Happy Halloween !!!!

So it's been one fun halloween weekend so far. On Friday we celebrated my bestest buddy Rudolph's birthday at Afterlife. I can't believe my first clubbing experience back in the T.O. is in an Asian club. Yuck. Oh well, anything for a friend. I had a good time anyway, drinkin it up, dancin a bit and meeting some random guy who currently knows me as Cassandra. Yeah, I dunno why I like to giving fake names to guys in clubs. The best part of the evening...or morning...aside from walking with stumbling Rudolph by the park near his house, was running into Diana and Annette, highschool friends. It was awesome seeing them again after who knows how long.


On saturday, my cousins Shaza and Shani had a party at their house. I was dressed up as a guy/vampire from Edwardian times...then I decided to get some makeup done and opted to be a vampire victim instead. Hehehe. It was cool, but the makeup stained my shirt. Hopefully, it'll come off. The party was fun aside from the fact that I didn't know most of the people there. Rudolph came by, we played poker with a bunch of Shaza's friends and I threw shoes at my cousin who borrowed a friend's Sadako costume. Yeah, poor girl but she knew that I'm freaking scared of The Ring and really should've known better. Hahaha.


Tonight, I'm staying home, putting on a mask and am planning to scare some kids before I give em candy. Man, I miss those days of trick or treating. Oh well, I'm hitting up the stores tomorrow anyway and hoard up some candies on sale. Yeah baby!

Home Sweet Home

Top Ten Things Why It's Good to Be Home...

1. Hanging out with Family
2. Hanging out with Friends
3. Home cooked meals
4. My very own bed (and my 6 pillows!!!)
5. Clean washrooms
6. Looking at pics and telling stories
7. Having access to a variety of clothes and shoes
8. Finding out I've lost weight =)
9. Having access to my books
10. Not having to carry a backpack all the time

But as much as I like being back....I miss the road, I miss the wine, I miss the panaderia, I miss saying "Hola", I miss everyone...I miss being a pilgrim.

London

So Lisa and I arrived at London yesterday and my sis met us up at Victoria station. Unfortunately, she left today and so we really didn't get a chance to hang out in this side of the world. However, we did totally luck out that our friend Jen just got a new place days before we arrived and so now we've got a comfortable bed and have access to clean and hot showers.

Lisa and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day in London. Clear skies for our 1 full fun-filled day in the city. First, we took a stroll through Hyde Park which was really nice. We were planning to walk all the way to Buckingham Palace but we went the wrong way and ended up in Kensington Gardens. But it was actually a good thing since we got to see the Albert memorial and also went inside the Queen Victoria and Prince Albert museum and tried on a hoop skirt. It was past noon when we left there and we were quite hungry. We found ourselves a chinese buffet place for 4.50 pounds and stuffed ourselves so we don't have to eat dinner tonite. Yeah, we're quite broke. After lunch we took the tube to Buckingham palace, took a bunch of pics then walked through St. James park towards Westminster Abbey. There I got to see the tombs of British royalty. Most of all, I got to see the tombs of Thomas Hardy, Charles Darwin, Bronte sisters and other poets that I love. Oh, and the coronation chair as well. After the abbey, Lisa and I headed towards Trafalgar square where we went to the National Portrait Museum and I saw those of Lord Byron and the Bronte sisters and other cool people. We got distracted by a shoe shop but managed to leave without buying anything. However, we weren't quite as lucky when we went to Covent Garden. Lisa and I ended up buying sweaters and had a nice dinner of sundaes. We wanted to see more of Covent Garden but we had to rush to St. Martin of the Fields Church where we bought tickets for tonight's concert. It was awesome. We listened to a string orchestra that featured Vivaldi's Four Seasons by candlelight. I wouldn't have wanted to spend our night in London any other way.

Tomorrow, Lisa and I are parting to go back to Canada. I am so going to miss her after having spent more than a month together. I still can't believe the trip is over...that I've actually walked the Road to Santiago. I'm so happy that I got to do it with Lisa, I couldn't have asked for a better companion. And I am ever grateful that we remain friends after the whole trip =)

Santiago de Compostela

So I arrived in Santiago 2 days ago....and I can´t explain the relief and joy I felt when I first caught site of the city on a hill in Montes de Gozo. The walk into the city was nothing spectacular...since it is a tourist city after all but Lisa and I could not keep the grins off our face...which became even wider when we passed 5 panaderias before even coming close to the Cathedral. Woohoo!

We were late for the pilgrim mass and the cathedral was unfortunately also packed with tourists so there was no space for us. We saw Till and said a quick goodbye(he was heading back to Barcelona that afternoon)before we went to go get our Compostelas...our official certificates that indicate that we have done the Pilgrimage to Santiago. I almost cried when I received it. It was really nice seeing all the pilgrims that have been travelling with us fro the past days. That night after a huge lucnh menu (Seafood noodles and Steak)and almost finishing a whole Tarta de Santiago and a bottle of Ribeiro wine for dinner Lisa and I just stayed indoors to nurse our poor feet that have finally given out on us. We didn´t have much sleep though coz the crazy spanish people like to party till 4am and our place was right outside a cafe-bar.

So, yesterday morning after a breakfast of bocadillos we headed out to check out the stores. Oh my poor bank account. We had to stop and run to the cathedral coz we were going to be late for the mass again. The tears came then after Sue (a Canadian author about the Camino) said some inspiring words to us and then after we had the communion. It is so unreal. Last night we went for a pilgrim menu again where we ended up eating with Grizzly, Anna, Anja and Cathy. Tom, Narelle, Anthony and Fiona came afterwards and we went to a bar with them. We tried to look for a happenin place but Anthony and Lisa weren´t feeling well so everyone just crashed for the night.

Today, being Sunday, everything is closed. Lisa and I finally got the chance to hug the statue of St. James, see his relic and put our palm on the Jesse tree on a cathedral pillar (all pilgrim traditions). On our way back from an escapade to search for the Dia we ran into Josh, Eduardo,Daniel, Newcastley, Grizzly and Cathy which was great. We also ran into the Brazilians (Adriana and Marcella). We are hoping to party with them tonight. There was some sort of rally outside the cathedral and they had really good Venezuelan music. People were singing and dancing which was cool. Fun times.

Tomorrow, we are hoping to hit Finisterre. Hopefully, all our arrangements will work out. The days are counting down before we leave for London then home. It´s been a long trip but I don´t want it to end yet.