Sunday October 2, 2022
O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela

Day	Date	From-To	Sunrise	Weather	Start	# Hrs	Miles	Km	Elev.
28	2-Oct	O Pedrouza-Santiago	8:30	55 Fog	6:50	6:15	13.8	22	1229

We set out on our final day on well-worn dirt trails in the fog. With only about 12 miles to go, we were happily anticipating our arrival in Santiago. We knew that we’d get to the Parque de Monte Gozo, where we would get our first glimpse of the Cathedral. We read that in the park there are statues of 2 pilgrims pointing toward the city. Unless you knew to deviate from the path (and the all-comforting arrows), you wouldn’t necessarily see the statues. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

If you read the blog entry about our walk from Vilalba to Baamonde (Day 23), you might remember that I wrote about how I feel that my parents are with me on this journey:

1. A strong breeze that helped to “push” me up a huge hill
2. Randomly meeting Garrett, who we met in 2017 on a different Camino route
3. Meeting an 83-year-old man from Maine who’d never been to Spain and never liked to hike, who started walking Caminos after his wife died… and he was sure that he saw her walking ahead of him
4. Ordering a glass of red wine, only to find that it had been refrigerated
5. Rain in the forecast every day for the past 8 days, but it hasn’t amounted to anything
6. A whole basket of butterhorns in a café

In that post, I said: “If I meet anyone from Lithuania on this trip, I’ll probably burst into tears”

So…. We were almost to Monte Gozo, and Mike was ahead of me (as usual). Lots of people were speaking English, and Mike started chatting with a couple from Colorado Springs, Stephanie and Kyle. They had done the same route (half of the del Norte and then the Primitivo) last year, same as we did in 2017. They were also going toward the pilgrims’ statues, so we continued chatting. I told Stephanie about my mom’s passing and that I feel that she is on this journey with me. I said “I swear, if I meet anyone from Lithuania…”, and she turned to me and asked, “Are you Lithuanian?!” Turns out that ~ yes ~ HER grandmother was born in Lithuania, just like mine. Her mother is half Lithuanian, just like mine. By the time Stephanie and I reached Mike and Kyle, I was crying. Mike looked concerned, and I told him through my tears that Stephanie is part Lithuanian. If he hadn’t decided to speed up to chat with this lovely young couple from Colorado, if we weren’t all walking to the pilgrims’ statues, if I didn’t mention my mom…. But we did all of those things, and my Mom made damn sure that I knew she was right there with me.