Stage 34 .... It's the final Stage to Santiago. One million steps, five hundred miles and a great number of really incredible memory's .

I will first have coffee con leche and then push off to Santiago. I have already started dumping anything I don't need to get to or stay in Santiago. I could leave my poles behind but I thought that they have really worked hard to help get me here and that the least I could do is let them walk into Santiago with me. We will part company before I leave on Friday morning for my connecting flight to Madrid. 

It was a somewhat restless night. A combination of my cold and a bit of anticipation. I just want to go and finish. I was asleep early and awake every couple of hours until I just gave up at 6:00. Each time I woke up I would look out the window to check the weather. It's been raining all night, not a heavy rain but a steady rain.

If this rain continues for my final Stage then it will be Barry White getting the Compostela at the Pilgrim Office. I was feeling a little better and thought that it might be Louie Armstrong instead. I will just have to deal with it one last time, continue to take the LAFOR and walk into Santiago with a cold.

I will not be getting to Santiago in time for the Piligrims Mass at noon anyway, so I will just wait and see if the weather changes. It is now 6:30, I will leave between 9:00 and 10:00. The Pilgrim's Office is open until 7:00 tonight. Rainer has already warned me that there will be a line which could mean that it may take an hour or more. I really don't care. I will just wait to see the swinging of the giant insense burner, Botafumeiro until tomorrow. The Cathedral seats up to 1000 people so there is a good chance that I will get a seat.

I finish breakfast at 8:15 and it does not look like its going to be getting much better. I am leavening early and will just take my time on this my final walk to Santiago. I am so glad there isn't a Stage 35.

I pack my gear for the last time and exclude a couple of items like the detergent. I will not miss having to do that little sink task again. It is 9:30 as I return to the Camino. I will make several stops along the way for water, coffee and to have my Credential stamped at least three times. 

The temperature is nearly perfect, about sixty degrees and just a slight breeze and its cloudy. There are sections of the trail where there is mud but nothing that will cause me to perform the mud dance. The rain has left the trail soft which is good for the Limo's and their passengers. I am dressed as well as I can given the fact that I don't have many options.

I have all seven stones in my backpack and they will be placed at The Hiill of Happiness which will be about ten miles from my starting point. I will take several pictures today including a few of the markers which count down the number of kilometers remaining to Santiago. Each is a clear reminder of just how close I am.

It begins to rain after only two miles but I am in the forest so the tree cover acts as an umbrella making the rain a non event. As I come out of the forest the rain stops and I will make my first wardrobe change. It's getting a little warm and of course I am heating up from inside the rain jacket. 

With about four miles to go I make my final stop for coffee. It's a very small place and very few customers. As I drink my coffee it begins to rain. The two people who work here are completely glued to the television as they watch the American reality show filmed in a pawn shop in Detriot. The show is a less than flattering example of how people in the U.S. behave. 

I reach Monte do Gozo which is now marked by the sizable monument commemorating the visit by Pope John Paul the second. The Hill of Happiness. It is certainly not the view that pilgrims from a thousand years ago had from the top of hill. It is very different I am sure. Hundreds of years ago the pilgrims could actually see the Cathedral from this location but now all you see is the outer edges of the suburbs of Santiago.

I place the seven stones at the base of the monument and take a few pictures. Robin will send them to  family and others. This is my final task. I begin my walk downhill into Santiago. I walk past the Monte del Gozo Albergue which is within a couple hundred feet of the monument. It has beds for up to three thousand pilgrims! Can you imagine the sounds that three thousand people in bunk beds can make! It's actually a row of buildings which are filled with beds. I am so glad that Sharel didn't book me here!

As I walk over a freeway bridge I see it. It's the sign that simply says SANTIAGO. I take a picture, I have arrived, my Camino walk is complete. I made it! Five hundred miles, one million steps. The Camino Frances. It's a bit odd because I am walking alone and there isn't anyone to say "hey I made it", I have completed my Camnio.

The next item on my agenda is to go to the Pilgrims office near the cathedral and claim my Compostela but first I want to find the hotel to shower and change. Everything I am wearing is wet and I don't want to stand in line as wet as I am still carrying all of my gear.

I get to my room and take a much needed shower. Rainer has just arrived and I will meet him in the lobby to leave for the Pilgrim's office. He's been there twice before so he knows the drill. 

We get to the Pilgrims office and as luck would have it there is no line and I present my Credential's to the clerk. She inspects them. I have two now because the American version is to small. She asks me to complete a short questionnaire. She stamps my Credential's and hands them back to me along with my Compostela. The Compostela is in Latin and it includes my Latin name, Jacobum. Not exactly flattering is it? 

Rainer and I will have dinner and then I will do my best to sleep in tomorrow morning. The only thing I have planned for Thursday is to attend the Pilgrims Mass at noon. 

I will post my final blog as a summary of my Camino. I will write it on the plane back to Los Angeles on Friday, I'm taking Thursday off. That's it for now, no more walking, I am in Santiago. 

See you soon. Good night.