Day 5- And I Think To Myself, What A Wonderful World

The monastery may turn out to be my most precious stay on this Camino. A house of worship dedicated to serving Pilgrims on their journey. The food was very simple and prepared in one big pot for all the Pilgrims. For breakfast it was recycled bread from last night’s dinner with jam. Oh yeah- coffee and tea. I passed. The abbot was truly a servant of God. While he didn’t bend down to wash my feet, he did do my laundry which was probably grosser. The notion of living a life in service of others permeated the whole place. It was hard not to notice. Is there a greater calling? People like that make this a wonderful world. I started today at 7:30 Mass. Three holy men on the alter and 2 attendees, me and one other old man. I was the only one to take communion. The three sang and canted their way through this service as well. The past 24 hours has been a true blessing.

I ate with the other Pilgrims, all of whom were sleeping together, maybe 12 of them. They wondered what I was doing in their hostel at their dinner. I told them I too am a Pilgrim and I’m staying in a room around the corner and upstairs to their quarters. I got the hairy eyeball from some. I said I was 66 years old and desired my own room plus I snore. I probably should not have talked about snoring as there had to be quite a few snorers in the group. Earlier in the day when I was checking in at the gift shop one Pilgrim was buying an anti snoring clamp So I figure at least she snored, or she was buying it for someone else.

I truly enjoyed my time in this sacred place

The Abbot. I never got his name, not necessary. He used that pot to prepare and serve our dinner. A little like Katarina from the VDLP for those who read last year’s blog

Ancient foot bridge over an ancient stream- traversed by untold Pilgrims for over 1000 years