54: the hostel in Bilbao

The bus reached its last stop and the driver showed me how to walk the rest of the way to the hostel. It was a huge building on higher ground overlooking the city of Bilbao. Several of the major cities along the Camino de Santiago do not have pilgrim shelters, so pilgrims have to stay in normal hostels. This one at least gave me a discount when I showed my pilgrim's pass. It still came to over 13 Euros, but it did, after all, include much more than my accomodations so far had. There was a cafe, several vending machines, laundry facilities, lounges and payphone. My room was shared with only one other person, and there was a great view of the city.

My roommate turned out to be an elderly German man. I took a shower and went to the cafeteria for some dinner. I tried to write while I was eating. Trying to sum up at the end of the day what had been going on in my mind all day long was always a difficult task. I was very tired and my knee was in pain. I decided I should go to a clinic tomorrow and have it looked at before continuing my walk.

Back in my room, I asked my roommate if I could keep the window open. The traffic noise was loud, but I had earplugs and I preferred having a breeze blowing through the room.

"No problem," he said. "I can sleep through anything. I can fall asleep on a bus, in an office chair, anyplace, any time."

This intrigued me. The man had the ability that I most wanted to have.

"How do you do it?" I asked.

"Well, I took some endogenous training, and that helped. You just close your eyes and relax, and listen intently to every sound that's around you. Then you focus on the rhythm of your breathing, but I'm usually already asleep by that time."

This was one of the most counterintuitive things I had heard. I usually plugged up my ears and tried to ignore all the sounds around me. Could it be that I could fall asleep if I tried to focus on them instead?

About an hour later I did put my earplugs in. Listening to the traffic noise in a darkened room had failed to put me to sleep.