final words: epilogue

hey everyone,

in case you're interested: http://picasaweb.google.com/spjones268 has all of the pictures from my pilgrimage. hopefully sometime I will go through and label all of them...

this will be my last entry in an effort to sum up the end of the trip and to post some final pictures that I promised you earlier. on our free day in Santiago we started by going to a museum that had parts of the original cathedral (9th century) on display along with plenty of art from the tenth century on of Santiago, Christ, Mary, and everything else you can imagine. the cathedral is constructed on a hill in Santiago so climbing to floors will bring you to the cloister which is level with the east entrance of the cathedral. after touring we attended the pilgrim's mass at noon where we received recognition for completing the pilgrimage the day before. After this we went down into the actual crypt where Santiago's (James's) bones are held. It was interesting. After this we left the cathedral and went to each lunch as a group. We went to a small tapas bar where we had small appetizer like portions instead of a huge meal. After this we all went in search of an ice cream shop for about twenty minutes without success. After giving up all hope we ended up finding one (actually Grace found it ) hidden away in an old bar that had a nice piano and everything. We all relaxed together for the afternoon enjoying the last half day in Santiago together. After this we got to go to the church's famous rooftop tour where we actually walked around on top of the roof of the cathedral. (The face of the cathedral is actually a baroque facade built in the sixteenth century in front of the original cathedral which was built in the twelve century in romanesque style.) This tour was impressive and included beautiful views of the city. After this we returned to the piano room where I was able to play for some of the people in our group for a while. We then took care of our last minute things before we returned to the hotel. At this point we all geared up for dinner, which was a very nice thank you to our guide Curtis and our professor Dr. Dyer and her husband Steve Hodge for everything that they did for us on the road. At this point we all said our goodbyes and started packing. The first group left for the airport at 6:00 AM, and I ended up eating breakfast at 7:30 and left at 8:00. I ended up having to pay a fee for my bag weighing more than the limit on the way to Madrid, but thankfully once I made it there I didn't have to pay any extra because my final destination was in the United States rather than the EU. Anyway after much traveling and attempted sleeping with several movies and CDs finished I finally arrived at Houston. After racing through customs I was relieved to see my family (mom, dad, and older brother Clint) waiting for me at the gate . All in all it was a once in a lifetime experience, and I hope to do this again sometime soon. I really enjoyed getting to know our entire group on the camino. We definitely had all kinds of experiences together, and I definitely grew a lot as a person as a result. I appreciate everything guys- we definitely should get together sometime in CS! Here are some last few pictures:the night before we all left at dinner
the cathedral by night
curtis, matt, and I
the headline the day that I left
breakfast with Dr. Dyer, Mr. Hodge, and Curtis the morning I left

from the top (looking down onto mass)
the clocktower of the church
samuel- our friend from canada with Bre and Grace
piano time in Santiago
one of the baroque towers
the tunas in the plaza
good ol' cafe con leche
in the cloister of the cathedral (where the monks would live)
the view from the rooftop tour of the cathedral
our house that we stayed in at Santa Irene (one day away!)
blister surgery
we finally made it to the cathedral in Santiago!
the other side of the cathedral (plaza de platerias)
We finally made it, it's chill time!
one of our dinners in portomarin, the Enrique cooked some great treats for us
our humble stay in San Xulian del camino
dinner in arzua
we're getting close!
we finally made it!
horseback riding in portomarin
last night with the guys in portomarin (francis from belgium on left and nile from england)
the celtic influence on Ocebreiro
the entry into portomarin

we finally arrived

hello everyone,

yesterday we finished hiking! no more walking for us except around the city. We stayed in a house in Santa Irene two nights ago, and we enjoyed some downtime to rest our feet for the final day. yesterday we left at 730 to finish the 24 km that we lacked on the pilgrimage. we got to stop at the historic spot where pilgrims would race to the top of a hill in order to be the first to see the spires of the cathedral in Santiago. we passed a monument to the former Pope JP2- who did the pilgrimage twice in his life, and we finally crossetd the tracks into the city. it was definitely the most anticipated arrival in any city that I have ever experienced (it was a total of 2 miles getting into the historical district). We finally made it to the cathedral where we took a lot of pictues (sadly those will have to wait again), and we made our way around to the the cathedral to the oficina del peregrino where we received our final credentials for completing the pilgrimage. It was oddly quick, but we made our way to lunch and relaxed the rest of the day shopping around the city. We can finally buy souvenirs without worying about carrying them across Spain with us. Last night we got the rare treat of watching them swing the botofumeiro (giant incense burner made of solid silver that they only swing- giant pendulum effect- for special days or for people who give a lot of money to the church´s maintenance fund. It was pretty slick. After this we went back to the hotel for dinner where we had trout and vegetable lasagna. later we returned to the main plaza where we listened to the tunas perform. what a night! anyway we´ll be here one more day bfore I head back , and then I´ll be sure to add pictures that I haven´t been able to at this point. I´ll see yall soon!

