been able to do something of this magnitude without my family, friends, and office family and all the people that have reading my blog and senind me good wishes, my clients and people I haven´t met.    I realize that we can be alone, but we are not seperate.  We depend on each other in ways that we don´t understand, be it a kind word, a smile, a you go girl, or even a negative vibe, it all impacts us  and crosses cultural and language barriers.  

 

So blessings to you all and a big heartfelt hug and kiss from Camille who is definitely in and on the Camino.  Much love and light and embrace not only the day, but someone in your life .