Empty parking lot. I wake up in the back of my car. Which normally holds up to seven people. Without the seats there is space up to 1.95 meters. Get out, take a morning piss. Forgot the doors where on ‘lock’. Locked out. After some failed attempts with the poles of an abandoned tent from the bushes I find just the right stick. Long and thin. Perfectly fits through the slightly opened backseat window. Left open for air to come in. Could just reach the ‘unlock’ button, which luckily is a part of the car.

Head into the village, eat breakfast. Printed toilet paper is a strange thing, planets on this one. Afterwards I head out to the rock formation. Got out here to find a stone. A special assignment for the Trappist Monastery, OLV Van Koningshoeven. The abbot, Isaac, asked me to make an inter religious sculpture in their garden. As a gesture of equality and respect between the different religions. What I proposed is to have a stone. The stone will be blessed by different people from different religions. To unite them in one point. As a inter religious object. This stone will form the heart of a sculpture.

Got here by accident. Or rather, by coincidence. Last year, on a Saturday, I woke up and thought about where to get this stone from. That same morning saw someone who said they were going to Externsteine. A rock formation that has long been worshipped by different religions. Went to the market and purchased a very big watermelon for a very good price. Ran into a friend. Sitting in the sun, empty terrace of one of my favorite bars. We decided to cut up the watermelon, blend it, and make cocktails. Enjoying the fruits of our Saturday foraging session another friend arrives. Carrying a water bottle. A water bottle from Externsteine. Tells me he was just there some days before. Externsteine, external stone. When these things collide. 

The site is very impressive. Out of nowhere a giant rock immerses from the ground. Not a mountainous area. First go to see the Rock formation, engravings of Jesus being taken of the cross. Theres a bench cut out and stairs leading to the top, where an altar was made. With a see through hole with which the sun aligns during the summer solstice.

Walk around the Lake. How to find a stone? Trying to be receptive. There’s this woman I like which might be messing up the search. Keep on finding heart shaped stones. After A while of wandering around I find a small stone. Arrow shaped. Thought this might be a good compass. Mind you, don’t know how to find a stone. This took me throughout the whole forest, unearthing stones along the way. Then I got the idea it should be a certain shape. For some years now I keep finding the same shaped stones on all different places. Got about 20 of them. No find.

Day’s end. Decide to go to a hotel, rain, walking whole day. Arrive there around 10. No food. Go to the village. There I find a Kebab place. Order one, no payment with card. Walk to the ATM around the corner, but it doesn’t take my card. Walk to the next, doesn’t accept. Drive to the nightshop, where i was the night before. Can’t get cashback. But the guy hand me 20 and says to just give it back one time. First time borrowing money from a nightshop. Pay my durum and go to the hotel. After dinner get into the sauna. In some countries they wear bathing suits in saunas. Luckily in this country not. Sweat, cool down.

During the night I take a seat and consult the I Ching, which I just learned to use from the mother of a good friend. What I get from it is that I need to go uphill. Towards the highest point in a certain direction.

Good sleep. Leave the hotel. Put all my stuff in the car. Only a bag and a bottle of water. Towards the highest point. The forest is damp, rain again. Long time walking. My eye catches a small stream going up, to my right. Start to follow. Always a pleasure to move along streams. 20 minutes up, 10 stones turned, I see a dead tree laying over the water. Good spot for resting. On my way there I stumbled upon a spiral shaped fossil. An ammonite. Once an ocean-dwelling mollusk, who would use the shell to float, like a buoy. They had tentacles as well. Would be nice to have tentacles or a tail. One meter from the spiral a glimpse of something sticking out the mud under the branches of the dead tree. I dig it out. Immediately feel that this is it. But because of my tiredness I wasn’t fully convinced. Put the stone on the stem, sit beside it. Out loud, I ask if this is the stone. Suddenly a fierce wind arises. All the leaves around us rustle with great force, towards a climax, then calm down again. Found the stone.

At first I leave it there and go on to the highest point. Solitary trees, like the fields are their pillars. Reach the top. From there I move on to the next village for lunch. 2 hour walk in the rain. When I arrive everything is closed. The expectation of food unfulfilled. On my way back I take the stone. Arrive at my car, manage to get 20 cashback from the hotel. Pay my debt at the nightshop. As I drive back through the evening the skies clear up. A big rainbow waves me goodbye.