Rabanal del Camino

Last night, I arrived in a beautiful little town called Rabanal del Camino. It´s tiny but lively. The albergue was tranquil, with a fireplace and a library and a huge yard. I spent a lovely afternoon lolling in the garden with my new favorite German, performing blister surgery and having wet laundry fights.

I attended two masses in the brief time that I was in Rabanal. As I said, I´ve been craving singing, and I was delighted to sit in a little, deteriorating church and listen to the chanting of some 30 something Benedictine Monks. At the second mass, the pilgrim´s mass, I received some sort of official blessing that involved having water sprinkled on me. It did not sizzle.

This morning, I was in a small stone room with only 4 other pilgrims. Usually people start rustling their bags at some godawful hour and getting out of bed is inevitable, but we were quiet until around 6:30 when I heard my new favorite German call out my name, followed by a horrible, recorded German military song blasting from his phone. No one spoke. Then, from across the room, came the sound of some Spanish pop, and we all got out of bed and started dancing. It was my best wake up so far on the Camino.