Livin' la Vida Monastica

We had a "puente" this past weekend. Tuesday was the fiesta of Santa Maria de la Cabeza (whoever the hell she was!) so a lot of people took Monday off as well. I went to a monastery at Santo Domingo de Silo near Burgos (about 2 and a half hours from Madrid). I spent 3 days reading El Pais, speaking Spanish with the other guests and some of the monks and walking in the hills. The monastery was founded in the 11th century and the buildings and gardens are exquisite. My celda had tile floors and rough-hewn wooden furniture. I could sit at my desk and read and look out over the cobblestone courtyard and the gardens beyond. I read several interesting articles in El Pais, including one by my favorite economist Joseph Stiglitz (he wrote Globalization and its Discontents). So I am picking up some worthwhile vocabulary like "economias de goteo" which means trickle-down economics. I made it to virgilias (6:00 a.m.) y completas (10:00p.m.) almost every day. The monks sang beautifully and the stay was a very relaxing experience. Apparently the monks have more gold records than Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera combined. Of course I was glad to get back to Madrid yesterday. I gave one of the monks a lift to Madrid -- he was on his way to Rome. He was very chatty for someone who had taken a vow of silence and seemed unduly interested in what the good discotecas were in Madrid. I asked, naively, "los monjes van a discotecas?" and then he clammed up! I left him on Gran Via with three hours to kill before he had to be at the airport. He trotted off toward Chueca with his roller suitcase. I can only imagine what he got up to......