Final thoughts back in States

Now that we are back in the USA I thought I would share some final random thoughts that might have been good blog posts if we had WIFI everywhere, and I felt like typing after a long day.

Food quality 

We never had a bad meal the entire time in Spain, if we I exclude one dodgy fish empanada in a road side bar. This was a bit unexpected. We were in a lot of villages with fewer than 100 inhabitants and without exception the produce was fresh, the food well prepared and served, and the wine excellent. Laurel would want me to make a special shout out to the amazing tomatoes. We ate salad at least once each day the tomatoes all tasted like those wonderful fruit you get off the vine in your backyard.

Also, we never saw salad dressing in Spain. They would give you olive oil and bit of white vinegar. In hind sight it would have been a shame to hide that produce with heavy creamy dressings -- even if they had even been on the menu.

We hear in the USA about our portions being too big. Well I ordered a ham and egg sub (jamon y huevas boccadio) and it had five fried eggs and cost $3.

Hands down the best food experience on any vacation, including any cruise ship we have every been on. An interesting side note is that we only spent more than $10 per person on two meals the entire trip, even with wine and dessert included.

Waiters

There is no tipping expected in Spain and waiters make a living wage in what is considered a good profession. We saw waiters doing amazing work while proving outstanding customer service. Our last night in Spain we watched a waiter handle 15 tables in an upscale restaurant without breaking a sweat. Whenever he left the dining room he had trays full of empty plates and whenever he returned he had trays full of food. In between he poured wine and handled people paying their bills.

I did leave a small tip a few times. At one cafe the waiter added the tip to a jar above the bar. All of the wait staff contributed for a staff party at an upcoming soccer match.

Cleanliness

The worst restrooms of the trip where in airports/airplanes. Even the pit toilet that "Tomas the last of the Templars" maintained was clean and odorless. Granted there was no seat and only three walls, but Laurel was pleased that there was a nice pole you could hang from and a roll of toilet paper. The restrooms were spotless and the fixtures were shiny clean. This probably says as much about the attitudes of 150,000 annual pilgrims as it does about the owners of the facilities.

We heard rumors of bedbugs before we left. We treated our clothes and silk sleeping liners appropriately. We never saw a bed that we didn't feel perfectly comfortable sleeping on. All of the sheets, pillows, blankets, etc. were spotless and fresh. We only had one place that gave us paper sheets and they were hermitically sealed and pretty comfortable. We even had Temperpedic foam mattresses at small pension in O’Pedrouzo. We payed from $3 to $20 person for the night.

Necessities

 At a pilgrim mass after the second week the priest said 'you started the Camino with only the necessities, and the necessities become less each day'. He was right. We started the trip with 14 pounds each in our backpacks. At the start of the second week when I got sick, we reassessed our 'necessities'. What do we need to get us to Santiago in time?

We made a bundle with our pack rain covers to forward and reduced to two sets of clothes each. We eliminated other items we had not used or could do without. We also checked the weather and eliminated rain gear -- we shipped the bundle to our room in Santiago for 2 euros. It was much easier walking with our new necessities.

You may have noticed in my pictures that some pilgrims leave behind items along the way. Boots are the most common casualty as people switch mainly to running shoes. Laurel did this during the second week, but shipped her Italian hiking shoes to Santiago. Her new 'memory foam' running shoes got her to Santiago, but the soles were letting rocks in on the last day so they were in the bin before we left Spain. Like a bike racer, I found myself throwing away full water bottles once we sighted the Cathedral for the first time.

Bucket list?

I thought before we went that we would check the Camino off our list. To my surprise both Laurel and I have added other Caminos on our wish list -- maybe two or three. This was a once in a life time experience that we plan to have again.

The reason is the people you meet. We walked much of our final day with Lee and Lorain -- a couple about our age we had met in Portomarin.

I walked with Lee, a fire rescue expert from Queensland Australia.  After his recent wife's death he planned a long trip to Ireland to take a break.

Laurel walked with Loraine. She was from Dublin, Ireland and recently separated from her husband. After the separation she had a long trip to Australian to take a break.

The two met in Australia during her holiday, they got to together again in Ireland again during his holiday, and now they were on the Camino with plans to settle together back in Queensland. He had lost 40 pounds in the 35 days they spent on the Camino and had a new view on life. It was with a touch of sadness that we separated about 5 kilometers from Santiago on our last day. Lee and Lorain wanted to walk to the Cathedral at sunrise the day we were flying out and we had to move on.

The people like this you meet that have a wiliness and even necessity to share their stories. I think I will find people too guarded now that I am home.

Final thought

 At the Pilgrim mass in the Cathedral of Santiago, there were 6 priests con-celebrating. I recognized one of the priests as someone who con-celebrated the mass the previous week in O'Cebreiro. He was introduced as a fellow pilgrim and a priest from Ecuador. It was special to know he shared almost every step with us and presided at the two Saturday vigil masses of our Camino.

The final homely from the priest was a powerful message. It was delivered in simple Spanish so even I could get his message. He said, "During your Camino you stopped each day to help  your fellow pilgrims at the side of the road. You helped bandage their blistered feet, you gave them food or water, and you helped them find an empty bed for the evening. You were their brother pilgrim. When you return home and you see a person by the side of the road -- will you just walk by?  Will you say not my problem?".

Quite a challenge to live up to -- but it is the experience of the Camino.