Santiago, Vigo, Portugal

And so the "Peregrinos" not only arrived in the internationally recognized home of pilgrims, but also - for the first time in IUHPFL history - crossed international borders into a foreign country (or I suppose I should say another foreign country) on an excursion. Buckle up for a long post...

Friday morning, bright and early at 6:00am, we all arrived at a bus that would escort us to a rest stop located approximately 10km (more or less 6 miles) outside of Santiago de Compostela. These 10km were to be our pilgrimage - the symbolic culmination of our identity as the peregrinos (Spanish for "pilgrims"), ultimately arriving in Santiago de Compostela on foot as so many other pilgrims have done before us for centuries. The camino itself was full of beautiful landscapes, dynamic terrain, and many iconic sites (see below):

Very stoic pilgrims from León at km 0, preparing to begin the Camino!

Fairy tale woodlands with
abandoned pilgrim shoes

Reveling in landmarks on the trail toward Santiago

Team Mark, determined to come in first place (not that it was a race...)

Finally entering Santiago after the 10 km pilgrimage 

 After a long, scenic hike on the camino, we arrived in Santiago de Compostela - destination of pilgrims worldwide, and we journeyed toward the Cathedral, the symbolic end of the journey.We visited the inside of the Cathedral, and then had some time to relax and unpack in the hotel before heading back toward the Cathedral for a special religious service involving the botafumeiro - a large, metal incense carrier that is hoisted around on a rope in a ceremony that only takes place once per month. Students and instructors were left in awe. Later that evening, Isra and myself led a group of students out to an outdoor concert given by a local Galician alternative rock band - Familia Caamagno. It was great for the students because the rhythm and melodies were somewhat familiar (and very danceable), but the lyrics were all in Gallego (the language most widely spoken in Galicia). It was a wonderful time, and it gave us an opportunity to see Santiago's Cathedral by night - a truly unforgettable sight.

The Cathedral by night - so large and elaborate that it cannot be seen in its entirety from any one angle

 Day two took us to Vigo, another beautiful and important city in Galicia, where we got some much needed beach time. Even though it was only about 10:30am, the water was beautiful and we even saw Spanish dolphins swimming close to shore!

A much deserved beach break in Vigo

 As devastated as we were to leave such a beautiful beach behind, a greater calling still lay before us: the promise of a walking pilgrimage that would take us across Spain's national border into... PORTUGAL! After a brief stop in Tui, the last Spanish town before crossing over into Portugal, we set off on foot once again. The hike from Tui into Valença do Minho (the first town in Portugal across the border) was only a quick half hour, but it took us through the cobblestoned historic downtown area of the city toward the bridge that would bear our group across the Río Miño into the pages of IUHPFL history.

WE'RE IN PORTUGAL! 

TAYLOR AND MARLANA ARE IN PORTUGAL!!

Clarissa and Brooke showing off the
fortress surrounding Valença

Exploring shops, looking for
Portuguese souvenirs 

Valença do Minho is largely located inside an ancient fortress, which encloses the multitudes of small shops, cafes, and restaurants that populate the town. We dined at a spacious, beautiful restaurant that specialized in cod, and then had some time to wander around town and pretend to be Spanish tourists visiting our next-door neighbors in Portugal. Valença is famous for, of all things, its artisan-quality towels (go figure), some of which featured such iconic Portuguese characters as Spiderman and Hannah Montana. Needless to say some students picked up an authentic Valença towel. Finally, after the fullest of excursions, we packed back into the bus and braved the 4-5 hour trip back toward León. We hopped off the bus feeling spent but accomplished and, I like to think, a bit wiser than we were when we'd departed two days earlier.

The students, I'm sure, will have hundreds of photos from the excursion to share with you when they return to the US which, it occurs to us now, will happen in about three weeks! Oh how the time flies by with this group.
Thank you, as ever, for following along with the team's adventures! Until next time,
~Mark