Half an hour later we appear before the court for pilgrims who had their pilgrimages fulfilled. Much to my surprise they only ask me to fill in a form and when I realise I have my Compostela in my hand. An old priest, just beside me, asks Paca:

• So, you come from Roncesvalles, my child. The Camino is very hard, isn’t it, dear?

• Not at all, the truth is that I have had a very nice time! Paca says in a totally relaxed way.

I think that Paca’s Compostela is on the air. A little meaningful nudge with my boot on her foot to make her think over what she is about to say but she takes no heed of mi advice and, with her best smile, Paca goes on:

• But yes, father, now you have mentioned this, the Camino, apart from roses, has a lot of thorns.

(Where did I hear that from? I think.)

• Of course, my child, of course. May God be with you!

The priest gives her Compostela to Paca. She, after taking it, still has presence of mind to ask the old priest for a stamp in the last free space of her credential. We both have preserved this space in our credentials for the Santiago seal. The priest says he has already branded the square of "fulfilled the pilgrimage". Paca does not give up:

• But, father, it is only for an aesthetic reason.

• Well, being for an aesthetic reason...!

• Can you also stamp mine? I says, motivated by Paca’s boldness.

The seal on Paca’s credential looks very good, but mine is a smudged blotch made carelessly. Besides, when I look at her Compostela I notice that her name has been written with cared calligraphy, while mine is a non-legible text as if written by a person with cramp. Catholic Church, socially advanced as always, tries, as far as possible, to correct social misbalance between women and men. That is a consolation to me.

As we are still soaking wet, we go to a room that we stayed in before. The room is on Jazmines Street. We wash ourselves and put dry clothes on. Then we put our bodies in restoration in "Prada a Tope" (A good restaurant). The botillo (special kind of foot from Leon) and the Mencia red wine do marvellous things to us.

We devote the rest of our sojourn in Leon to toast to the Saint with albariño*, ribeiro*, ribera sacra*... we also try some octopus, shellfish, fish, meal... (Very good the restaurant Camilo).

The Saint, noticing how much we thank him for having arrived, awards us with some excellent digestion. Is the Saint mean with his award? Not at all. The Saint has the whole city crowded and it is already enough that he goes on with his work and does not leave the matter in hands of an assistant while he heads for Marbella or Puerto Banus.

Another subject is the mass of pilgrims. Nobody cared that wet pilgrims were waiting two and a half hours so as to obtain their Compostelas. Nobody cared that pilgrims came on foot, some of them with brand-new boots, from the French border. How is anyone going to be concerned by the fact that walking pilgrims get some room in the cathedral? But, of course, we must understand it, a lot of VIPs come to visit the Saint (Kings and queens, actors, princes, footballers, army officers, cardinals, bishops, –Sorry, I cannot distinguish these two last groups, probably because I lately do not follow Vatican fashion- presidents of autonomous regions, and common pilgrims by both buses and cars. As for pilgrims of the Xacobea cycling tour I have nothing to say, because, in spite of tripling the speed of walking pilgrims, they have the same treatment: Both walkers and bikers are ignored. We would have liked to get room for ourselves in the cathedral by using our pilgrims’ staffs as weapons and invoking to Santiago Matamoros*. But this Quijote behaviour would not be understood in our days. People are not aware of our grievances. So the few walking pilgrims that find a place in the cathedral attend mass, the others, with the Saint’s permission, concelebrate in the nearest taverns. Obviously we do that without violence and with a lot of humbleness and devotion.

_{Having reached all our goals, healed all our blisters (except one that, whims of wetness, is on Paca’s foot), broken into new boots as we have said once and again, dried ourselves from the rain that poured on us over the last few days (would it be a proof?), thanked the Saint as we also said before, Paca and I arrive at home on August the ninth. We left Santiago the night before in the Talgo train at twenty five past ten in the evening. We have come back from the wonderful Camino healthy and happy. Once more the forces of good have won.}

_{Thanks to everyone for their support and thanks also to those who have read our letters.}

_{Buen Camino!}

_{Paca and Salva.}

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_{*albariño, ribeiro, ribera sacra....- Some kinds of wine in Galicia}

_{*Santiago Matamoros.- According to the tradition apostle Santiago, riding a white horse, helped Christians to fight Moors in the Middle Ages.}