Los Pirineos

"The rain in spain falls mainly on the plain" - Well it's September now,... and during this month in Spain it rains quite a bit (it did this morning and is supposed to continue through the week) and I've heard it's common to have a couple of good rain storms. However, this past weekend I was off of 'the plain' and into the hills as I took a weekend up North with my friend Marc, from work. We drove 3 hours up into Los Pirineos (the Pyrenees) last Friday night after work to his parents house which is located in a small mountain village (the building's called "Comoloformo" --> see pic). Contrary to what the weather report had predicted, the weather this weekend was perfect.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early; we drove to a small town called Vall de Boi, and from there we took a jeep taxi with about 6 other people up some crazy roads farther into the hills of the park. We were dropped off, and thanks to Marc having grown up in this area, he knew the trails blindfolded and I never had to worry about getting lost or which path to take. We walked for about an hour and came to a small lake that was surrounded by the mountains and a flatter field area where some cattle work every day to keep the grass nicely trimmed. We had our breakfast by the lake and watched ducks swim, fish jumping, and the cattle graze. The morning sun coming over the mountains and through the trees made for some excellent picture taking.

Just before noon we returned to the taxi which which took us back to Marc's car. Our next trek that morning was a hike up to another open field called Rio Malo. To get to this area we had to drive into another part of the park, hike up a winding road to a huge dam that's about 50 or 60 years old, hike around the huge lake that's been created by the dam and then up another hill. By this point we were really hungry for the lunch we'd brought with us, so we picnic'd on the grassy fields of Rio Malo. After a siesta we walked back down, and drove home. There, Marc's mum, Marie-Carmen, made me the best tea I've ever had; however she put so many things in it, recreating that taste may take many years of experimenting. Considering my very limited espanyol, and Marc's parent's english, I think we had some decent conversations (Marc's translating helped quite a bit as well).

Sunday morning we slept in and relaxed, and then midmorning after a nice breakfast we headed out to see some of the renowned, extremely old, romanesque churches. Before Sagrada Familia became the very popular Catalan icon that it is today, a small simple church dedicated to St. Clementine located in the mountain village of Taull was by far the most famous symbol of the province. The rectangular bell tower is a familiar symbol known by everyone throughout the region. Of course Marc and I made this our first stop. We climbed the bell tower, took in the view, and looked around the surprisingly simple and very small church. I guess the lack of extravegance is what gives it it's charm, and makes an extreme contrast to the elborate cathedrals more often toured in Barcelona and the larger Spanish cities. The most amazing part about this church, as well as the others I was to see that day, is that they all date back at least 1000 years, if not more. This is phenomenal when you think about it,... One-Thousand-Years! There is so much religious history in this country, it's a little overwhelming. It's funny, but even with all of this christianity ingrained into the culture and society, (it seems the country's entire foundation is built upon it) the younger generation (at least of the people I've met in Barcelona) is surprisingly athieste, if not agnostic. They have told me that this is not the same in the South of Spain; it is much more religious down there; However, they still make the Southern United States seem fanatical in comparison..... not to make this blog political,... just a thought.

Finally, after seeing a couple of other churches after the most famous St. Clementine one, we ended the morning with a visit to Cami de l'aigua (Water walk). This park contains lots of water fountains all over the place and some great walking trails. There are tons of drinking fountains, each with different types of water all taken from different locations in the moutains, and it's amazing how different each of them taste (ferric/contains lots of iron, ice cold, warmer, and of course the worst one had a sulfuric taste,... uck). After lunch with Marie-Carmen again, we left midafternoon to return to BCN.

This is my favourite mountian picture of the weekend. heaven.

Finally,... before I end this posting I have to include that I have just finished a really good book called 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini. If you've already read it, then you already know what I'm talking about, and if not, well I think you would like it, because I honestly can't think of a single person that I know who wouldn't fall in love with the story. It made me cry three times,... and not many books can do that. It revolves around the life of a boy who grows up in Afghanistan,... the crazy part is that what he describes is unbelievably still going on there today (last Thursday I read that there was another bombing in Kabul),... and now we have Canadian soldiers there in the midst of it all. Anyways, if you are looking for a good read, it's the most compassionate story which I learned a lot from.

Con todo el carino, Sarah.