Miles today: 12.8
Miles total: 486.9
Lanie: WE MADE IT!!!! AHHH!! :) Haha, it was an easy short walk into Santiago this morning and we arrived at the ginormous 200-bed hostel at 10:30, and guess what? It was completely full... Seriously?! So our backup plan was to just go ahead and walk into the cathedral and have our special moment. And that's what we did, and let me tell you... It was unreal. It was huge and the fact that we just walked 500 miles and I was standing right in front of it! We did it! It's a huge accomplishment and something that we can say we did that nobody else can.
Mimi: We have arrived! It didn't seem like anything important. It was a big city in Spain! Huge in fact! Compared to the tow of a population 100-200 people jumping to a population of 250,000 people, the size of Santiago was impressive! Honestly, the idea that we had just finished our 500 mile, (29 day walk) had not hit me until we saw the Cathedral. It was glorious! We gathered with so many pilgrims, and tourists and people. We could hardly move without bumping into anyone. The Cathedral was packed and we stood in awe at the size and importance of this place. After hearing about this place for 29 days, we were excited to finally see it. It definitely made the full hostel incident a lot better. The only let down was the Cathedral was under construction.
Emily: The moment we have been waiting and working for, for 29 days, finally came. We arrived in Santiago! The cathedral was bigger then I imagined. It was sad it was under construction but it was still really cool to see. March walked us over to the front of the church and sat us down. He handed us each a stack of letters from our family and friends that congratulated us on finishing our walk. It was the perfect surprise and way to end it. I loved reading what everyone wrote me especially after not seeing them for over a month. March had organized it and picked one of our friends/ family members to collect letters from other people for us. Thank you so much to everyone who helped with this and wrote me letters! I have re-read them about 5 times now. Thanks to all my friends for their letters, all of which said something about boys, giving me a good laugh. Thank you to my family for all the heartfelt letters and encouraging words. Of course once I got to my dads letter I started crying, and a little boy next to me just stared the whole time. So special thanks to you dad! :) Thank you Nikki for the inspirational quotes!! And Ms.S thank you for the nice treats you sent.
Lanie: I would also like to say a quick thanks for my letters to a few people. Thank you Mum and Dad for the letters that brought tears to my eyes :') And thank you to my brother for his little letter and by the way, Cade, I'm not your little sister! Also thank you Luis for your very sweet letter that also made me tear up, haha :). And lastly, thank you Nikki Danner for your encouraging letter! You all rock!
Mimi: I will finish the thanks off with the people who have contributed to my special letters. They made my day! I would like to give a wonderful thanks to my Mom and Dad for their letter! I appreciate all people preparing these letters for my surprise! It was a dear surprise I will not forget. I have read them over five times already. Nate, Sam, and Joe, I love your letter and I miss you much! Thanks to my mentors, Miss Carla and Rachel, my cousins; Rynnie and Lele, and Nikki Danner for her joyful inspirations.
Emily: After the letters we found a hostel and ended up staying there the rest of the night. So... Fast forward to the next day! First things first, it was time to get our certificates for finishing the walk, and our certificate of distance.
Lanie: We waited anxiously in the rather long line for about 45 minutes to get our official proof of completing the Camino. When a pilgrim walks out with a little red tube, another enters to receive theirs. I was crazy excited to get mine and I can't wait to show everyone at home! We walked in one by one to a separate counter with a man or woman. I filled out some information and got my certificate!!! Yay!!! We all also got an additional certificate for the distance we walked. How cool is that?! And our cute little shell covered tube to keep it nice and safe. I'm sure all three of us will be framing them when we arrive back home. :)
Mimi: Our certificates were cool. We got them after the long line, but it was totally worth it! We went to get a map with March so we could go shop, shop, and more window shop! We still have three more days of walking so we put off our shopping spree until we come back so we don't have the extra weight. We first went to get draw-string bags so we didn't have to carry all of our stuff. After the ten or so shops we looked at we gathered information on the cheapest, best, and highest quality souvenirs. We decided on finding food and found our way to AquiGalicia.
Lanie: So AquiGalicia is one of Spain's news broadcasts and it was filming live right in front of us! We sat down right in front of the stage and watched most of it. The camera was on us a couple times too, haha. The woman who was the main reporter was all over the place with all the other reporters walking around the cathedral area. A bunch of groups performed and it was awesome! A lot of them sang, there were break dancers, karate, Galician dances, and cooking segments. ALL in front of us. We all clapped along to the songs and waved to the camera. And if anyone wants to see some performances, search Aqui Galicia 2014 performances and it'll say July 26th and show a couple singing groups. (If you watch very closely to the audience, you might even see us, haha)
Emily: It was really interesting to see how everything works behind the cameras. The guy in charge of everything was just loving life. Before and after someone would go in front of the camera he would laugh and joke with them. And boy could he dance! Whenever someone would preform a song I barely even watched them, I was entertained just by him. He would dance around with a huge grin on his face. It was hilarious!! We ended up leaving early to go to the mass that was being held in the church. It was really cool to experience and it was beautiful inside!! Of all the churches I have gone into on this trip, this one was one of my favorites.
Lanie, Emily, Mimi: Our trek to Fisterra begins tomorrow! Just three more days of walking! Wow!!
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