Sept 28 Santiago

It is actually very exciting to be here in Santiago and amidst the great vibe of people arriving from all over the world to this spot. It is a special feeling of happiness and accomplishment and excitement to be near the cathedral which is a place that people have been heading to through many challenges and difficulties over the past many days of walking.
I have met so many people today, that we walked with along the way, including Sonja who I found outside the church after the mass this morning. Have yet to locate Jette, but she has been spotted and we have everyone on the lookout to help us find her.
We are going to meet with several of the people that we walked with for dinner this evening which will be lovely. Quite a few are heading to Finisterre tomorrow to complete this journey. I will do that also on Thursday, either walking or by bus depending on how I feel. I will sit tight tomorrow as no one is sure about how this country wide strike will affect things locally.
Last night I spent the evening having dinner with the group that Linda and Jim have been walking with for the past 10 days, a wonderful collection of individuals who have done the camino in their own way. One thing that struck me was the vibe of good feelings in the group who did not know each other before and the other was the intention that each had to get to know the other during this trip as they seemed to have some solid friendships between them.
I thought that Kirsten and Alvina and I had a pretty complicated system for sharing costs and settling accounts at the end of the day, but this group which included 3 bankers topped the pile. All that was missing was one of those adding machines with a roll of paper trailing out the back! IN the end, the individuals bills were accurate and complete and the waiter only needed minor resuscitation before we left.
It also struck me how language has played a big part in this journey for me. In the beginning of the journey, French was the most common language and so for most of it I could understand but not really participate in the conversation. This marginalizes you in the experience of being together and I once again regret my single languge capability when some others seem to speak so many.
For the next part, Spannish predominated outside our little group, but we spoke English with the people we walked with and then struggled with Spannish when we had to interact with the local people. Always there is an awareness that communication is a challenge even to do simple things, like buy food or find your way.
Last night it was an English blast, fast talk, good humour and all Canadian which I had not experienced for some time. I realize how much we take for granted in being a generic common language group in our daily life and how little we have to think about getting our message across or understanding what is being said to us, as has been the case for the past 5 weeks on this trip. It was good for me to have a good Canadian feast of communication with others from my own country and even some who are neighbours in my new community back home.
Today, a wonderful day with the sun shining and people happy all around. My room is an attic room at the top of a little hotel, just beside the cathedral and across from the pilgrims office so lots of action all day long. At night, the dark sky is lit by the lights from the cathedral and the silence late at night broken by people happy in the streets and then the sound of the church bells ringing in the hours. It is a joyful place, overflowing with ancient history and rituals that have endured for centuries as people arrived here from walking the Camino from all over the world.

"It is not important to know where we are going, nor to find a place to go. The world is open to our appetite. It opens. It spreads perspective, widens the stems of a piece of herb until it reaches the forest, and the window entirely. We travel only when we let go" Frantz Bartlett

Maggee