Santiago is the patron saint of Spain, and his day is a major holiday there.
This year, that meant a long weekend, and some people took advantage of it by driving up the road as far as they could, leaving the car in a turn-out and backpacking up the valley.
Many others celebrated by packing a picnic dinner and coming to the picnic grounds in front of the monastery, eating and talking until time for the service.
We provided the music for the service. We sat behind the parishioners, in two facing rows like a proper antiphonal choir. Just before the service began, the couple who ran the bar in the forecourt slipped in and stood in the very back of the church. (They must have liked what they heard, because when we showed up at the bar that night, the drinks doubled in size, to the point where I had to give half of my cider away.)
