We are in Muxia. It’s our 9th day here – we have another 5 days before heading off on another adventure – the adventure of getting back to Paris and from there – HOME!
But first, let me tell you about Muxia because it’s such a unique and beautiful spot:
It’s actually a tiny peninsula jutting north out into the Atlantic Ocean. Our Air B&B is situated right at the beginning or neck of the peninsula, on top of a hill and we are on the top floor. (This is a view from the beach at the entrance onto the peninsula.)
You can clearly see the peninsula and the 2 hills shaping it. We have lots of windows: when we look out the bedroom and dining room windows we see the sunrise in the morning and we see the business side of the village….the port where the fishing boats come and go….the restaurants and bars….and so on. When we look out the extra bedroom and den windows, we see the other side of the peninsula…the other side of Muxia….more residential….and we see the sunset….when the sun is out that is! When we go walking every day, we choose which way we want to walk around the peninsula.
At the other end of the peninsula is another large “hill” on top of which is an old stone cross and at the top of which you get a 360 degree view (I call it Stone Cross Mountain). Just past that hill is an old church (which I believe still celebrates Sunday Mass every week).From the church you can descend onto the rocks that form the northernmost point of the peninsula and those rocks I call the “Martin Sheen Rocks” because that is where, in the movie “The Way”, he tossed the rest of his son’s ashes. We also call it “The End of the World” (although Finisterre has that official but dubious honour) – the waves roll in all the way from N.America with nothing to stop them. It’s a most beautiful spot and we have spent a part of each day there, just sitting on the rocks, watching the waves crash in, always in different sizes, formations, directions, volumes, and shapes, marvelling at the amount of energy unleashed by each one.
Every day we walk in one way or another around the peninsula. Sometimes we walk in an entirely different direction, towards the mainland. Then we encounter a couple of beaches, a wooden walkway, and a little used road that wends its way around another point before it stops. Wherever we go, it is beautiful. The previous week was stormy, windy, cold, and either rainy or misty. This week has started with blue, blue sky and sunshine. SPECTACULAR!!
So that’s Muxia. Yesterday we went to Finisterre, just a short trip by bus south, down the coast from Muxia and it too is beautiful but much bigger and much more touristic. The big attraction is the old lighthouse at the very end of the point, the very “End of the World” as they believed in the medieval days. We sat and contemplated Camino experiences; enjoyed the sun; admired the lighthouse; dipped our feet into the Atlantic Ocean; sipped wine. A great day bu still, we are happy we decided to stay in Muxia.
Despite the quiet beauty of this place, I must admit to a certain feeling of dis-ease….a very strange sort of feeling that is difficult to describe….boredom maybe? Homesickness maybe? A feeling of ‘not knowing exactly what to do with myself.’ We walk, talk, eat, sleep, cook….all of the everyday things one does at home so why do I feel so much dis-ease? I think maybe it’s because for almost 40 days, I knew exactly what each would be about…walk, rest, eat, walk, rest, drink, walk, eat, sleep and repeat the whole thing 40 times. To all of a sudden stop …. well, I find I am confronting my issue of always needing to be busy: teaching with all of the tasks that made teaching so satisfying (and frustrating too) being with kids, watching their amazing variety of learning styles, seeing them grow, marking, planning, creating, organizing….and more; with the chores of daily life; with physical fitness; with going adventuring and discovering new places, making new friends….! All of a sudden, I don’t have “things to do” and I feel restless…like a turtle hibernating in its work shell and only now pulling my head out, looking around and seeing the world in a whole new light.
Michael and I talked about “walking into retirement” and now I laugh because that’s exactly what we did … inadvertently …. because the “Camino gives you what you need” we heard from several fellow pilgrims….you get the life lessons you need….! So yes, we are receiving our respective lessons now. The joke is on us!
ENIGMAS 