Another rest day
How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to." - A.A. Milne
Over 36 days, I'd forged deep friendships with a group of people who'd very quickly become weaved into the fabric of my life, and now it was time to say goodbye.
We were all sitting in a cafe, drinking our morning coffee, eating tostadas like normal - except it wasn't normal. It was sad. Really, really sad.
There was a cloud hanging over us all and the air was thick with subdued emotion.
In no time, we were all standing outside the cafe, giving our final hugs, holding onto each other tightly and promising to see each other again.
We watched as one-by-one, Janne, Rick, Don, Abdal and Magda walked away, around the corner and were gone.
The rest of the gang picked up their backpacks, feeling heavier now than ever I was sure, and began following the familiar yellow arrows, this time pointing towards the ocean.
Today I would follow a different path and I would tread it with my parents. I called them from the street. "They've gone," I said, a little breathless from crying.
While they ate breakfast, I went to the cathedral and we planned to meet later at my apartment.
I had hoped to find some solace, some meaning in the cathedral, but it felt forced. I was sitting on a bench, scrolling through photos of my trip on my phone trying to bring about revelation, a 'big moment' where everything would start to make sense.
It didn't happen. Of course it didn't, a grand cathedral couldn't help me put myself back together, I needed my parents.
Back at the apartment, we drank coffee and we talked and talked, or more accurately, I talked and they listened. I felt a real need to try to explain to them what I'd experienced, what I'd discovered about myself and why these new friendships meant so much to me.
I'm incredibly lucky to be part of a family where we express our love freely and without reservation. My parents already know me inside and out but I think our time together in Santiago has brought us even closer together.
That day felt like a restoration. We went shopping to add a couple of new things to my Camino wardrobe of leggings and t-shirts - it felt good to bring back some colour and patterns into my life again :-)
I went to a bookshop where I bought a copy of The Alchemist, recommended to me by Janne. The lead character's name is Santiago, so I took this for a sign - noting later when I read it, that this is a book all about signs.
Afterwards, we went for cocktails and then for an incredible meal where I was defeated by a delicious, juicy steak.
By the end of the day I was feeling refreshed, renewed and excited about my final two days of walking, determined to reach the ocean full of positivity and on good terms with myself.
Santiago was not the end, but it is where I accepted that there would be one.
The truth sets us free, and my parents helped me to find it.
