24 apr

So arrived in the monastery. It is as beautiful as when we visited it four years ago. And even more magic. I have my own key to the cloisters. Just walked around there by myself, no visitors allowed anymore, the sound of the Gregorian chants of the vespers in the background. The room is sober, as one would expect and want in a monastery. But i sleep on a normal bed with a good mattress and no footend, so my feet can happily stick out. Plus have a bathroom with splendid shower just for myself. Even soberness can be luxury.
Arrived with a bus from Burgos. Which was more complicated than I thought. In anticipation of the arrival of the high speed train, a new station was built north east of the city. Well, the financial crisis came and Spain is out of money, so the work on the train project stopped. And now there is a train station in almost nowhere.
I asked the information desk where the bus to Santo Domingo de Silos was. He had no idea. Or better, I had no idea what he said, but he clearly pointed to somewhere else with a whirlwind of words.
There I was, standing in this nowhereland. Luckily some other pilgrims walked out of the station. One, Jaime, knew what to do. Walk to the city centre. Only one hour he claimed. My heart sank a little. I had given up on walking yesterday. So, for the record, I walked another 7 kilometres, 2 in Ourense this morning and 5 in Burgos. I asked Jaime if there were no buses. Pilgrims don’t take buses, he said. Naturally, I said and walked another boring walk into a big city.
Jaime had walked the Camino seven times. It changed his life. Before he was working as something I didn’t understand, making 4000 dollars a day, living in Washington DC, a city where everybody wanted to live, something I understood, but don’t understand. He had everything he claimed, money, a girlfriend, but he felt empty. After the first Camino he knew he was on the right track. On the second he found God. Now he is becoming a priest, studying at a seminary in Burgos. He walks these Camino’s now on request of other people. It helps them, he says.
Well, he helped me too. Not with finding God, but with finding the tourist information. For some people there might be no difference, but that’s another story. I was a little overwhelmed by Jaime, also because I had to walk so slowly, that takes some active thinking for me. He was also, or had been, a Budhist guru. All that in one short life, I don’t think he was forty.
In the monastery i first was clueless, just wandering around, hoping to still find something to eat. After vespers the monk who had first helped me came back and explained the schedule to me. He had to hurry before to be in time for Vespers, he explained. There still was food, a light meal at 8.30 pm. Talked with Floris, an HR executive for a Swiss company, and Eduardo, a conductor of the Leeds Philharmonic. Interesting people.
Then went to the last Gregorian praying mass of the day, the Completas. Haven’t really had time to think about the first sin. Lust! An overvalued sin, if you ask me. Not really relevant for causing the financial crisis. Although I think there is an interesting hedge fund in shorting companies where the ceo/chairman has left his wife for a trophee girl. And that’s all I am going to say about the subject.