The walk to Fisterra was great. It may even have been the most
beautiful part of the trip, although it is hard to compare as
the beginning seems so far away. The biggest difference, and
another motivating factor to take the walk, was the heat. It had
gotten seriously hot by now, closing in on 40 degrees. I saw it
as a nice challenge, and wanted to see how I would deal with
that temperature. The last full day of walking I walked over
40 kilometres in that heat. After three in the afternoon when
it feels the hottest, the only people walking were me and some
Korean guy who I didn't share any language with. We were walking
so that when the other took a break, the other would pass and
wave, and this would repeat towards the night. I found an
albergue, but he must have continued on, or maybe he camped
in the bush. He reminded me of a Japanese man I once met, who
sort of looked like a retired Samurai and also collected the
Samurai weapons. It's almost a stereotype but it seems that
these 'elderly warriors' exist.
My second to last albergue was strange. It was sort of a
strange location, being in the middle of nowhere somehow,
even though the area was full of villages. It was an old
monastary or church I think, run by volunteers, this time an
old man who drew a picture of his home church for all the
Walkers to take as a souvenir.
As I got there quite late after being turned out from all
albergues before, they were having a dinner. They saved me
some food and wine as I showered. I got back to the table and
it turns out there is a lady from my country that I have been
hearing about basically since week two or something. There
weren't many of us on the Camino, so when I met new people they
were like 'oh, yes, I have met one of you people, a lady who is
like this and that'. Of course I couldn't tell her this, since
I just met her, it would have been creepy.
In the table there was also a man who seriously creeped me out.
I don't remember getting such a vibe from anyone except in
situations that turned violent. He had this lazy but intense
stare, chin pushed to the front, leaning on his arm with his head
almost on the table. He talked to some lady with sort of
aggressive dismissal in his voice. It was very strange. What is
worse, I noticed myself somehow unconsciously challenging him,
sort of by accident. And I realized that this tension started the
moment I walked in. I think it may be that he was perceiving
himself as the 'highest ranking' member in that table, but then
some new guy walks in. The first thing he said (after the host
said there is another person from my country) was "There's only
room for one here, bugger off" which I took only as a joke, but
later on it sort of seemed like it wasn't.
All in all, I didn't meet almost anyone on the Camino that I
didn't like. There were people who were stuck in routine patterns
that keep them from enjoying themselves on the Camino, but that's
not to say they weren't nice enough people. It was a shock to
meet someone who I could imagine being an actual threat. He also
had this look of a football hooligan. Well, in the end nothing
came out of it, but it was a weird flavour for the end of the
journey.
As I was walking to the lighthouse, I bumped into my Partner and
one of her teammates in the corner of the street. This is how it
always seems to be on the Camino, you just happen to be in the
same space at the same time. According to my calculation they
should not even be here since I did over 40 yesterday. Turned out
they took the bus since they had planes to catch. We exchanged
some Camino gossip and agreed to meet later. They suggested I
join them at their albergue after the lighthouse. I decided to
book there immediately and dropped off the backpack to walk the
last three kilometers without the weight.
Even with the tourist buses the lighthouse was such a nice end
for the trip. As I was taking a picture of the lighthouse, I
realised I had captured the Korean guy in it! I congratulated
him for making it. I felt especially good about being there to
celebrate his Camino, since he must not have many Camino
friends without either Spanish or English skills.
Safety rails aren't a big thing in Spain, so I got to a ledge
as far to the End of the World I dared to crawl. I sat there
for a moment with seagulls flying far down over the waves and
the rocks, a lone sail towards the west. It felt like it's
just me and the End.
I threw the dirty white stone over the edge of the world.
Later I saw my Partner for a dinner. Unfortunately she had been
trapped by the tide while on a beach (This had happened to me too
earlier on the trip) so she was quite out of energy and probably
rather dehydrated. The next day I took her to her bus and took
another bus myself. I wonder what sort of a relationship this
will be, if any kind. It might be that this sort of extreme
mental union somehow burns itself out. Or maybe it cannot exist
in the real world at all? Remains to be seen.
At some point I asked my Partner if she thinks the Camino is
basically a LARP. She said 'no'.
