Girls behaving badly

​17th September 

We had another pleasant walk this morning as we tried to beat a weather front into Santiago. The cool cloudy conditions made for good walking and a good pace as we walked the final 16km. 

I walked with Steph most of the way with Beth and Amy trailing behind and catching us up at our mid morning cafe break. We also had a South African mother and daughter in tow, Anna and Carla, as they don’t like walking alone. We’ve learnt a lot about the sad state of their country from them over the past week. They are the first Afrikaans speakers from South Africa that I’ve met and were good fun to be with in the hostels. 

As we got further into the city we finally found an open church where an enthusiastic man was keen to stamp our credentials. We made it into the cathedral square just after 11.30am and took photos before going to the pilgrims office to collect a ticket and wait our turn to get our Compostelas. 

The man at the ticket machine waved us straight around into the nonexistent queue and we collected our Compostelas without waiting. I was a bit surprised because in the past this has taken between 2 and 6 hours. 3,000 pilgrims arrived the previous day so I had anticipated a long wait. 

As we walked back through the square and up the road to our Albergue the heavens opened and it’s been raining on and off ever since. 

After leaving our packs at the hostel Beth and Amy wanted KFC so we went there for lunch before visiting the cathedral. We joined the long line of tourists and pilgrims waiting to go down into the crypt to see the golden reliquary that holds the remains of St. James. The prayer kneelers have been removed so there wasn’t time for more than a quick prayer of thanks for bringing us all safely to our destination before we snaked around and up to hug the statue of St. James, the first time since 2019 that this has been allowed. 

The rest of the day involved showering, a short nap and then the part I had been dreading, the tattoo. Apparently I had once agreed with Beth that if she ever walked a camino with me we would get matching tattoos. I don’t actually remember this but there are too many witnesses who do for me to wriggle out of it. All I’m going to say about it is that it wasn’t a pleasant experience and I won’t be doing it again. 

Freshly tattooed and a little bit sore we went for ice cream then stopped in a bar for a few drinks. We went to an expensive restaurant for dinner where the waiter took Amy’s half finished bowl of soup from under her nose as she wasn’t eating it quickly enough. The food was good but the pace of delivery a bit too quick. 

More ice cream, more drinks and the next thing I knew the three of them were running around like children playing tag in the cathedral square. With two police cars parked there I thought they might end up beating the boys and actually get arrested! 

I will put a few final thoughts down later before I leave Santiago and that will be the end of this years blog.