O Pedrouzo to Santiago, Spain - October 12

We made it! Olga and I left the hostel around 7am to start our trek to San Marco where we would meet Sunita and finish the walk to Santiago together.

We made the 9 miles to our meetup point in about 3.5 hours in spite of more ups and downs (elevation change) than I expected. 😬

After we caught up with Sunita, I insisted we stop for food and coffee before continuing as I had skipped breakfast. Yup, still hungry all the time. 😆

When finished lunch and restarted our walk we soon entered the city of Santiago.

Lots if emotion as we neared the cathedral and plaza.

As we entered the plaza in front of the cathedral we each reflected on why we attempted this adventure, what we had experienced along the path here and what finishing meant to us and our loved ones. Sunita thought of how thankful she is for her family. She called her dad and Sajeev from outside the cathedral to share the celebration with them. Olga thought about her family and especially how much her father loved to walk, and how proud he is of her accomplishment. For me, I thought about my family, how lucky I am to have all of them, how thankful I am for Sunita, and how grateful I am for the means and good health needed to even consider making this pilgrimage let alone complete it.

Olga’s sister Marta flew to Santiago this morning to join us in celebration. You may recall, she met us in Pamplona and walked nearly 150km with us. When we finished at the plaza, we headed to our hostel and stopped for a quick lunch on the way.