Day 1.2 Santiago to Madrid (overnight train) (James)

Day 1.2 Santiago to Madrid (overnight train)

We stayed at the Semenario Belvis again last night.  It was the same albergue we stayed at when we first arrived in Santiago.  It has a bit of a reputation for being noisy.  It is Santiago after all, and people are generally in festive moods.  I suppose it wasn't all that surprising when at midnight last night, the entire dorm room awoke to four police officers flashing lights around the room, hovering over a man on the ground passed out.  Judging by their smiles and periodic gestures of putting their thumbs to their mouths and tipping backwards, the situation wasn't serious and the man had just drank too much.  Regardless, it required a medical team to remove him.  The communal lights finally shut off around 1am.  

This probably would have annoyed us more had we still be on the Camino.  However, as it stands we are officially finished and chose to sleep in as long as possible.  Our To-Do list for Santiago was quite small for the day; just double-check lodging information and make sure we make it to the train station for our overnight to Madrid.  That left us with several hours to fill.  I was a bit worried at first thinking that I might have to come up with things to do to entertain us.  However, I was pleased to find that we all just appreciated the downtime.  We bounced from park to park and just sat.  Periodically one of us would get up and wander around a bit, leaving their pack behind.  I think we all secretly knew that pretty soon we would kill for the chance to just sit in a quiet park on a sunny day.

We also made one last trip back to the plaza in front of the Cathedral.  Deija and Auna sat in the shade and wrote the entry for the blog and I laid out in the square observing all the pilgrims arrive. It was fun to just watch their expression as they first entered the square.  Some whooped and hollered while others stood silently.  Everyone looked as though they stood up taller, proud of what they accomplished.  

Speaking of blog entries, I was quite touched by what Auna and Deija have reported in their entries and I also want to thank them as well for having the courage to take on this challenge.  It was certainly not easy and they know more than anybody else that their "Camino" adventure began long before they took that first step in St. Jean, and will end long after they dipped their hands in the Atlantic Ocean.    We still have a lot of stuff planned when we get back.  From movies (The Way, a film about the Camino by Emilio Estevez comes out early October), to possible speaking engagements, and simple exercises in passing along the kindness we received while en route, we still have a lot to do.

But for now, we will just take it one day at a time and tomorrow we will be in Madrid.  Our flight leaves here August 3rd, and that will give us two days in Washington DC before flying back to Portland late August 5th.  We will of course continue to update the blog with pictures and our random daily musings until we return.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading!


Update-----It is also Deija's birthday today, so feel free to wish her a happy one.  Auna has been carrying her present in her backpack since yesterday and I am currently writing this blog entry from the lobby of a very nice hotel with a pool (Happy Birthday) in Madrid.

James