Muxia

Wednesday 29th June 2022

We checked out of Santiago and went over to the bus station to get the bus to Muxia. Guess who was there? Marianna, who we hadn’t seen in Santiago at all. We had a catch-up and a hug and said goodbye for the last time. She was going to Finisterra. It was so lovely to see her again.

A 3 hour bus ride, definitely went the long way round! Arrived at muxia which is a small fishing village with a lighthouse at the end that looks over to America.

We went for lunch as we were too early to check in. We sat down and turned around to look at where we had come from and 10metres away there was a commotion. In the time it had taken us to take our seats and turn round a local man had had a heart attack, dropped to the floor and the local policeman was giving him chest compressions. A crowd quickly arrived, then the paramedic, then the ambulance, then the air ambulance. Muxia really is a long way from anywhere so we were surprised how quickly this all happened. But from what we could see it was too late. It makes you think about how quickly life can change. We had a sombre lunch then went to check in.

Beautiful room with a terrace do I did some hand washing(!) and then we went out to walk to the lighthouse.

Tradition says that you place something from home in the ocean here after your pilgrimage and leave your burdens behind. It needs to be something meaningful so we had decided to put our shells in to the water. Mine meant a lot to me as I got it from my last pilgrimage and had walked all the way with it. Robin had got his in St Jean so had carried it all the way,

We made a slight miscalculation as it was just before high tide when we got there and the water was pounding the rocks!

So we scouted around a bit and found a place where we could slip the shells in the ocean and not get washed away ourselves. It is a beautiful place and we also found the KM 0 stone, as you can see Robin still hasnt learnt to get all the monument in the photo!!

We sat down later to have dinner and there were 2 cyclists next to us. Very soon a taxi turned up for them, very niche to have a taxi with a cycle rack but maybe a good earner one the Camino.

We also bought new shells as a reminder of this pilgrimage and to take on our next one.