Santiago

It feels a little odd to get up and not have to gear up. We had first breakfast in the hotel bar and enjoyed coffee and toast. Eunice found a farmers market and it was our first stop of the day. We wandered the booths and enjoyed the amazing color and textures of the market. There were three buildings filled with seafood. What I would have given for a hibachi grill and a bottle of olive oil! We left the market and headed for San Domingo park and enjoyed a quiet walk. 
We left the quiet of the park in search of comfortable walking shoes (the flip flops were not going to cut it for another week and the thought of the hiking boots were unthinkable) for Mona. The shopping district was full of shoe stores and lots of options. I wandered in and out of shops and stumbled on estudio 53 rare guitars. I’ve been in a couple music shops in Spain most with a small selection of starter instruments. Estudio 53 is a world class guitar shop. You would need to travel to New York or Chicago to find the same lineup. The guy in the shop only spoke a little English but we both spoke guitar.  
Skies were threatening rain and we decided to meet at the pilgrims office at noon. I arrived a little early and got in line and was pleasantly surprised to be standing next to Bob a pilgrim from South Carolina who I had met my first night at Orison and had seen several times throughout the Camino. We were in line for about an hour and the time passed quickly telling Camino stories and talking about home. A pleasant bell signaled next in line and when it was my turn I walked to the counter and presented peregrino passport and entered my name in the log. The man behind the counter congratulated me with a big smile and a warm handshake. I left the counter with my compostella safely rolled in a tube. Mona, Concetta and Eunice were in line and gave me a cheer and snapped a photo. About 20 minutes later we left in celebration mode. We had a big lunch and filled the rest of the afternoon browsing gift shops in the tourist section of the city. Back at the hotel, Eunice and Concetta packed for their trip home and we had an early dinner and said goodbyes. It feels a little lonely without them here. We went to supermarcato, that was more of an averagemarcato, and got yogurt for breakfast and snacks. What a wonderful day!