Cacophony with no composer & cathedral with no words

Posting )Stage 9)a week later...Wednesday, May 29. Azofra into Santo Domingo de la Calzada. I walked alone most of morning, and then met up with Heidi - a fellow USA pilgrim - with whom we had connected on our very first night on the Camino back in Orisson part way up the Pyrenees. Our paths have intersected often since that first day, but on this day we each found ourselves walking solo, and enjoyed each other’s company and conversation as we descended the hill into Santo Domingo. Since we were staying at different alburgues we said casual goodbyes with the confidence that we will likely intersect daily on the long journey. Since I arrived in the city so early, I reconnected with Debbie, and lunch was long and relaxing. Santo Domingo’s Cathedral and adjoining museum lifted my spirits. I will make no effort to explain or express the overwhelming and inspiring architectural and sculptural inspiration. Hungry again - despite the long lunch, and seeing that our alburgue had a lovely kitchen, we shopped for some simple dinner supplies. We intersected with the young couple from Japan of whom we’ve grown very fond, and agreed to share the cooking and the meal together. When we arrived to The alburgue kitchen with armloads of groceries, it was apparent that every other pilgrim in the city had the same good idea. The noisy kitchen bustle and search for pots, pans, dishes and spices was a cacophony of clatter akin to a Bode family holiday dinner with dozens of us jockeying the stove top, the cutting boards and sharing ingredients with friends, strangers who have all become “Camino Family.” The meal and the company was a panoply of taste, language and human connection. Our bunk room held 5 beds/10 people, which were filled by the two of us - and 8 men - all loud snorers of various tonal contributions to a chaotic symphony- not quite Nikolai Roslavets - Komsomoliya. ... I would have preferred John Cage 4’33. But we laughed ourselves to sleep to add to the snoring concert.The morning arrived quickly. We took one last glimpse of the cathedral bell tower our our bunk room window and headed out of Santo Domingo toward Belerado.