horsebacking riding, hiking 32k, and hiking 26 k

wow, it has really been an intense last two days since I last posted. At the rancho, we all got together to go horseback riding. We rode all over the owner Mario´s land, and we ended up climbing up on this hill that overlooked the entire valley. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. It was definitely an incredible experience. After this we all got together for the end of our day of rest to dine under the cuisine of the chef Enrique at the ranch. There´s something about homeade food when you´ve been walking around town or hiking across the mountains all day that definitely cannot be topped. We managed to go into town one last time, and we were fortunate to spend some time with our Belgian and English friends from the camino. Now we are actually a day behind them due to our rest period, but we hope to meet up with them in Santiago on Friday. Yesterday we started from Portomarín and hiked all day through quite a sampler of rain, cold, humidity, and brilliant sunlight. All in all we made it about 32 km (somewhere around 19 miles), which has been our longest day yet. We stayed in a tiny village called San Xulian (pronounced Hoo-lee-aan in Galllego- which is the official language of the province of Galicia). In Spain each province has their own history since the time of the Romans, so the national identity typically comes in second under the provincial one. A good example of this is our pride in Texas, but here they take it to a whole new level which even includes violent separtism (the extreme Basques and ETA- check it on Wikipedia if you´re curios). Our albergue was nice and homely. The diner last night was definitely one of the best that we have had so far. When Spainards eat- they know how to do it. It started with a sort of soup, followed by tortilla española (potato egg omlette), salad with tuna (atún), rosemary porkchops- a great taste, and of course queso con membrillo (dessert cheese with a sort of candy) for dessert. We were all out of commission last night by 10:30PM and got up to go again this morning around 6:30 AM. We left San Xulian at around 7:30 after a hearty breakfast. I went ahead with some of the guys of the group on the camino. At our first stop we heard the news about Obama being the candidate on the television (it was kind of surreal to explain to the lady at the bar (every place to stop on the camino to eat or drink anything is referred to as a bar in Spain) why we were surprised, and it brought us back to what´s going on in the states as well. We continued today through several small towns and one larger one where we receieved sellos (stamps on our pilgrim´s passports from everywhere we go on the camino) from a local priest in Melide. Today was a grueling day after such a long day yesterday, but we managed to make it to our hotel in the outskirts of Arzúa. This is definitely a more white collar city as well as province. The people here are down-to-earth and very in touch with their roots. We spend most of our time walking through villages where the cows are still herded through at the end of each afternoon (in otherwards plenty of leftovers along the trail for us to dodge). We encounter quite a variety of smells on the camino as well in these parts from chicken coops to open pastures of grazing dairy cattle to urban mazes. I was hoping this computer would have functioning USB ports, but I guess pictures will have to wait. I hope that things are going well for everyone back home. We have to more twenty kilometer days before we arrive in Santiago! It should be incredible, and I can´t wait to inundate everyone with all sorts of pictures. Hasta luego...

day of rest

Yesterday we left sarria for portomarín. This was a long trek through many small agricultural cities where the streets are lined with manure, and the smell will leave you wanting some fresh air. The views from these small camino driven villages are incredible. The computer that I am at today will not let me publish photos, so those will have to wait. We arrived at around two in the afternoon yesterday and rested up for a late afternoon lunch. In Spain on Sundays the main meal is actually eaten in the late afternoon (much preferred to the late evening meals which we have grown accustomed to. We are staying at a ranch that is located directly on the river that borders portomarín. The views are incredible, and the rooms are great. We are taking a day to be interviewed for our progress on the coursework which we have been completing for three and a half weeks up to this point. After this we are all planing on going horseback riding at the ranch. Currently Mario and I are seeing what there is to see in Portomarín while the others are going through their interviews. Tonight we are all giving our presentations for our coursework, and we will definitely rest up for the last leg of the camino. We are less than 90 km away, and this is evident by the sheer number of tourists which we are encountering on a daily basis. Yesterday on the trail I met my third American on the camino. She is a NY policewoman named Chris and was a fiery character. We´ve been enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the ranch, but we were sad to say goodbye to our walking buddies from Belgium, the UK, and Scandanavia as they continued this morning. We all met up last night in the town to enjoy some cidra (specialty of Galicia) and enjoy the town a bit. We plan to meet up with them again in Santiago. At this point we are all loving the food in Galicia. Their specialties include a particular soup which consists of a meat broth with potatoes and some sort of green leafy vegetable (the english name escapes me). The camino is what keeps these rural areas alive in Northern Spain. It is amazing to meet people who have been serving and spending time with peregrinos (pilgrims) their entire lives. I hope things are going well back home, and I will post pictures soon.