Living La Vida Loca

Our Day at the End of the World

After having seen the movie The Way about a father who walks the Camino in honor of his son who died attempting the French route, and seeing him reach Finisterre (literally means “end of the earth”), we had to go. Pilgrims and explorers who reached here over the centuries looked out at the ocean and truly believed this was where land ended. It sure looks that way.

We took a bus a couple of hours from Santiago, winding through magnificent countryside with sweeping vistas of yellow wild flowers, rolling hills and small enclaves of modern homes along side aging sea shanties. At the far side of a protected bay sits Finisterre. Some peregrinos walk from Santiago to Finisterre – another 78km! We declined. But many people bus out for the day to relax and take in the scenery. That would be us too.

We decided to hire a local taxi driver, Roberto, for a relatively small fee, to show us the area…what a good call that was! Roberto grew up in Finisterre and took great delight in not only showing us the things tourists like – the lighthouse, a small maritime museum, the rocky cliffs that plunge down to the endless sea…those were lovely…but the real treats were the beach and the back side of the peninsula that only locals know well. He drove the narrow roads weaving in and out of the village like a race car driver, and each stop we made was more spectacular than the last. The final stop was at a deserted sandy beach where the water was crystal blue and the sand spotless. We took amazing photos and felt really blessed to be together there.

As an aside, we were very lucky to be in Finisterre on a day when the sun was out some and the waters were calm. From stories the maritime museum curator told (in Spanglish no less) and Robert’s commentary, the naming of the bay as “the bay of the dead” came from a multitude of shipwrecks that occurred over hundreds of years as a result of tumultuous waters here during huge sea storms not uncommon. There are underwater peaks, intermittent confluences of wind and current, the works, that can make navigating impossible. Many armadas and fishing expeditions have ended badly here despite the calm we saw today.

Wow.