tradiciones

arriving into santiago by now is all about traditions for us. for me it was the third time passing through the last two stages of the camino frances from arzua to santi. for my ladies it was the second time. and our daughter remembers every stop she had last year along the last etape between o pedrouzo and santi. they are to be repeated, at least mostly.

so we stop after 1km at the cafe up the hill for our first cafe con leche, after 3km at the somewhat tacky breakfast place with the loud boom box and a line-up for the obligatory stamp for our desayuno, at the other somewhat tacky place for zumo de piña y zumo de naranja, and again at the little church with the cafe around the corner for a tostada con aceite y tomate and our second cafe con leche.

we walk past the guy that has been practicing yann tiersen for the last 12 months, past several stands offering the last stamp before santiago, up the last hills before reaching monte de gozo, where we have the first real view of santiago.

we meat our amigos from mexico again, walk together on and off, the final strecth into santi, some more offers on the lantern posts. another tradition that we will follow this year again and not get a tattoo 5×5cm for a special discounted price.

up the old-town alleys, past the bookshop with open-air display of their books, directly to the ice-cream parlour for the reward after the last hike, then down the alley and steps, past the gaita player onto the cathedral square.

we put down our mochillas, lie down resting our heads against them, look up the facade and let the emotions of having completed yet another camino rush one last time. we make fotos, we hug friends, give felicidades, talk to other people who have just arrived, make more fotos, mas abrazos, then we head to the pilgrims’ office and obtain our credencial.

this was our fifth and fourth arrival into santiago, respectively. we hope for many more.