Arrived at the end of the Camino today. I expected crowds of people in the plaza but there is only a modest number of people here. I did see 2 young women from Norway in the cathedral that I had met earlier in my travels. I'm awaiting the arrival of some of my buddies, which I expect will be tomorrow. Now that I'm here it feels strange that I don't need to head on down the road. What I've learned or has been reinforced by this journey: It's important to keep mo...

I'm only 12 miles from Santiago de Compostela, and will finish the Camino tomorrow. My plans are to stay in Santiago two nights and then travel to Portugal. I'm ready for a different experience, even though doing the Camino has been one of the most meaningful and interesting travel experiences I've had in my lifetime. The end of this journey is anticlimactic. Since Sarria, the closest city to the last 100 kilometers of the Camino, the culture of the Camino has c...

For those of you impressed with my climb yesterday you can be unimpressed today. I must have entered incorrect numbers into my metric conversion app. As soon as I posted I realized that the information didn't make sense. The climb was actually about 4,000 feet, no small feat. My small feet appreciated that they didn't have the additional 2000 ft. to climb. As many of you know today is Larry's birthday. I decided to think of a birthday as a happy occasion. The hi...

Two major milestones reached today. The first is that I've crossed over into Galicia, the province that goes to the Atlantic, and the final one on the Camino. More exciting is that there are less than 100 miles to Santiago. I should be able to complete the Camino in 5-6 days. I'm still contemplating walking to Finisterre, the end of the ancient world on the coast. The small village I'm staying at is perched atop a mountain at about 6000 ft., most of which I clim...

After a sleepless night I began a 5 hour ascent up a mountain today. In the words of the young man who was my bunk bed mate, when I asked him if he slept well last night, he replied in his heavy German accent, "It was a nightmare. The Spanish guy was like cutting down a tree." Translation: chainsaw snoring. The hike through the mountain pass was gorgeous. Early in the morning the cool overcast air was pleasant. the mist burned off to reveal a cloudless stunningl...