Supper turned out to be really great. Rice again but in a different way, still tasty though,followed by a large slice of baked potato with fruit to follow.
Around the table was Maria an architect from Columbia, Ha hi an Australian actress of Vietnamise origin, and Philip and older guy from Aus who was an ad man in Maddison avenue NY, but is now in the process of making a film in Australia.
Maria was an amazing young woman. A bout 5 years ago she had a terrible accident on a construction site. She fell into a deep hole and as a result became paraplegic. Through many operations she can now walk just about and is taking about 2 to 3 months to walk el Camino entirely on her own. She is walking very slowly but is achieving so much. She was an incredible inspiration.
Phil on the the other hand was a bit trickier to work out. I guessed he was somewhere in his 70s. He spoke about leaving his wife behind and of her origins as being half French Swiss and half Russian. But didn't divulge any of the reasons for his trip. He mentioned that he had met his wife in New York whilst he was an ad man and she was running what he described as being a very successful restaurant. He went on to talk about the attitude problem of the aborigines in Australia and also began to expand on the details of his film. Quite frankly the details of the film were odd and incomplete, which is when I started to wonder whether or not he was actually being honest. He talked about using 2 young but unknown Australian directors to make the film and needing to involve some well known actors if he was going to get any financial backing. I suggested that he might want to give Ha Hi a chance. He said he didn't really think she was an actress, a comment I thought was a bit rich coming from him.
Granon was a very quiet sleepy village. I visited the church which was very dark inside and so very atmospheric. The design and decor seemed to follow the pattern of almost all the churches on the Camino, I was beginning to realise. The structure was gothiic to medieval with mostly plain walls inside. However all of a sudden, as you turned a corner or looked towards the altar there appeared a sudden shaft of gleaming gold fresco and detail adorning the wall. It was the stark contrast between the simple, plain stone work and the occasional gold detail that worked to such stunning effect.