Today was a very busy, but also kind of a lazy day - or at least, the most lazy day I've had in a long time. I woke up at around 8am, which is the most I’ve slept in for quite awhile. I ended up staying in bed until around 9am, and then got up and got ready for the day. I walked from my hostel to the city center, and then went to a breakfast spot called Cascade. I got a flat toast with ricotta, pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, drizzled with honey and olive oil. It was a delicious breakfast. I also ran into Esther in there and we said hi to each other!
After I finished breakfast, I went to the cathedral square and ran into Santiago who had just arrived! I gave him a hug and then gave him some space to soak it in. Then I ran into Jennifer and Liz! I chatted with Jennifer for a bit since she arrived a few days ago, but Liz also seemed to just want some time to soak it in. Suddenly then it was just all kind of a blur, I saw so many people. Jennifer, Liz, Mark, Santiago, Maureen, Luis, Jeff and Kate, my Taiwanese friends, and Esther! Everyone is finishing so quickly!
A lot of them went off to do other stuff (get their Compostela, laundry, etc) but Mark, Jennifer, and I went to a few places to get drinks. We were to one spot where they gave us tapas made of bread and a slice of chorizo. Then another spot where the waitress really seemed to dislike Mark for some reason, and then to another spot that sold pizza - so we all split a bruschetta and a spicy meat pizza.
By then, it was already 3pm! I headed off to my massage; it was my first ever real massage, but it felt SO nice. It was an hour long, and I was still a bit tipsy from the drinks, so it felt like 15 minutes. It was a man giving it to me, but he was very professional and it didn’t feel weird and it was so so relaxing! Makes me want to get a massage all the time, or make Tovin learn how to give good massages at home! Then the sweetest part was that they gave me a bottle of arnica lotion at the end! I felt really grateful to Tovin for booking this for me!
After the massage, I went back to the cathedral square and sat for a bit. Then Jennifer came back and found me, and we sat and then walked for a bit. We went to the pilgrim museum which was a small quaint little place, and then we went to a few souvenir shops. I got a magnet, and she went to some chocolate shops. I also stopped at an ATM to get some more cash.
At this point, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the social interaction, and I was trying to find a way out to get some time on my own. We went to a kebab shop and ran into Linda (Kathleen’s mom) and had an early dinner with her. There were a lot of beggars there which made me sad, but I was trying to enjoy it as much as I could, knowing this was going to be the last time I’d see many of these people.
I left early and then walked back to my hostel. As I was nearly there, Liz texted me to meet them at Mark’s hotel and drink some wine. I told her I was gonna take a short rest and meet them there later if they were still around. Thankfully, when I got back to my room, there was no one there. I laid down for awhile and tried to process the day. It was really nice to see everyone again who I hadn’t seen in a few days, but it also made me kind of sad. I can’t believe the Camino is basically over, and it feels very weird that I’m saying so many goodbyes.
After about 30 minutes of relaxing and recharging in bed, I headed over to Mark’s hotel (which is part of a monastery). When I got there, Liz and Santiago were there with wine and chocolate, but Mark had gone to the 7:30pm mass. I sat with Liz and Santiago, and we all chatted for about an hour. It turns out there was a shop at the monastery that Mark and Santiago are staying at that sold chocolate and wine and some other little things. Apparently Mark had bought an olive oil chocolate, but they opened it and there was mold in it. Liz and Santiago tried some anyway and they were like "yeah that’s definitely moldy." And Mark has a mold allergy, so when he opened it he was like "oh that’s for sure mold" and didn’t have any.
They ended up going back to the shop and told the shopkeeper the chocolate was moldy and she checked a few other bars of the same flavor and they were all moldy so it must’ve been an issue with the batch. She gave them an olive oil chocolate bar from a new batch and a bottle of wine for free though! So that was how they got the bottle of wine we were now drinking.
We all sat and chatted for a bit and then we left to go find a spot for dinner. We ran into Mark on our way out, and turns out mass had just ended. We all went to this super popular restaurant and there was quite a line when we got there. Santiago used his charm to get us a spot in line though, and supposedly they moved us up the list because his name is Santiago! Although I don't know about that, because it was quite a long wait anyway still.
But eventually, Mark, Liz, Santiago, Jennifer, and I all got in and got seated. This place is known for their menu of the day which is €14 and comes with an absurd amount of food. I wasn’t too hungry since I had a kebab earlier, but I got a squid stew for my first course and ribs with salad and potato chips for the main dish. It was way too much food, and I wasn’t able to finish it, but many other people didn’t finish their food either it seems.
After dinner, Jennifer had mentioned that at 10pm every night in the plaza by the cathedral, they have live music and people dance, so we went to check that out. But by the time we had finished dinner and gotten to the square, it was around 10:50pm and it seemed like the music had wrapped up just before we got there.
We all hung out in the plaza for a short while and chatted and then Luis came up and found us. Luis and Jennifer were walking in the same direction, so they ended up walking back toward their hotels together. Liz, Mark, Santiago, and I all hung out a bit longer and did a group hug and agreed we’d meet for lunch tomorrow.
We all went our separate ways then, and it was a bittersweet moment. Even though I knew I’d see them again tomorrow for lunch, it was sad that this was our last night together. It was a short walk back to my hostel, and I got back around 11:30pm. I was the last one in my room of 5 to be back, and everyone else was already in bed with the lights off. I got ready for bed, and then went to bed and fell asleep around 12:30am.
It was a long day but a good day too! It was so lovely to get to see so many people again, and I'm trying my best not to think about the fact that this is a day of lasts!
