on 15 june 2006 pilgrims pat o'brien (usa), damien walsh (south africa), and carl adair (usa) drank a bottle of champagne on the rocky outcropping known as cabo de fisterra. more than one thousand years prior to the arrival of the first pilgrims in santiago, celts and other wanderers were following the milky way west to this point where the land still comes down hard into the angry surf. each night the sun falls down below the infinite horizon and i can understand their doubts that it would ever come up again.
it's amazing to think of ourselves as participants in a tradition that has existed for 2 millenia. just as they did, we and the others scattered across the rock in various reflections had made a journey towards...what? the camino seems to have denied us that which we were seeking and showered instead other blessings upon us. the whole process and this ending has so much mystery wrapped up in it: it seems that the most finite moment of the trip, the point at which it is physically impossible to keep walking - the point at which the journey must end - that is also the point at which we recognize the infinite. we have been down to the ocean, we have been down to the sea. i'm telling you, it goes on forever. we're nothing before it. our journey seems like nothing before it - a few steps. but i can't imagine a better feeling to have - a feeling more worthy of 900 km, a more appropriate end for this experience along the camino. i only hope we may keep on.
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