The last day on the Camino Le Puy. We were so excited to get going. We left really really early in the morning in the cold and thick fog. We walk for couple of hours with zero visibility. By mid morning, the sun came out. It begins to get very hot. I felt like something is missing. My hat! I don’t have my hat! I left it somewhere! I love the hat I was wearing. I bought it in St Jean Pied de port last year when we arrived there to start our Camino de Santiago. I brought it with me this year for the Camino Le Puy and today, the last day of the Camino, I am walking into St Jean Pied de port and I have somehow managed to loose my hat which was always on my head!

Good thing the day is beautiful. So it’s not too bad. In support of my hat-less walk, Ed decided he is not going to wear his hat neither! So for the first time on the Camino, we walk the whole day without wearing a hat! The day remains rather cold and pleasant, and the sun hides behind clouds and fog most of the time so we were not really sun burnt.

There is a tradition on the Camino for pilgrims to leave something. Either bring a rock or leave a personal item on the way. Some people use this as a way to leave behind the hurt or pain they carry with themselves in their lives. For others, it could mean a bad memory, something that haunt them and they want to finish the Camino with a lighter being. There are many rocks that are left behind on the Camino as well as scarf and hats and handkerchieves. Ed is leaving his boots behind. He is done with this pair of boots. They have taken him on a good 740 km and the threads are now bare and flat. On the Camino de Santiago, we brought our boots to a burning site by the Atlantic Ocean in finisterre (the end of the earth) and burnt them as the tradition called for. Here in St Jean pied de port, we will ceremoniously leave them here as there are no burning sites for us to use.

Ed also has to say goodbye to his yellow rain poncho, that was so torn up from a couple of bad stormy day with strong wind beating up on it so badly it started to rip apart. He mended the ripped areas with duct tape but now its job is done, he is going to leave the poncho back in at Jean pied de port.

We sort through our pack, everything that was needed for the Camino only such as blister cream etc …, that we are not going to need back at home, we are leaving them all here.

It was a joyous moment as we walk through the Porte de St Jacques, the official entrance for the pilgrims into the village of St Jean pied de port. We have a panoramic view of the village and all the surrounding areas right at the Porte de st Jacques. Then we enter the beautiful walled town where all the Camino ways from France converge. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the second most popular starting point for Camino pilgrims. 20,000 people per year choose to start their Camino here.

The midieval town is bustling with pilgrims and tourists on a Sunday afternoon. It brings back so many sweet memories for our first Camino last year in June, when we arrived for the first time into st Jean pied de port to start our Camino de Santiago, we feel like we are finally home as we enter the cobbled stone narrow streets and the multiple arch ways in and around the historic old village.

We had a lunch stop at the same restaurant we had last year, we are the same pilgrim meal, and we took the obligatory same picture one year later in front of the restaurant.

We feel so blessed that we had a chance to walk the Camino Le Puy, to visit so many sacred and historic and most beautiful villages of France.

Tomorrow Ed and I will head on to Lourdes, one of the most sacred and most visited religious site in all of France. There we hope to reflect on our finishing the Camino Le Puy and pray for a healthy and happy 2016. It is a short train ride from here and we look forward to being in Lourdes again tomorrow.

We really need a good rest tonight. I am so tired from today’s walk. I fell asleep a couple of time while writing today’s reflection. It has been an amazing experience but it took a big toll on our body. The walk is demanding, the climbs uphills are hard work, the descent downhills are painful on our toes, we come in every single night exhausted. Mondays we always walk hungry as everything is closed. Rainy days are wet and cold. Stormy nights mean muddy and slippery trails. Strange beds to sleep in at night. But all that makes a hot bowl of soup served at night so much more delicious than anything I ever can buy to eat. The hot shower we take at night is so precious. The clean and dry shirt we put on every morning is appreciated with much happiness. We have nothing. We needed very few things. And we appreciate every little thing we get in life. The Camino truly brings us to the present moment and the simplest way of life possible yet at the same time most enriching.

The companionship we find from other pilgrims who are complete strangers to us yet have become like family. Everyday we look forward to meeting them on the trail, to say hello and check in on everybody to make sure we all got in to our destination at night. Complete strangers yet we really care for each other, checking in on our legs, knees, blisters. We share our most intimate reasons for why each of us go on the pilgrimage. We get to know so many people from so many different countries and cheer each other on every day as we move forward on our Camino. “Bien merite'”! (Well deserved!) is what we tell each other at night as we greet each other with our celebratory glass of what ever is served for dinner.

We visited so many churches and so many sacred sites along the way. The choir at mass brought tears to our eyes. Even though all the masses are in French and not all of us understand every words that was said, the feeling is universal. We were, as a group, in the church at that moment, all connected. What ever it is that we each are searching for in our life, most of us find our answers along the way. Some of us find the answer earlier than others. A pilgrim would tell us “I was planning to walk for 5 weeks and here I am, week 3 and I am all relieved. My life has changed already. I found what I was looking for already.” And with a big smile, she walks onward a happy person.

The Camino has certainly changed both Ed and I in many profound ways. It has opened many possibilities to us to change our lives that we did not know were possible. We feel so blessed to have been able to finish this pilgrimage.

As we end here, we will say one last time to all the other pilgrims we met on this Camino, and all other pilgrims and other people we shall meet in our real life Camino: Bon courage (have good courage), Bonne route (have a good walk), bien merite’! (well deserved!) and here is Ed’s favorite “a tout a l’heure!” ( see you later!)