Sept 19-20: Als Pirineus! - To the Pyreenes!

CEA had organized a few trips for us so we could experience Catalunya and Spain. The first of these was to the Pyreenes. Riding by bus en route to the town of Taüll, we stopped at the town of Pont del Suert (Catalan for “Lucky Point”) for lunch. My friends and I found a place called Bar Pepito that served tacos (see album), and feeling deprived of Mexican food, we decided to give it a whirl. The chicken tacos seemed a bit caro (castellano for “pricey”), but well worth it – the combination of spices and other ingredients created a really unique taste, and I almost ordered a second one. They were also reasonably filling, which was refreshing to see in the context of Europe’s infatuation with natural-serving-size meals (read: snacks).



We arrived in Taüll later in the afternoon, and the view into the Boí Valley was absolutely gorgeous. Besides the location, the town is famous for its two churches, the Church of Santa Maria and the Church of Sant Climent, the latter of which is a World Heritage site.



We still had plenty of time before dinner, so a few friends and I hiked up a trail leading up the hillside. We had no idea where it ended, until it abruptly opened into a large field. I enjoyed the hike for the mountain stream and the surprise we saw on the way down: a herd of sheep!



That evening, CEA bused us down to the neighboring town of Boí for dinner. The fun part here was dessert – one of the options was “melón.” A few of the others ordered it, and received a huge slice of cantaloupe cut the long way; yum! At night, there was an FC Barça game, and we watched it at Bar Sedona, a place run by a man from Arizona. The TV was nice, the ambience cozy, and the owner is more than happy to see fellow Americans.

The next day, after breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. “Aigüestortes” means “winding waters” in Catalan, and “estany” is “lake” in this context. To get there, we took our bus to the entrance and rode up to the trailhead in jeeps, which are worth it considering the distance and altitude of the route. Both of our guides were very experienced, but what struck me most was their Spanish. Natives of Barcelona switch fluidly between castellano and Catalan, although they prefer Catalan; residents of the Pyreenes (and other rural parts of Catalunya), however, make castellano’s “second language” status more noticeable, as they have less occasion and need for speaking it. One of the guides was more comfortable with French than castellano, which makes sense given the geographic and linguistic closeness of the Catalan Pyrenees to France. The trail through the valley was enchanting, a seemingly endless sequence of beautiful landscapes, wildlife, and flora.