Evening In Viana

As the first one to check in I got a chance to choose my matress and which room - so I choose the smaller room with only 4 matresses, what luxury!! I ended up with a "girls only" dorm, with Doro, the German lady, who had said :"Wir sind ja nicht auf der Flucht" and two young Brazilean girls - perfect! After doing the usual chores, shower, wash my dirty clothes, it was time for a Siesta!
We were going to have a communal evening meal, and so I sat down in the dining area and chatted and painted, until it was time for helping out with dinner. As I was sitting there painting, several of the others asked if they could see my sketchbook, and a couple of the French ladies were so excited, they wanted to photograph my little sketches - of course I let them, and was quite flattered.
I was happy to be able to help out in the kitchen a bit, so the 2 Brazilean girls and I were in charge of the salad, and it was just such a good atmosphere, everyone kind and helpful, not least the lovely hosts, who were volunteers from the church.
At dinner the priest, I think, showed up, but we could all squeeze in, and the conversations flew across the table in Spanish, French, English, German, Portugeese and lots of body language! As always a lot of fun!
After dinner we all pitched in to clean up, and then we went past the laundry room, through a secret door and through a narrow passage, to see the church at night! It was really exciting to be up where the organ and choir usually sits, and look down at the dark church, only lit by the light coming in from the windows from the street lamps which were softly reflected in all the gold and jewels of the magnificant altar piece. We could faintly hear the Fiesta music, but felt like in another secret world.
Pilar and Roberto had brought a little CD Player, and played some beautiful meditation music, as we all sat there each in our own thoughts, reflecting on the day and the Camino. What a wonderful end to a great day!