Tuesday October 20

We arrived in Santiago yesterday. We are pilgrims no more. We stayed Sunday night in Lavacolla at a hotel so that we would be in shooting distance of Santiago in he morning. It was not a pilgrim friendly destination but there were eight of us so they had to put up with us. We made the 10 or 11 k walk in the morning...Sunday seems to be hunting day in Spain, and it is a little eerie to walk through the woods with guns going off. We made it to the pilgrim office, got our Compestelas, no purgatory for us, well maybe not for Gerry, they tell me that protestants still go to purgatory for 900 years..please. We found a place to stay, went to the Cathedral, Gerry made confession and took communion, we hugged St. James, visited the crypt and with our pilrim duties completed, we visited with our friends.

We met at 6pm for wine, pictures and fun. It was great to see everyone again. Then we had dinner at 8 at a great restaurant and went back to the Parador with a Canadian couple that we have spent some time with, for a nightcap. It was great to swap stories and to hear everyone elses highs and lows.

We are spending the day in Santiago today, and will head off to Portugal tomorrow. It gives us a day to catch our breath and to make some plans. It has been a wonderful wonderful run with many happy memories.

We will meet with friends again today, and then we are on our own again. A bientot.