to the End of the World – Camino Bonus Days 40-44 (Finisterre)

December 6, 2024|Rick Juliusson

I’m blissfully alone in the world. Legs crossed, back to the lighthouse, shrouded in fog, mesmerized by Tofino-worthy waves crashing up and over the rocks. I suppose Sarah’s somewhere on some rock doing the same thing, but for this hour or hours it’s just me and the rest of my life and the end of the world.

Finisterre is latin for “the end of the earth” because that’s what the Romans thought this place was. With such a poetic and powerful place a mere 90 km further down the road, is there any way that Santiago could really be the end of our journey? So 26 hours after our triumphant relieved slightly-disoriented “We Did It!” arrival in Santiago, we’re back on the path feeling fresh and light and giddily indulgent.

There’s nothing to prove or accomplish, just a series of casual 24km day strolls. Yes, we’ll have no choice but to stop when the world ends at a cliff, but it’s not like the 38 days of signposts counting down from 800 to 500 to 241.1 to that big mile-zero Santiago cathedral.

So this is a bonus walk and we’re treating it like a day stroll. Allowing five days instead of the recommended three. Lightening our load by leaving 15 pounds of excess gear in storage at Pilgrim House, and giving ourselves permission to use the “donkey” baggage transport service more often. Walking barefoot as much as possible. Taking even more time to visit and enjoy small towns, churches, sunrises, chickens, swimming holes.

Traditional corn storage bin.

Santiago was the big ending to the big pilgrimage, the well-earned feeling of physical accomplishment, and the heartfelt celebration of community. Now, Finisterre (and neighbouring Muxia) has surprised me as the culmination of the inner personal journey. My mind is clear and unthinking. I have little sense of time, and no concern with the little church up above or the occasional tourist taking selfies below. No desire to share this moment with our camino family or even Sarah - this is me time.

Moments of complete Peace and surrender like this are rare. Everything makes sense without effort, beyond reason. Conflicts and insecurities of the past are released into those crashing waves, mixing with any concerns or projections about the future. It’s all Now, it’s all meant to be, and it’s all good.

Maybe I did have a question on this camino after all. Maybe a lifelong question about my worth and my place in this world, mixed with a lingering post-retirement “What’s left?” A career of striving and believing that I matter when I do good doesn’t mesh well with retirement and doing little. But here at the misty mysterious End of the World, each crashing wave sings out that I am not the sum of what I have Done or didn’t Do or will or won’t Do. I’m not a human-shaped gunny sack stuffed with the lessons and aches and Joys from the 1.4 million steps I just took on this Camino, nor the billions of steps throughout my 57 years.

The answer was in those long days on the Mesita of “simply walking.” I exist and matter and live fully in each individual, conscious, appreciative step after step after step. That is enough. That is all I need.

Some Final Photos

Thank you friends for joining me on this personal journey as well as the physical Camino. Just because there’s so much beauty from these five bonus days, here’s some final photos to share.

In Santiago we got lucky to witness the ceremony where monks pull the rope to swing the enormous "Botafumeiro" incense ball across the whole church (originally to cleanse it from all the stinky pilgrims).

Someone's shoes blew out 40 km from the finish line

Our albergue one night

Lest you think it's all beautifully-preserved Roman architecture

Muxia end-of-the-world church, where Mary appeared in a boat to rescue and encourage St. Thomas

Church door

Muxia lighthouse

This Vakner used to terrorize pilgrims

Small church graveyard

Family saying "Please don't go!"

...but Papa's going on his pilgrimage

000.000 km marker

Finisterre

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2 Comments

Lynda Juliusson on December 9, 2024 at 11:49 pm

You both look so refreshed and energized. Amazing, i love you both very much. Thank you for taking me on this courageous, selfless journey.
Many, many hugs.

Reply
- Rick Juliusson on December 10, 2024 at 4:20 am
  
  Selfless? I think the Camino is about the most self-absorbed thing there is, especially what I wrote in this post, all about ME ME ME. But I don’t say that in a bad way, it’s an amazing internal experience and I’m honoured to have been able to share some of that inner journey with you.
  
  Reply