Your passbook stamped Pilgrim’s Credential will earn you your “La Compostela” Pilgrimage completion certificate with your name scripted in Latin at the Cathedral office in Santiago if you have walked just the final 100 pilgrim kilometers in to the city. A city with a hundred thousand people and train, bus, and plane connections to all major Spanish and European destinations, Ourense, with just 110 Pilgrim kilometers remaining till Santiago, is a popular jumping on point for these final kilometer Pilgrims. We’ve taken a rest day here today visiting the city’s San Martin Cathedral, Roman hot spring baths, and public markets. I’ve enjoyed my first haircut in a month at a salon. I doubt that the young woman who performed the service had ever cut a man’s hair before. She washed, rinsed, and perfumed my scalp before even starting, then followed my directions meticulously. The result was the best grooming I’ll enjoy for an awful long time. The refugio being crowded with Pilgrim latecomers, we’ve decamped for the privacy of a centrally located, air conditioned, and modestly priced hotel. Sweet dreams.
