A Place of Peace

We knock on the heavy door, which, like most churches we encounter, is quite large, with another, smaller, average "door-sized" door put into it. The smaller door opens and a young woman, who looks very much like Sarah Jessica Parker, sticks her head out. "Hay camas por esta noche?" I enquire. Are there beds for tonight? I am thinking this woman is a "hospitalero" or one of the volunteers who help in the refugios. Turns out, she's a fellow Pilgrim, a Spanish woman who is walking with her boyfriend, who is German. She speaks both languages fluently, it seems to me. We follow her just to the left of the door into a small, narrow reception room. At the end of the room is an old man at a desk. He has the most wonderfully kind face, and he is waiting to check us into our place for the night. We hand over our Pilgrims' passports for stamping and sink gratefully into chairs. This gentleman speaks to each of us individually, first to me, asking my name and where I come from. When I tell him Colorado, he looks at me and with a gentle, yet mischeivious smile, says that is appropriate, because my face is "colorado"...obviously still beet-red from walking! With Ingeborg, he discusses the unusual nature of her name, and for Rita, who speaks no Spanish, he declares that her name, Rita Frank, is the easiest, short and to the point. As he chats with us, he gives each of us a bed number. The young couple is also waiting in the room, so after we have all had our credentials stamped, and paid our money, he gets up and beckons us to follow him. Now comes the adventure of finding our rooms. First, we go back into the main hallway where we came in, and there is a stairway going up from there, and I figure, stairs, so quarters must be up there. But no. He leads us to the right, through a room empty except for a very large painting on the far wall. I realize we are going to get the tour before we get a bed, and heartily wish that he would just get on with it. But as he speaks in his gentle and quiet voice, I hear the love and pride he has for this place, and I try to see it with eyes that are not quite so tired. He is explaining about the portrait and the history behind it in detail; unfortunately, my Spanish is not good enough to follow everything. Then he leads us through the door into the chapel itself. It's a small room, dark wood floors and pews, and there are motion sensor lights that come on as we enter. On the altar is the "trinidad" (Trinity) of Arre...the Father, Son, and a flaming star behind them, which I take to be an image of the Holy Spirit. Again, our guide is talking and explaining about the chapel, and we are all trying to listen. Shortly, we move through that room, into another hallway. At the end, there is a door, and I see a stairway going up, and think surely, these steps will take us to our quarters. But no. We do go to the door, where the steps come exactly to the threshold. We are led 2 steps up to a small landing, then down 2 steps to the right, and through another dark hallway and into what looks like a rather large garage or storage area for farm implements. I'm beginning to wonder if there actually IS a place to stay here.

Then, then, our lovely guide leads us to the right, through a stone framed door, and into one of the most lovely courtyards I have ever seen. There are fig trees and rose bushes, chairs scattered about for sitting, several clotheslines for hanging out wash, and all around, a high stone wall that completely shuts out the "real world". Suddenly, I can imagine myself in medieval times, sheltered from mauraders on the road, cared for by the holy brothers and sisters whose mission it was to aid and assist pilgrims on their way. There is such a sense of peace here, we all realize that we are now speaking in whispers. It's as if we do not want to disturb the peace of this place even by the volume of regular speech. At the far end of the courtyard, a stone stairway goes up alongside the building, with a stone archway at the top. Finally, we have reached our destination. We push through the rubber ropes that are so common in the doorways here, and find ourselves, once again, in a different world. This is a modern dorm. To the right are shelves for our boots, then the bathrooms, men's on the left and women's on the right. There are FOUR sinks in ours! And TWO toilets!! What utter luxury. Only one working shower, but we are early and right now, we're a small group. The father (I assume he is a priest) continues the tour. At the junction of the entrance hallway, there is another long hall running perpendicular. To the right is the sleeping area. There are maybe 12 or 14 sets of bunk beds in the room, all numbered. We quickly look at ours, 14, 16, and 18 respectively, and realize that this kind man has given we three "matrons" bottom bunks. I thank him profusely, and he responds with a twinkle in his eyes. He is a small man, with thinning grey hair, and rimless glasses. He walks with a slight limp, and is dressed simply in black trousers and a grey shirt, but his face is so kind it is radient. I feel completely at peace here. We stash our packs and follow him back down the hallway in the other direction. On the right is a kitchen with a long table for eating, and then further down is a common room with easy chairs, couches, vending machines, and off that a room with a big sink for washing clothes. It's absolutely everything we need! We do ask him if there's a place in town where they serve a Pilgrim's menu, and he gives us directions. I also ask him if I can get change for the vending machine, and he says yes, but it's back in the office where we came in. So, he finishes up his tour, wishes us well, and I go with him to get change. As we walk back the way we came, I ask him if he is, indeed, the priest of this place. He says, no, he is a Marianist brother, a monk. That seems to fit him better, I think. He has such a gentleness about him, I can understand why he might have been drawn to an order dedicated to Mary. We chat for a bit longer, he gives me 5 Euros in change, and then I head back to the dorm, completely happy to be in such an incredibly gentle and peaceful place for the night.