Lazarus

As I awoke in Finisterre on Saturday September 23rd, a shocking realization awaited me. I would have to say goodbye to Katrin very soon. She was leaving at 8:40 with the bus back to Santiago and taking an airplane back to Germany. I was very tired and had skipped a shower the night before so a shower was necessary that morning. We followed her to the bus station and said our goodbyes. She and Molly had decided that they were going to visit me in Iceland for New Years Eve so I knew I'd see her again and pretty soon at that. It was sad but it was another moment that reminded me of how great it was that we'd made such a strong connection in such a short time.

Molly and I sat down at the pier and watched the sunrise. If the sunset last night marked our deaths the sunrise had to mark our rebirth. Our true resurrection would happen in Muxía, according to legend that is. After we had seen the sunrise we had some good breakfast and then took a taxi to Muxía. We would have had to take 2 buses and wait 2 hours for the second one so we just enjoyed the fact that taxi's are cheep in Spain.

Muxía is beautiful and the people there are so wonderful. When we got there we were wondering where we could keep our bags as we looked around town. We asked the first restaurant/pension we found if we could stow our bags with them and it was not a problem. Such nice people, such a nice place.

We walked around town and saw the sights. We were really relaxed and had enjoyed the fact that we didn't need to put on our walking boots that day immensely. Luck followed us as the clouds parted for us to further enjoy the day. We went to a church up on a hill and followed a path that lead us to a viewpoint on top of a hill (it was called a mountain on the sign). We saw the monument that was below us, the town and the coastlines in all directions. Then we went to the monument and next to another church by the sea. We sat by the rocks on the coast as the sea beat them relentlessly and just kept on enjoying our slow, relaxed, leisurely day. It was so nice. Molly and I just get along so well and I guess we figured out right there and then that we had become the best of friends, although we didn't say it until later that day.

After our chilled out walk around town we returned to the restaurant and did what we had decided to do. We knew that in Muxía you were supposed to be reborn and we had talked about writing down what we wanted to do with what we had learned on the Camino, what we wanted to put into action after the trip. We did exactly that! It was transformational to say the least and powerful to finally have on paper what I had decided and realized I should do on this trip. Muxía was the perfect place for it, yet another unmissable place on my Camino.

We just had one part of the ritual left and that was to swim in the sea. Neither of us were really in the mood for it, but we wanted to do something in that direction. So we went to the sea and walked in it for a while. A nice moment, a treasure in itself. When we got out of the water we found Andreas. He was sitting there with his girlfriend who had surprised him in Santiago as he was coming back from Finisterre. It was great to see him and we shared a bus back to Santiago with him.

We decided to stay at Seminaro Menor when we got back to Santiago and I really felt that my Camino was over. I went to the computer and searched and searched for a flight home the next day but I couldn't find one. Every flight had me stay at least one night somewhere. But finally I found a flight home. I would fly the next day at 6:50 from Santiago to Madrid, from there to Amsterdam and finally from there to Iceland. I kept singing "I'm going home" from Rocky Horror Picture show...I was ready to go home.

After that I went to the center of town with Molly and Pia. We had a nice night out, shopped a little and then we went to a fancy restaurant. We sat there probably much longer than we had expected to sit and talked about confidence, relationships and things in that nature. When we got back to the Albergue it was time for goodbyes. I would have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning. I and Molly said goodbye and told each other that the other was one of our best friends. As many beautiful moments it was sad and powerful. Pia talked with me in my room as I packed my backpack and got as ready as I could. I wanted to be able run out in the morning without having to do much.

The day had been a real rebirth. As Lazarus before him, Gulli Bergmann was resurrected and hopefully for the better. Only time can tell but already I felt different...and most certainly in a good way!