Finding treasure on the Camino de Santiago

TUESDAY 14th JUNE 2016 – Burgos 

Km’s walked – 8.5kms, despite a rest day.

The alarm went off at 8h30! Pure luxury. I lay for awhile then raced downstairs to get cafe con leches for us. Sarah really wanted to visit a Monastery about 60kms away as it is a renowned Gregorian chanting order. Somehow we managed to arrange a taxi to take us there and wait for us for at least an hour all for 70 Euro. Sarah arranged it all and we were so excited to see the famous monastery, Santa Domingo Del Silas, and hear the chanting monks. 

We invited Jennie, the pastor from Eureka, Illinois that I introduced you to earlier in my travels. I am happy to have connected with Jennie, not just because she will be a real companion when Sarah leaves, but also because she is interesting and funny. I love how you meet unexpected new friends on the Camino.  Jennie is my comrade in arms as she too is an ensuite Pilgrim, staying  in hotels like me. Jennie however carries her bag everyday. 

We had a bit of a hair raising drive on a very twisty turny road, I thought I might be sick. We got to the quaint village and arranged to meet the taxi driver in an hour an a half. It was 13h00. We had a plan to see the monastery and then go to the church to hear the chanting at 13h45. As I walked up to the door of the monastery the door shut, and locked. The sign said closed from 13h00 to 16h30. I thought I might cry. Breaking the news to Sarah I felt really sad as she really wanted to se that monastery. For a moment we thought we’d missed the chanting too, but we found a sign that said it was on in a different place at 13h45. We found a hotel and had a glass of wine. 

We were in the church at 13h43 and the monks entered and started promptly. What an experience. The acoustics in that place, wow! I have a few Gregorian chant cd’s but this was really special. The sounds these men make with their voices is just magical. It was really emotional for all of us. It as over all to quickly, and we were ushered out.

Sarah had determined after walking with some Camino stones in her pocket for a few days that this would be the place she was going to leave them in honor of her Dad. As we were ushered out, she asked me to go distract the monk ushering everyone out while she hid her stones in the church. I proceeded to do so, Jennie at my side. I whispered to Jennie what Sarah was up to, everyone left the church, and the monk showed us to leave with a gracious smile. Jennie distracts him by asking about a stamp for our Credentials. He said no. He was nudging us out to lock up. No sign of Sarah. I said to him, with sign language pointing into the church, “mos amigos, in church!” He looked at Jennie and I as thought we had lost it. I called out, Sarah! Nothing. He called out “Hola” and said to us, no one is here in Spanish. He nudged us out. Oh my word, I was determined Sarah was going to be locked up in there. We got outside and there was Sarah! We all just started laughing. She had snuck out a different way after leaving her stones in the Church in an arch. The funny thing was they had CCV in the church, so they saw us and our shenanigans.

Once back in Burgos, we had a siesta and then went to see the Burgos cathedral. Beautiful. I was intrigued by the ceilings. A huge building with lots of history. 

We met Jennie for dinner in town afterwards. At dinner we met Ivan, a delightful waiter, who basically explained the menu to us by doing charades. We all laughed and laughed. He was a delight. 

 Bed couldn’t have come too soon. Tomorrow we walk again. Burgos to Hornillos Del Camino.