The peak of Casamanya, Andorra, some 9,200 feet altitude.
Another great hike, another great place in the country, the Parish of Canillo. The hike amounted
to an elevation gain of 2,500 feet reaching an altitude of 9,200 feet over more than eight miles return.
Because there were at least five false peaks to combat, it kept us guessing as well as struggling. Bear
with us as we repeat ourselves but this country was built for hiking. We left Casamanya to attempt a second
peak which added roughly 500 feet more, bringing the day's weary total to 3,000 feet, a magical number for us.
A few comments about the country follow. Before reaching the words, we believe we have discovered a hikers'
paradise, in fact, a lot more.
It was a hike with at least five false peaks. Just as a person believes she's reached the top
another peak stares down with a 'yawn'.
A great favorite.
We left the summit and went down-and-up to the sister peak. On our return, we noticed the peak had filled.
This was the busiest hike we've seen in Andorra.
(Some comments about Andorra...continued from last blog)
We reserved an apartment-hotel in Andorra La Velle, the big city of this country. The shopping looks
like the drawcard. Duty free liquor, perfume, cigarettes, watches—so far we’ve missed the attraction of these
products. The streets are narrow, many being one-ways with right of way for pedestrians dominant. We mentioned
it is clean, a lovely attribute. However, the street cleaning vehicle arrives each night, the sidewalk cleaner
brings out his heavy-duty blowgun nightly and the garbage collection occurs somewhere in between. Meantime, two
little people, who love cleanliness, are tired from waking to listen to the happenings three floors below our
open window. While we don’t care for smoking, it’s not our business whether other people partake. We have noticed
over the years that many Europeans like to inhale—it seems very common. Unlike in America, we would guess there
are less social issues that bring out the extremism in people. Maybe the Europeans are tired of war, having waged
so many. While we were talking of butts, cigarettes of course, we understand the cleaning issue much better now.
Smokers think nothing of discarding their butts, cigarettes of course, in the streets and on sidewalks.
Here comes the editor climbing again, leaving the 'trees for the forest'.
We'd say 'wow'; we'd say it again.
Varying rock formations side-by-side with grassy mountains, nice contrasts.
Of course, language barriers continue to exist. Having ‘perfected’ Spanish, we now have to deal with Catalan,
although many do speak the former. Besides being a large world, there are an awful lot of languages out there.
Thinking about it, we should learn to say: ‘We are lost and cannot speak your language”, in more than two hundred
different ways. English, in our opinion, does not command the respect enjoyed in so many other countries.
A couple of false peaks behind the editor.
Another shape, size and composition.
Approaching the peak again, this time from the side on return from sister peak.
Not all noise emanates from the cleaners. On Sunday night at 11:15pm, we were close to nodding off
when thunder struck. We had been waiting to see and hear what an electrical storm would be like in a bowl
surrounded by enormous mountains. We were not disappointed. The sounds were frightening and it put paid
to sleep for a while. I got up to close the window and to get a glimpse of the action which had become
erratic—also, there was no rain. Lo and behold, it was a fireworks display. The pigeons that inhabit the ledges
across the way were in panic, not knowing what to do. Dogs were barking and once again, we were sleepless.
The following day we ascertained it was the culmination of a fiesta day. Apparently, each parish has one of those
every so often.
Piqued, peaked, pensive and pretty as a picture as she waits for breakfast.
Breakfast will be a long time in coming should he continue to sit around.
Josep has been helpful even though we wish he would add an ‘h’ to his name. He is the manager of
the apartment—we don’t know where the hotel part fits in but then again, there’s an awful lot of the world
we don’t understand. He allocated us a parking space in the basement of a building a few blocks from
our structure. It would be impossible to exaggerate how difficult it is to access the space as well as drive
from it. Even entering and leaving the building is a challenge. Some of our worst nightmares involve parking
the car. Just today, we sat behind a motorist as he sought to fit his car into a small space. All spaces are
small. In fact, so much about Europe is petite. We have tea and coffee cups that we cannot use—they can barely
fit a sugar cube. We had to go and buy our own. Meantime, we digress. Whenever a parking space is about to
be vacated, each car behind has to wait until the motorist manages to drive away and the new parker squeezes
into the spot. We watched a fellow bump the car behind him twice, solid bumps they were, so that he could
maneuver into the spot. Having a car in the small towns in Europe is a 'curse' but of course, essential
to reach hiking trails. The great balance in life.
Returning to Casamanya Summit after visiting 'sister' peak across the way.
It's a different world out in the wilds, less inhibited by the looks of his behavior.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
Part-way up, we view the town of Ordino or maybe, Canillo (Always precise reporting!).
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