day 43, 8:20pm, done

i'm done!
the day went by so quickly. it was a lot to take in.

i made it to temple 1 at about 10:30am. it was pretty quiet (i think the bus tours start saturday). i went through my usual temple routine, got my stampbook stamped, got a few extra as souvenirs and that was it. there was no parade, no one to pat me on the back to say good job. i was just finished. it was a strange feeling. i didn't cry or anything like that. i spent a good 30min just sitting. it took a long time for reality to sink in.

at temple 1 i did get to speak to one of the monks there. he was very friendly and used to talking to and helping all of the foreign henro who visited the temple. he didn't provide the praise i may have been looking for. i imagine he's met thousands of people who have finished the pilgrimage. we talked about the weather and food.

i also saw a few henro at the temple who were just setting out. a few looked like they knew what they were getting into, others looked woefully underprepared. i would have liked to have given them some advice but even if i was fluent in japanese i still don't think i could give them any information that would be useful for them. experience is a much better teacher. they'll figure things out pretty quickly.

and then i left. i got on a train. i bought some souvenirs. i got on a bus. i got on another train and now i'm home. i don't feel like i've left the trail yet. my mind is still moving slowly, taking in one thing at a time, contemplating, as if i were still walking endlessly along a road somewhere.

i'm not quite ready to finish this blog yet. i'll need a few more posts to tie everything up. but i'd like to thank everyone who followed along and e-mailed me during my trip. it meant a lot to me to have that kind of support.

i'm going to call it a night,