Santiago

---

I woke up this morning, ready to seize the day. I was getting hungry so I decided to go and find a little bakery and get a pastry for breakfast. As soon as I stepped outside, I realized it was raining. Little did I know that it would rain all day. So I roamed around until I found a little bakery to get breakfast. I grabbed my elephant ear pastry and started to walk around the city. I walked around for a while until I decided to go inside the big main cathedral. I made my way inside to see high ceilings, altars made of gold, and rooms dedicated to saints. It was very beautiful, but it made me think. They had a little room set aside to Jesus, but the rest of the rooms and the huge center piece of the church was dedicated to saints. You can pray to all of the saints, but it you have to pay to light the candles. I just didn’t understand how they could build this huge cathedral with paintings and gold everywhere, but the main centerpiece where people go and pray is a golden statue of a saint; literally a golden idol. People take a pilgrimage from all over the world and go on the Camino de Santiago (trail). The legend behind it goes that Saint James corpse was transported from the Holy Land all the way to Santiago de Compostela, which is located on the northwest tip of Spain. The trail they went on became legendary, and Christians started taking the pilgrimage. Now, it has become almost like a marathon, where people from all over come to complete the journey. Some of the people in my hostel spent the past 31 days walking the trail. I just don’t understand why. The path leads all the way up to the church, where you can find pilgrims rejoicing and taking pictures of their triumphant finish line. The cathedral truly is beautiful, but because the glass has shattered for me, I didn’t spend much time inside. After the exploration of the cathedral, I made my way to go find some food to eat. I ended up stopping at a restaurant a block away from the cathedral and only paid 7 euros for my food and water. I ate chicken with French fries; it was delicious! After lunch I wanted to check out two different types of markets Santiago has. The first was the produce market. I got to walk around it for a little while, but I didn’t buy anything. The next market I went to go check out was on Rua Nova. There were supposed to be a bunch of street vendors selling earrings, scarfs, purses, and all of those goodies. Unfortunately, since it was raining, I only saw one shop. I browsed around and decided to go take a look at the main park I heard about. It was a really pretty park full of statues and nature. I found an interesting looking building at the top of the park hill. I wanted to check it out, but there was a random guy who would act like he was walking down the hill when I was watching him but when I would turn around, he would be walking up it. I decided to head to a different part where more people were. I found an awesome photo point of the cathedral. Even though it was raining, it was still pretty. I made my way back to the hostel, so I could ask how to get to the bus station. I was not going to lug all of my stuff all the way back. Luckily, I found a not super close, but closer, bus stop where I can catch a bus to the main bus station. I went ahead and got on it so I could buy my ticket for tomorrow’s travels. The lady at the desk where I bought my ticket spoke English, but we spoke in Spanish. Somehow I bought a ticket for the 11 bus tomorrow to Fatima, Portugal. I am really excited about venturing into Portugal, but not about the 7 hour bus ride to get there. Once I bought my ticket, I tried to get a ride on the bus back to my hostel. Well, the guy ended up going the opposite way, so I had to walk all the way back. I knew where I was going this time, and I had no luggage. I was really happy about that. I was really tired and hungry, so I decided to find a grocery store and head back to the hostel. I bought my lunch for tomorrow, and met some more roommates for the night. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. Buenas noches.

---

Photos

An awesome rock.

Cathedral

They let you exercise in the park with these machines.

The ceiling of the cathedral.

My lunch

Foggy Cathedral from the park.