Last Thursday... our last walking day on the Camino. We set off from Osebe for our final 8.5 mile walk into Santiago. It rained. A lot. We walked into the square in front of the cathedral, took some soggy selfies then headed to the Pilgrims Office to get our certificates. Exhausted and exhilarated, we had completed our journey.

This Thursday... I'm back in North Carolina.

When we were planning our Camino trip we quickly realized that we could organize our schedule so that we would arrive in Santiago on Maundy Thursday and then stay through Easter Sunday. It felt like an amazing opportunity to experience Holy Week in a completely new way.

And this has turned out to be true.

I’m sure most of you who might land on this blog post will be familiar with Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese. My therapist recently, gently suggested that I might like to spend some time reflecting on it, especially the opening few lines…

Yes, that is correct. According to my step counter, since we started on the Camino I have now walked 512,475 steps!!

What in the world?!

I’m not quite sure what to think about that.

Yesterday (Palm Sunday) was a rest and retreat day at the monastery in Armenteira. What a gift! The day started early with Laudes (morning prayer) - listening to the sisters singing with and to one another as they do every single day was really special. Later in the morning there was Mass which began with a procession around the cloisters with olive branches waving. It felt like a real privilege to be able to be present for these services.

So, yesterday I wrote about the unexpected pleasures of walking slowly uphill… I’m so ridiculous! Why would I write such a thing knowing that the very next day (that would be today) was going to include a roughly 1300 feet climb over around 5 miles, or thereabouts?