I spent almost two days in Santiago, I saw the Botafumeiro two times. I can say I’m lucky. I had time to go deep in my thoughts, to pray and be thankful in the beautiful chatedral.
It was good to meet my pilgrim mates, to be happy about each other and congratulate to them, to talk about our experiences, to hear wonderful stories, to become sentimental when saying goodbye.
On Saturday morning, three of us started out to Finisterre. The first day was OK in terms of the distance, but the second and thirds days seemed to be very long, 34, 32 kilometers. On Sunday, after walking for an hour, we got lost. Somewhere we missed a sign. It took us more than one hour to get back to the right way, which meant around 5 additional kilometers, on top of the 34 kilometers planned for that day.
On top, my two mates decided to stop on the way, and complete this distance in 4 days. I didn’t have time for that because I wanted to visit the ‘End of the World’, to the lighthouse, which is an additional 3,5 kilometers from Finisterre. So we said goodbye and I took my steps faster. I felt very greatful when I arrived to my planned destination, to Oliveira at 5 P.M. First, I was not angry at all for that 5 additional kilometers, second I felt greatful that Lord showed me how serious load my body can assess. The second day also promised to be a hard one, but I felt much more relaxed, since I knew I’m over the hardest period. Also the weather became nicer, after a little rain in the morning, the Sun started to shine. I arrived to the last city before Finisterre at 1 P.M. Before I entered the city, I saw a Holy Mary statue, covered with a glass container, and I found a little card there. The following text was written on it in Hungarian: ‘By the end of my journey, everything fell out of me. Neither good, nor bad feelings stayed, only big emptiness. The wind blew them way, the sea washed them away. Only one thing remained and fills up the big emptiness: LOVE. Thank you!’
This was a closed container, it could not be opened. I became sentimental, and I was grateful to Holy Mary, to the Lady of Hungarians that she helped me on my journey, and she made it possible me to read this card! I was proud to be Hungarian!
Again, after a long walk, I arrived to Finisterre around 5 P.M. I stopped at the last sandy beach, so that I can bath in the sea, according to the tradition. True, it was only my face and my feet that I washed, because it was very cold, but now I can say I washed every inch of myself. I collected very beautiful shells. When I started to walk back, I asked an old man, how far is the closest pilgrim shelter. Fortunately, he spoke English, so we started to talk abut the shells. I got to know, how does the real Santiago shell look like. Se we found out, the ones I collected before were not the real ones. He pulled out two real shells from his pocket and gave it to me, saying this will bring me luck.
(In the next two days we met two more times. When I arrived to the city, and I reached the shelter, he gained upon me and he showed me the entrance is from the other street’s direction. The other day, when I was walking back from the lighthouse, he stopped next to me with his car, smiled at me and offered me to drive me home – saying I walked enough already. I told him he is my guardian angel, and he replied yes.)
So, this is how I arrived to Finisterre on Monday. I received again the Compostella, I put my staff on the bed, and I got to know how to get to the lighthouse. I was extremely tired, but I felt such great energies in myself. The sun was shining, so Lord gave the possibility to watch the sunset after so many days of raining! It was wonderful, it was good to be there, hug the friendly pilgrims, and to feel vast love of God, see the miracles he created.
The mission is just coming! To continue the journey I started!
