On Sunday night I watched the sun set over the 'End of the Earth'; Finisterra. On my previous visit in July there was thick cloud and no views, but this time several hundred of us watched the sun slip slowly under the horizon. A very special time to complete my Camino.
Then we walked down The Cape in the deepening dusk to join the 'Razor Clam and Pirate Fiesta' in town for a final seafood feast - sadly I forgot to pack my pirate costume.
Yesterday Ian and I returned to Santiago by bus; a glorious ride along the coast with pine forests, long silver beaches and fractured-granite uplands.
Now, I'm sitting in the airport savouring my last Santiago cake and cafe con leche.
I receive a daily poem from an online forum. Last night I opened its daily offering; it could not have been more appropriate. David Whyte is one of my favourite poets:
CAMINO
" .... remember, you were given that name every day
along the way, remember, you were greeted as such,
and you needed no other name, other people
seemed to know you even before you gave up
being a shadow on the road and came into the light,
even before you sat down with them,
broke bread and drank wine,
wiped the wind-tears from your eyes:
pilgrim they called you,
pilgrim they called you again and again. Pilgrim.