Babot Ordino

... having a beer and watching a man try to dig his van out of the snow. To my knowledge his van is to this moment where it was when I left the bar.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to post some pictures of Canillo when it's snowy and the sun comes out. Don't have too many, but figured it was worth a post.

... charm, but it's easy to see that lots of it is maintained with the massive amounts of money that come in through rich tourists going to the ski resorts. Walking through the peaceful streets and hearing flowing water everywhere almost makes things seem eerily perfect. Like walking through a fairy tale. After a few rounds of the city, I decided to turn in a bit early as I didn't sleep much on the train over.

Today when I woke up the country had been ...

Le plan original était d'aller à Cahors visiter un vignoble, mais puisque l'on n'a pas de voiture (considérant que les vignes sont dans des champs et non au centre ville) on n'a pas pu y aller. J'ai trouvé sur internet qu'il y avait plusieurs grotte dans le sud donc on en a choisi une pas trop trop loin et on a acheté nos billet de train.

Tarascon sur Ariege est à environ 1h15 de toulouse donc ca se fait quand meme bien. C'est un ...

... What it does mean, we're not quite sure of yet. Still dealing with the shock and going over a few different options. All while kicking myself for not realizing this sooner. Only one thing is for certain - I'm not going to let this spoil our trip, and we're going to have to get cycling! (o.k., two things).

... it, with a case of beer in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in the other. At the end of his few hours work, both will be empty again. It seems like for every 10 minutes of work there’s at least a 10 minute break.

When Justin hired him for the job, he was told that it would take 3 weeks to complete. That time has passed and the cold weather is here and Justin wants his stove! When confronted about this, Haiko laughs and says ...

... by us on cast away sausage meat revealed how skilled he really was. Spare rib roasts, rolled belly, chump steaks, rack of ribs, pork chops, and hams were all neatly packaged and labeled. Bones went into the stock pile, fat went into the rendering pile, and other bits went into the sausage pile.

After all the good cuts were stored away in the freezer it came time to process the rest of it. Brian started up the meat ...

... person above is literally in your hands.

All in all it was a fabulous day! Did 4 climbs in total ranging through the 5a, 5b, and 5c levels of difficulty. I wanted to try a 5, but the day went by too quickly. There was one climb that Brain was sweating out for quite awhile, but in the end his determination conquered it. Rock climbing is the perfect blend of challenge and rest in beautiful mountain settings. I may be hooked…

... br>
Despite the dogs and the cold and wind, we did manage a little hike up past a waterfall up to a beautiful plateau area with mountains all around. Huddled behind a rock to provide some resistance from the wind, we scarfed down a bit of picnic lunch before running back to the truck for warmth. Then it was down into the town of Ax to soak our cold feet into some hot springs.

... are revealed.

This area of the Salon Noir is an amazing room with a ceiling that corkscrews upwards creating some interesting acoustics. A single clap lasts for over 5 seconds. Voices are lifted upwards and bounce around changing as they go. I can only imagine what it would be like to hear a celebration of instruments and song in a place like this. Perhaps this is part of the significance and why people returned year after year.

Niaux, Midi-Pyrénées, France 2totango

... a set of, um, ´well-cared for´ kids. For my English lessons, I´m taking the youngest class of twelve 7 year olds which feels like a very different kind of teaching to that of last year. The classes are an hour and a half each and we teach two a day (plus an hour for the English Activity). Tis a bit too long for such wee kids with such short attention spans to be in a classroom but we´ll see how it goes! Watch this space... :)