Santiago Part 2: Seeing Ben Harper play next to a cathedral

With the camino behind me, I still had a week to fill with my own selfish wants before meeting my madre in Madrid. And so I returned to Santiago de Compostela to reunite with Laurence and Luisa, the lovely young ladies from Quebec whom I met at the riad in Morocco (and who will henceforth be referred to as "L&L" for the sake of simplicity).   

But let me tell you, meeting up with people in a huge city is quite difficult when you've neither telephone nor telephone number at which to be reached. Even the internet (bless its amazing utility) can be a bit fickle in such matters, as it is only effective when I have access to its wonders of wifi connectivity. All that said, I wasn't able to meet up with L&L until the morning of the 14th (Wed), when I surprised them at their hostel by slipping a note under the door like a total creeper. But I'm getting ahead of myself: first, let's cover what went down the night I arrived back in Santiago...

Since I got into town a bit late on Tuesday after a lovely day at the beach in Fisterre, I headed toward the Semenario that serves as a giant pilgrim albergue in town in order to grab a cheap place to stay and get cleaned up. (This is going to sound crazy, but at this point I prefer albergues to hostels and hotels. The latter two feel lonely to me now.) After a quick shower, I headed toward the cathedral to see if L&L had read the message I'd posted about meeting up, but alas, they didn't show because they hadn't received my plea. I was bummed, but decided to grab some dinner and a cerveza while revelling in the joys of people watching for awhile before the midnight curfew for pilgrims staying at the Seminario. 

On my way back to the giant albergue, something sort of strange happened: a group of men standing on a bridge above me began yelling at me frantically, "Momo?! Momo?!" I stopped and looked at them quizzically, trying to decipher what they wanted. I asked them if they spoke either Spanish or English so I could help them: first in Spanish, then in English. When I asked in English, a wave of recognition washed over their faces. One of the men shouted, "You speak English?!"  

After a brief explanation, I learned these gents were looking for a bar their friend had recommended to them called "Momo"--hence the reason they were yelling that from the bridge. I offered to help them find this elusive watering hole since I still had a bit of time before curfew...plus, the albergue was right around the corner. After I asked a few locals, we found "Momo" and I went to wish the group well and be on my way, but they insisted I join them for a beer. I was intrigued as to why a group of guys from LA was in Santiago, so I obliged them.

Momo turned out to be a wicked cool bar with an amazing garden patio extension, complete with paper lanterns to provide a casual but chic ambiance. From our table, I could see the Semanario looming in the distance, reminding me of my 12:00 curfew. The guys asked me what I was doing in Santiago; they were intrigued to meet an American who had walked the Camino, which spurred questions along the lines of, "Why the hell did you come to Spain to walk a really long way?!" When I returned the "Why are you in Santiago?" question, I was shocked by the response: "Oh, we're here to put on the Ben Harper show tomorrow."

You've got to be kidding me. I had walked passed hundreds of signs advertising the show around the city and had seen the stage next to the cathedral that afternoon. Now I was sitting around drinking beer with Ben Harper's stage crew. They asked what I was up to that night, to which I gave my pitiful reply, "Well...I have to be back at the albergue in 20 minutes..." like I was a teenager trying not to anger my parents. But seriously though, they lock you out if you're late, and I didn't want to sleep on a bench that night. Plus, they kick you out at 9:00am, and all of my stuff was there. 

"You seriously have a curfew?!" asked Aaron, the sound engineer. "How about this: if you come out with us you can sleep back at our hotel for a bit before you go pick up your stuff." I weighed this option, asking, "Only if we're perfectly clear that I'm not sleeping with anyone." (I'd like to say now that all parties honored my request.) "Fair enough," he said. "We need someone to guide us around this city though."

And so I skipped curfew and stayed out all night. We went to another bar where I met the rest of the band: Jason (lead guitar), Jesse (bass), and Jordan (drums). Jordan's lady friend (gf?) from France named Elise was there, too. After awhile it began to rain and a few of us opted to relocate to a bar with a roof ...and foosball :)

And so I stayed up all night playing foosball, talking, and drinking sangria with musicians--not a bad way to spend an evening. When they asked if I was going to the show, I said, "Well I'm fairly certain I have to now." To which Aron replied, "There will be free tickets waiting for you at will-call. I already arranged it."

At this point it was after 5:00am, and we were all fading a bit. I was going to head back to the Semanario and hope that the door was open, but was convinced to crash at the 5 star hotel the band was staying at instead. I know that sounds really shady, but I swear, all I did was sleep on the opposite side of a plush king size bed for a couple hours before returning to the albergue to fetch my things. Hey, they were the ones who stopped me in the street and convinced me to stay out late!

After gathering my pack and consulting Google for the address of L&L's hostel, I set out to find them. It was fun to surprise them and let them know I'd scored us all free tickets to the show that night. We enjoyed a lazy day filled with cafes con leche, fresh-squeezed OJ, and trying on clothes from all of the chic European chain stores like Zara, Blanco, etc. After wearing nothing but hiking gear for the last 3+ weeks, I was game to spend 20€ on a pair of jeans and a top to wear to the show that night! 

On the way back to the hostel, we picked up some pre-show snacks and some wine called "El Sangre del Toro" (Literally, the blood of the bull. How ridiculous is that?!) Even better: it's really good and costs less than 3€ per bottle. Brilliant.

And so we headed to the Ben Harper and the Relentless7 show, which was being held in a plaza directly next to the cathedral in Santiago. It was an unreal backdrop for a concert...I'll never forget it. Walking up to will-call, flashing my passport, and receiving three free tickets was phenomenal, too...not to mention the fact that there were also aftershow passes in the envelope. Seriously, who has this kind of good fortune?! Seeing that show in Spain made me appreciate everything glorious about the situation 100x more. Simply amazing.

After another late night filled with great music, vino, friends, and fun on verrry little sleep, I crashed hard. In retrospect, it's pretty humorous: my most debaucherous behavior has transpired in the holiest city I've visited...whoops!

After all of that, heading north to the coastal city of A Coruna for some beach time and relaxation is much needed!

Live it up every chance you get--and for goodness sake, always stop to give people directions! ;)

Abrazos,
Kels