Bill Arney

Two nights ago I was in the Association albergue in San Roque. Communal meals with the same hospitalero who was there two years ago when Pam, Joe, and I were there on our way to Finisterre. Still no wi-fi, so no post from there.

Brian Liu and I walked together the last 13 km to Finisterre, the end of the world, yesterday. All Evergreen servers were clogged with fall quarter registration in the afternoon,  so no post from me then. (But, yes, my fall quarter program,  “Education for Life,” overfilled, so I have something to do in September, besides start collecting Social Security.)

The whole program is together for two more nights with everyone trying to finish required writing projects, mostly trying to figure out if they learned anything from all those experiences of the past weeks. Frederrika, an earlier walking partner, is here; she has been in Finisterre for 9 or 10 days and “feels like a local” in this town of quick transience/transients. Like Santiago, this is a place where you re-meet people in your “herd,” those walking within a day or two of you. But an embrace at the end of the world often feels like your last. From here people go their own ways, no longer following those yellow arrows that brought us here.