Morning
mist and cold made me bike faster to warm up a little. During the breakfast I met
another Czech couple but these did not seem to be much talkative. That
compensated meeting another biker from Spain with whom I talked another half an
hour on the bike. Once we almost had an accident as we did not pay much
attention to the road. After another bike-hike to a small hill from which one
can have a magnificent view on the whole city, but from which due to the mist I
saw absolutely nothing, I went downhill to Santiago. It was a strange feeling
indeed, arriving in my final destination after so much time, hardship, but also
great experiences and undeniably a lot of effort. I particularly enjoyed
arriving in Santiago and tried to imprint that moment deep in my memory.
Coming
to the front of the cathedral was accompanied with the whole gamut of emotions,
I simply felt absolutely overwhelmed. It sounds very strange on the first
glimpse that I travelled 4000 km just to visit this city, but it had a deeper
meaning for me. My Camino Francais, the holy pilgrimage, was at this point over
and from now on I was just a regular tourist. I think this is a common feeling for
meeting any targets one wants to achieve - a bitter sweet feeling full of mixed
emotions. Exactly for this reason the official motto of the Camino de Santiago
is the path is the goal: When you are
trying to achieve something, you are full of hopes, expectations, fear, but
still, you have this goal in the front of you which is an immense motivation
that pushes you forward. However, once you have reached that goal, you might
feel a little bit empty. Thus it is important to have a goal all the time,
something that keeps us on our toes and does not let us go astray in life.
Besides small goals, we also need a big one, something like pursuit to work on
ourselves that actually has no end. That is precisely the point of it - the
path is the goal itself. For me, this was the ultimate experience and I think I
have realized many things about myself and the life as well. I hope I will be
able to make the use of it in the future, restraining the bad and enforcing the good threats of my
personality for making the most of all opportunities, blessings and situations I
will encounter in the future. This was a way of learning, way of learning both
through pain and joy, fear and hope, distance and nearest vicinity, through the
relativity from every point of view. 7 weeks might not seem a lot. Yet, for me
it was like spending several months on the road. Time passed with another speed
than I was used to. The days started to mingle with one another and without
keeping up with writing my blog, I would have easily got lost in my own
memories. Relative is also everything what you enjoy in your life. For one
person it might be taken for granted, but for the other it can mean the
blessing and sheer luxury. Everything is just the point of view; remember that
when you start bitching about anything in your life what you suppose it is
miserable. It is true that one should try to go always forward, that is in the
end the way of life. On the other hand, once should also try to appreciate the
thing he or she has achieved and particularly enjoy this. If we just strive for
perfection, expect only great things in the life, we might become oblivious
about the small things that make the life beautiful. This was also my goal, to
appreciate things I have and find the happiness in the simplicity. I guess, I
have achieved that and I am immensely happy for this experience. Anything that
might have worried a person before starting the Camino should be washed away by
the hardship he or she has got through. That is very true indeed. I feel the
same – it is just like a new beginning with a clear mind, no worries, no
regrets, and all the past behind me, trying to make the best of the present and
the future. The Camino truly has the healing effect on the soul. I experienced
it on my own. This healing comes through incomfort, hopelessness, uncertainty,
adventure, risk, and seeing the world through another eye. I can only confirm
that it works this way. Maybe it is our nature – if we do not get through
something difficult, we might not appreciate what we have. The journey is the destination.
Remember that – it is actually not a motto for Camino itself, but it applies
for the whole life.
The only
one thing I disliked about Santiago de Compostela was the sheer number of tourists.
One could hardly move through the city streets and prices in shops and
restaurants were set accordingly. I queued in the front of the cathedral for
more than 1 hour among other nervous and fidgeting tourists before I could get
inside. They were all hungry to see the Botafumeiro, the biggest thurible in
Europe, but the most of them did not manage to get inside and left disappointed
without even entering the cathedral. I found this utterly ridiculous, as if one
big ball stinking all over the cathedral really mattered. Besides, I do not see
the point from rushing from one place to another. It does not really matter how
many cathedrals you have visited, but how much you were able to enjoy the visit
and soak their beauty. I at least tried to use the spare time for
contemplation, prayers, and mental rehearsing of my journey. Afterwards, I
attended the mass and had a long walk in the cathedral. There was a narrow lane
of tourists divided with red ropes. Out of curiosity, I shamelessly I jostled
inside the group, but then it came to my mind that this might be some kind of a
special paid tour. Then I became quite ashamed that I forced my way right in
the middle of the tour without paying for it, but I felt even more ashamed to
leave away, I simply continued. It was an interesting tour - I visited the
crypts, saw the Apostle's tomb and even embraced his glamorous statue for luck.
Then I left the cathedral, open a bottle of beer and by calling my family and
friends I rejoiced my arrival. Somehow I forgot about my lunch and drinking 1,5
l of beer on the hot sun was not the best idea either. I was aware of the
danger, but I was so tired after standing and walking (unusual activity for me
at that time) that I was ready to take the risk. I regretted that later in the
evening when I got a terrible headache and felt every little hole by biking.
After an
hour of sitting on a cold cobbled street, I left to look for the pilgrims
office in order to pick up my well-deserved certificate. The staff consisted of
volunteers, emanating wholeheartedness and kindness. Hereby I proudly upload
the copy of my certificate J
As I was
packing my stuff, I met another Korean, this time a girl (I talked to one Korean
man in the cathedral and the second one I helped with directions). I do not know
whether it is just a mere coincidence, or rather a rule, but all Asian girls I
had met so far have very cute soft voices so it is always very pleasant to talk
to them. Interestingly, as all three Koreans whom I met on my way today told
me, they represent the 4th most common nationality on the Camino,
right after Spanish, Italian and German. As she told me, it has become hugely
popular in South Korea since the book the Pilgrim by Pablo Coelho was published
which, by the way, inspired many a pilgrim to take Camino from all over the
world. We Slovaks have much to catch up on, supposing that according to the
census there are 90% of Christians in Slovakia whereas there are only 25% of Christians
in Korea. Yet they travel all the way to come here and to do the Camino- very
admirable. I hope that our problem dwells only in the lack of money and not the
luck of courage, or even worse, laziness.
By my visit
of the pilgrims office I asked as a shot in the dark if by any chance blessing
of Eva could be arranged. I adamantly wanted to fulfill my promise to Krzysztof,
but when I thought how commercially everything works here, I started to doubt
that it would be possible. Nevertheless, the sister whom I gave this question invited
me to an evening prayer with a priest and assured me that he would be happy to
do so. I was very glad, thanked her and left for 2 hours as every ordinary
tourist to buy some overpriced trinkets. I also indulged myself with an evening
meal, this time fries with meat and sausages. Giving the circumstances that all
shops were closed again (come on Marek, once again you have forgotten that
shops are closed on Sunday), I had nothing to eat, was starving and needed
something to full my belly for another 20km of biking, I did not really have
any other choice. Still, for 6 € in the city centre it was actually cheap, even
for Slovak standards. An exception enforces the rule, this was namely the
cheapest fastfood I managed to find..
Attending
the evening prayer was an experience on its own. I left my cell phone in the
office for charging so I could not take any pictures, but I can only say that
it was very tiny and cute. A medium-sized cross was lying on the floor and
around you could see small unlighted candles. The room was rather cramped, fit
to seat only up to 10 persons, but still it fitted its purpose. I guess we build the cathedrals only for our
good feeling, I doubt that the God does even give a damn how big a tower or a
cathedral is, the most important are the people in it.
My biking
out of Santiago was not particularly pleasant due to the headache that I described
few lines above. I put my tent in a field outside a small village and listened
to local fiesta music.
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