Pilgrims, tourists, backpacks, groups, queues and suitcases have taken over the center of Compostela. Visitors are delighted; Some neighbors begin to suspect that they live inside a giant shelter.
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA.– August has arrived in Santiago and with it one of the city's most consolidated summer traditions: try to cross the historic center without crashing into a backpack.
It's not easy.
There are pilgrims ahead.
Pilgrims behind.
Pilgrims taking a photo.
Pilgrims recording how they take a photo.
And someone recording the pilgrim who is recording how a photo is taken.
Currently finding a neighbor from Santiago in certain areas of the center is beginning to be more complicated than finding a free bed in Sarria on a Saturday in August.
The enormous influx of pilgrims and tourists is filling the streets and entrances to the Cathedral in these days of high season. The situation is especially visible in points such as Praterías, where waits of up to an hour have been recorded to access the temple.
And while the pilgrims arrive excitedly thinking:
—Finally Santiago!
Some neighbors probably look out the window thinking:
-Yeah. Santiago. Here we live.
Rúa do Franco now has its own circulation
Driving along Rúa do Franco in August requires technique.
It's no use just walking.
You have to master the Compostela slalom.
First you dodge a 60 liter backpack.
Then a couple looking at Google Maps.
Below is a group of fifteen people standing exactly at the narrowest point of the street debating where to eat octopus.
Once that obstacle is overcome, the advanced level arrives:
the pilgrim who stops suddenly in front of you because he has just seen the Cathedral.
The experienced neighbor already knows how to react.
Feint to the left.
Change of pace.
Look at the cane.
Calculate the trajectory of the backpack.
And pass on the right.
If you manage to get to the supermarket without receiving an accidental cane, you automatically get the Compostela.
The Obradoiro has become the largest living room in Europe
Arriving at Obradoiro after walking hundreds of kilometers is exciting.
That is indisputable.
There are hugs.
Tears.
Shouting.
Photos.
Videos.
Video calls.
Pilgrims lying on the ground.
Bicycles raised.
Flags.
Groups singing.
And approximately 4,700 attempts a day to get a photo that looks like There was absolutely no one else in the square..
That is probably the real miracle of Santiago.
Not the Botafumeiro.
Get a photo alone in front of the Cathedral on August 9.
And then the groups arrived
Large groups add another dimension to the matter.
This same week the arrival of a group of young pilgrims who entered through the historic center singing and dancing to the Obradoiro has generated controversy. The images provoked criticism related to noise and coexistence with those who reside in the historic area.
Here the two Spains of the Camino appear.
The pilgrim:
—WE HAVE ARRIVED! 🎉🎉🎉
The neighbor:
-Congratulations. But it's so late and I work tomorrow.
And they are both, in part, right.
After walking 200, 400 or 800 kilometers it is quite difficult to reach the Obradoiro saying:
—Well, then that would be it.
Normally one wants to hug even the man who is unloading beer.
But it is also worth remembering a small peculiarity of Santiago:
The historic center is not a Netflix set.
There are people living inside.
The invasion of the suitcase with wheels
And pay attention, because not everything is pilgrims.
The authentic sound of the Compostela summer may no longer be the bells of the Cathedral.
Is:
TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
A suitcase.
TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Another suitcase.
Because the beautiful cobblestone streets of Santiago have many virtues.
Being silent when someone is dragging a twenty kilo suitcase at seven in the morning is not among them.
The owner of the suitcase thinks:
—How beautiful the historic pavement.
The neighbor from bed:
—How do I find the one from Samsonite...
The queues: the last stage of the Camino
We also have the big news this summer:
Stage 34: Praterías–Door of the Cathedral.
Distance: 87 meters.
Estimated duration: one hour.
Difficulty: high.
Gradient: irrelevant.
Main threat: losing patience.
At certain times of maximum influx there are long waits to enter the Cathedral, especially around the hours of greatest concentration of visitors.
After crossing the Pyrenees, climbing O Cebreiro and surviving the blisters, the pilgrim discovers upon arrival that there was still one last test.
The tail
This shows who has truly internalized the values of the Camino.
Patience.
Modesty.
Solidarity.
And don't try to sneak in by saying:
—Sorry, I'm coming from Roncesvalles.
Lady, everyone comes from somewhere.
To the queue.
The Compostela neighbor, a protected species
Meanwhile, everyday life continues.
There are people who need to buy bread.
Go to work.
Take the dog out.
Sleep.
Enter your portal.
Seemingly simple activities that in August can become a Jacobean gymkhana.
Imagine leaving the house half asleep to buy milk and finding 42 Koreans photographing your door.
You think:
—I live here.
They:
—Amazing medieval house!
And your building is probably from 1997.
But let's not go crazy either.
Because there is another reality.
Santiago is Santiago precisely because of the Camino.
Pilgrims have been part of its history for more than a thousand years.
They bring life.
Culture.
Stories.
economic activity.
Languages.
Full restaurants.
Hotels.
Trade.
And wonderful scenes that occur daily around the Cathedral.
The problem is not the pilgrims.
Not even the neighbors.
The problem appears when we forget that the same space belongs to both.
The pilgrim deserves to celebrate one of the most exciting moments of his life.
And the neighbor deserves to be able to sleep without listening to 35 people interpreting Carnations under your window.
It doesn't seem like an impossible negotiation.
Quick manual for Compostela coexistence
To the pilgrim:
Celebrate.
Hug.
Cry.
Take 700 photographs.
Lie down in the Obradoiro.
Call your mother.
Kiss the ground if you feel like it.
But remember that behind some windows there are people trying to take a nap.
To the neighbor:
Breathe.
August will end.
You survived last year.
You will survive this one.
And if all else fails, you can always put on a backpack, a shell and walk five kilometers behind a group.
Maybe you'll end up making friends.
Santiago has a wonderful problem
Few cities can say that thousands of people dream for months of walking to them.
That success creates problems.
Massification.
Noise.
Queues.
Dwelling.
Touristification.
Coexistence.
All of this must be taken seriously.
But we shouldn't lose our sense of humor either.
Because this city has been seeing tired, excited, hungry people arrive for approximately a thousand years and want to celebrate.
He will probably continue doing it for another thousand.
So this August, if you visit Santiago, remember:
The pilgrim is passing through.
The neighbor stays.
And if you are a neighbor and you see another 200 backpacks appear around the corner...
Well.
Patience.
Tomorrow another 200 will arrive.
