Club Dorada El Tarter

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 ...

After a long night on a surprisingly jam packed night train, I arrived at a train station about 1km from the Andorra border. I was slightly worried about my transportation from the train station at l'Hospitalet to my destination 26km into Andorra. The cryptic information information I was able to find on the web about buses told me that there were 2 per day, one leaving at 7:30am and the other 7:30pm. This was a bit disconcerting as my train arrived ...

... 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.

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...

... 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).

... and being close to nature, feeling the sting of cold on my nose but being able to retreat into the warmth of my sleeping bag, and dreaming about what else is sharing the night with me.

Motherly Instincts

Full moon came and Fatty had her piglets. The cutest little things make lovely grunts when feeding which mommy echos. All huddled together under the heat lamp it’s irrisistable not to go and take peaks at them.

Boussenac, Midi-Pyrénées, France 2totango

... and make 2.5kg of minced pork while I pureed the liver to make pate. Fat was rendered down to a beautiful smooth lard, and sausage meat was seasoned. It was a shame that we had no sausage skins to stuff, but the meat is still great to use in patties, balls or loaves.

For a special treat for working through all the meat, Justin saved a special piece for Brian and I: the brain. Fried up with sage and butter and ...

... and hand hold. Until you get to the point where you can’t seem to make a move at all. Limbs getting sore and there’s no place to set your foot, and no where to grab hold with your hand. Every muscle in your body tense trying to keep you in the place where you re. Mind solely focused on the task at hand. Moving slightly, feeling around, using divets in the rock that are barely visible to support your weight. Ever upward straining ...

... and roads scattered everywhere - if you can find them. Driving is a very different than walking. In great contrast to the towns below, the wind howled and ice formed on the road. On foot the walk was extremely harsh and I could see why there were shephards and hikers huts dotted all around for shelter. You can see why farmers train their animals instead of caring for them themselves ...

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’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.

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 ...

... el. Cuando caiga la nevada posta, que todavia hay toda nieve artificial, podre ir esquiando, aca unis como 4 o 5 pueblos usando los medios y esquiando. Me compre unas botas por ahora, 215E que ya les estoy tomando cariño. Unas nordica. Esquies por ahora voy a esperar pero ya me los voy a tener que comprar. Estoy usando los de la empresa de Mauri (mi compañero de laburo de Neuquen). Luego probare otros y ...