Onward to Finisterre...July 17, 18....arriving July 19th

Here i am in my favorite place...Fisterra as it is known in Spain. why it has two names i don´t know. leaving Santiago on the morning of july 17th took awhile. nicole gifted me with a book i discovered when we were in sarria for finisterre which gave different directions than the old route i took in 2002. it took awhile to figure it out, i´m one for always taking a different route but, the route took us through the university instead of getting us on our way - it was okay, but i preferred starting on the road to finisterre because i just love it! to me, the road to finisterre isn´t the camino, although it is perceived as such. there is more time to reflect. in the book nicole gifted me Ä Pilgrim´s GD to the Camino Fisterra¨ there are many quotes and reflections which add to my own thoughts. Quote: I feel that our progress towards the goal will be in exact proportion to the purity of our means. -Mahatma Gandhi
besides giving practical info what is particulary interesting to me is the daily insights , such as...

Day 1: we are surrounded by trivia. there is much to distract us from the inner path, but what profit is there in the outward journey if it is not accompanied by expanded awareness? a pilgrim must travel on two paths simultaneously. the tourist will look for the stone altar, the pilgrim an altered state. the one seeks sacred sites the other in-sight. will you make time today for contemplation and reflection? will you rebuild the bridge to the source of your own inner knowing? as Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us in Essays of the Over-Soul, ¨The faith that stands on authority is not faith.¨

Day 2: Quote: as a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. -Leonardo da Vinci Insight: we generally experience death and dying as unwelcome visitors. yet to be born anew we must first allow our old, outworn perceptions die. over identification with out physical bodies limits our understanding of who we really are and induces fear. we need to let go of many of our old and cherished beliefs in order that we can become part of the New. a strong heart helps us climb the mountains of life and lifts us out of the mundane world. Quote: Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone...Kindness in another´s trouble...Courage in our own -Ye Wearie Wayfarer, -Adam Lindsay Gordon

Day 3: Whither your goal? what higher purpose brought you thus far? without a vision quest we are lost indeed. to walk through this life without a spiritual intention is to travel down a cul-de-sac with only our own mortality waiting at the end. what awaits you at your journey´s end? to walk the inner path with a pure motive and openness of mind is to journey on an endless spiral upwards to the source of owr own immortality. will you take time today to reflect on the purpose of your life and the means of fulfilling it?

i have much to contemplate. on the last day of my walk towards Finesterre my feet hurt very little, not worth thinking about. knowing my feet knew this last day´s journey well as did my heart and soul. it is the end of this journey for me but, a new beginning as well. tonight we will go to the lighthouse (the end of the world) to see the sunset. i will write more but i don´t want to miss a single moment...tomorrow we leave to go back to Santiago. ILY AriZona