CAMINO TO THE SEA - MUXíA : 530 Miles Later: The Journey Ends

 On Sunday we had a quiet day experiencing the beauty of Muxía before watching our ward's meeting at 9 pm! In the morning we went down near the lighthouse at low tide. We discovered many little creatures hidden among the rocks...

These are mollusks

Beadlet Anemones

Down near the church we chatted with a couple. Pilar sold beautiful handmade lace. I stood there and watched her make the lace with nimble hands moving the spindles quickly to create knots and designs. She is a member of a lace-making society in Muxía, creating one of the typical artisan pieces of the area.

Just before leaving Muxía we took a final spin down to the end of the peninsula and ran into Pilar with her friend Marina. Again we chatted and had a good visit.

We learned some interesting things from Pilar and her husband. In 2013, on Christmas Day, the Sanctuary caught fire. It was caused by a lightening bolt either hitting the sanctuary or a nearby transformer. The fire destroyed the main altar of the church. Stories abound of the waves exhibiting incredible power. They told me that the rock below (that weighs 75 tons) was lifted by heavy waves and moved several feet. Whether true or not, it is a great legend/story.

On the way back to the hotel we walked up the hill that dominates the peninsula to find this view of the city and of the sanctuary/monument.

After resting, we returned to see what we could of the sunset before our meeting.

As the sun got lower in the horizon we noticed a little gap in the clouds where the sun began to pierce through and little by little became more defined...

We left.... with a feeling of peace and gratitude for the experience of walking to the sea. As we experienced the ocean we talked about what it might have been like for medieval pilgrims to see the ocean, perhaps for the first time (and last time) in their life. Since for most pilgrims the purpose of the Camino was to fulfill a vow of faithfulness, to see the ocean was to witness the magnificence of God and his creation. For them, this would have been the furthest point west that their world reached. What lay beyond this point was mystery and known only to God. As the tradition reads, pilgrims would go to the ocean to collect a shell as evidence of their completion of the journey and vow. They would take that shell home not only as a souvenir but as evidence to their family, friends, and community that they had fulfilled a promise to walk the Camino. The shell was a reminder of what they experienced and felt.