Casa Canut Hotel Chateaux & Hotels De France Escaldes-Engordany

Today was my last full day in Andorra. There wasn't a huge amount to do. It wasn't snowing, but the wind was so fierce that it seemed like a sand storm made out of snow. I had a great time watching a group of cows grazing in snow up to their stomachs. Other than that I had a walk around town and spent about an hour at a ...

... transformed. Snow everywhere. I went for an early morning walk to take some pictures of the same places I did before to show the huge difference. It's been snowing all day and even now as I write this I'm starting at snowflakes the size of tissues hit the window. I wouldn't be surprised if it was up to my waist tomorrow.<br><br> There's not too much to do with it snowing like this (ironically enough the ski resorts don't even open till the end of ...

... village et quand on est arrivé, il avait le marché du matin. On a acheter du vin à environ 1 euro le litre (vin de pays) et du bon fromage bleu pour le déjeuner.<br><br>On avait pas le droit de prendre des photos dans la grotte pour pas faire de la pollution lumineuse (il y avait déja des ptites pousses de plante pres des lanternes...ils veulent pas en rajouté non plus). Aussi il faut pas déranger les chauve souris...pauve cocottes...<br>

... 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). <br>

... food pellets. It took quite a bit of time before one was daring enough to enter into the trailer, but eventually hunger took over and one did and then a second and the door goes shut - usually. First attempt raised an alarm and the porkers backed out and Justin couldn&#8217;t get the door closed. But with a little more food and the familiarity already there it didn&#8217;t take long before they were back in again. <br><br>Romeo and Juliet<br ...

A gory day full of raw meat, but surprisingly it didn&#8217;t bother me. Some issues that have arisen when discussing the idea of setting up our own small holding with the attempt to be as self-sufficient as possible was whether or not we could deal with it. So far it doesn&#8217;t seem to be a problem. <br><br>We&#8217;ve stayed a few extra days at this farm with the anticipation of butchering day. Took 2 pigs to the abattoir ...

... the time to see the final goal. Then the sweet feeling of triumph when you&#8217;re actually there!<br><br>Now it&#8217;s time to relax, but one of the most difficult parts is still to come: the descent. This is a relaxing &#8216;walk&#8217; down the rock face while to seat yourself into the harness low enough that your legs are at 90 degree angles to the rock. Your weight born by the belayer below you slowly step your way down more keeping ...

... br><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. <br>

The set up for working at Las Laous is a 2 day on, 1 day off system. This works great because it means that we have a full day to go and do things and we aren&#8217;t really restricted for time. Also, the fact that Justin and Emily have lent us a car makes it even better! We can go farther that we could on foot or bike. <br><br>One of the main things we were interested in seeing was the Grotte de Naiux (Caves). Part of the fun of spending time in the ...

... if you dry the mushroom at a certain temperature for the right amount of time it gets rid of all the &#8216;bad&#8217; poisons. But I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll try it anytime soon as I am not a strong Viking Warrior, nor a powerful Medicine Man and I may not be able to live through the consequences. <br><br>But I will persevere at searching for edible &#8216;shrooms&#8216;. I love the taste, and can&#8217;t wait to try some different ones!<br>