Post Camino Homeward Bound
Santiago to Canada
Today
involved our long return to the supposedly 'normal' or 'civilized' world. This is always one of our hardest and least
favourite days of any Camino. Perhaps
this simply means we need to work harder to keep the spirit of the Camino alive
in our daily lives. Despite our best
intentions, in a world that moves so quickly, is so goal-oriented and narrowly
focused, and in which people seem increasingly focused on their own needs and oblivious
to each other, we still find this difficult.
We
awoke at 4 AM and headed downstairs to the 24-hour buffet in the lounge to
select some breakfast. We found fruit,
yogurt, toast, jam, orange juice, and coffee.
Although we weren't really too hungry yet, we ate breakfast in
anticipation of the longish day ahead.
By 5 am we had checked out and were getting into the taxi the hotel had
called to take us to the airport.
One aspect
of the Camino that people value is that it provides a different perspective on
the world and our place within it.
Partly this is offered through a simple change of pace. Walking forces us to slow down ... way
down. The deceleration can take place over a
few days or weeks, and sometimes you aren't really aware it has happened until
you see a new group of pilgrims starting their hikes after you've been out
there a while. The new arrivals often
seem over-anxious about everything, and appear to be rushing around, sometimes
even being unwilling to take breaks because they feel like they must hurry or
they won't 'get there.' Unfortunately,
acceleration back to the pace of mechanized life isn't so gradual. The taxi driver was very professional and a
complete gentleman, but the 15-minute ride to the airport, which cost 21 Euros,
felt like a vertigo-inducing NASCAR ride where signs, landmarks, and other
vehicles flew past with indecent speed.
Santiago Airport
We
made our way through the small and modern-looking Santiago airport and boarded
our Iberia flight to Madrid without incident.
The hour-long flight was completely full, mostly with people commuting
to the country's capital and not other pilgrims. Already we could feel ourselves losing some
of the tranquillity we'd gained on the Camino, as we sat surrounded by other
passengers who were scrolling through Facebook or watching videos on their
phones, bouncing their legs to a frantic inner rhythm, listening to music so
loud it was audible through their headphones, chewing gum, and repeatedly
applying overpowering and competing perfumes.
When you've been away from it for a while, the distraction and over-stimulation of our modern lives are almost overwhelming.
Madrid Airport
When
we arrived in Madrid we retrieved our backpacks from the checked baggage
carousel and then made our way by bus from Terminal 4, which is used for
domestic flights, to Terminal 1, where international flights leave. We had four hours before our Air Transat
flight back to Montreal was scheduled to leave, and we soon discovered that Air
Transat shares its counter space with other airlines, and therefore doesn't
open until two hours prior to one of its flights departing. In retrospect, it would have been more
pleasant to wait in Terminal 4, where there were cafes, restaurants, shops, and
more attractive waiting areas. Terminal
1 was less appealing, very crowded, and offered far fewer amenities, but once
there we chose to stay put, sitting on the floor with our backpacks under the
watchful eye of airport security.
Montreal Canada
The
eight-hour flight from Madrid to Montreal passed without incident. When we arrived we were shepherded through
the customs process, which no longer requires retrieving checked bags and
standing in line to be questioned by a human customs agent. Instead, we had to make our way down a long
hallway to first answer questions at one computer terminal, and then proceed to
another set of machines that scanned our faces and our passports. I seemed to be too short for the machine to
detect me correctly, or else just abnormally shaped, and for quite some time it
didn't seem to think my face matched my passport photo. Finally, I convinced it we were the same,
received a little printed piece of paper, and was allowed to proceed. I am one of those old-fashioned people who
definitely prefer humans to machines, even when they are giving me a hard time.
Toronto Ontario
Our
one-hour flight from Montreal to Toronto was delayed by 50 minutes, and then our
gate was changed. We were grateful for
the extra time to walk around a bit after sitting for eight hours, and we took
advantage of the opportunity to get something to eat and drink. Still, in Camino mode, we were somewhat
dismayed to observe the impatience of our fellow passengers, one of whom tried
to elicit our support for the idea that Air Transat should be sued for forcing
us to walk the extra distance between gates, giving us nowhere to sit down, and
making us late. The individual in
question didn't have noticeable health or mobility issues and certainly had enough
energy left after the short walk to complain with vigour and enthusiasm. Our lack of outrage seemed to cause
disappointment. The whole experience was
rather dispiriting.
When
we reached Toronto we collected our backpacks and made our way to the long-term
parking lot, which still had small lumps of dirty ice and snow decorating its
edges. Thankfully our old car started
without complaint, and we were soon in the midst of the fast-moving freeway
system that circles the Toronto airport like an ungainly pile of
spaghetti. Navigating this mess of
on-ramps, off-ramps, collectors, and express lanes involves several rapid bouts
of lane changes across eight and sixteen lanes of traffic while maintaining a
constant speed of around 110 kph. I was
more than usually glad that it was Sean driving and not me.
We
stopped for a coffee and a mental breather in a Tim Hortons on the edge of
Toronto, already missing the Napolitanas and cafe con leches of Spain. We then continued our two-hour drive back to
London, Ontario, covering a distance that would have taken about eight days to
cover on Camino time. Around 20 hours
after leaving Santiago, we checked into the residence where we will spend the next
week, before flying out to Newfoundland and beginning our next adventure - the Trans Canada Trail. And so, another beautiful Camino comes to an
end.
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