*Liam's Wild Ride*

[MotoLiam]

The apartment was unbelievable, made of stone and wood. I really like natural wood homes, and combined with the fire place, this place was sure to be warm enough! It was near 0 or -1 degrees celsius when we arrived, and for me, this was dammed cold! I met with Nacho's friends and roomates from Madrid and they were all great people, very friendly and laid back. Alejandro, in particular, was really nice, and he began teaching me how to say "slang" words from Madrid. Instead of saying "That's Cool!" , they say "Sweet!" Except, instead of the literal translation of sweet (dulce), they use the word for little pear. Perdita, I think.

 

[MotoLiam]

Another example of how the wood beams are structured throughout the place. Very solid. Despite the cold weather, the doors and windows were single pane, and as such there were heaters in every room. Thank goodness!

 

[MotoLiam]

I really like this shot because it shows the small stairway leading up to the attic level (where most of the bedrooms were). Lots of colorful wood and the chimney goes straight up the middle. I decided to sleep downstairs next to the fireplace, so my (potential) snoring wouldn't shake the house down. The couched fit me just fine and since we had arrived late at night, everyone wanted to go out and party! There was so much snow falling, and the weather forecast indicated the next day would be storming as well. Everyone thought that there would be poor conditions the next day (low visibility, etc) so they decided to show me some of the village nightlife.

 

[MotoLiam]

First stop? The town of Arties, which is very rustic, but filled with modern conveniences (like hot water and bathrooms!). There's also a Parador hotel there, which I visited later, that was really nice. The Parador series was set up during the Franco era in Spain, when he decided to renovate many historical buildings/castles/forts and make them into luxury hotels. We went to a nice two level bar called La Luna, and I met some more friends, one of who was a girl named Christina Harmon (sp?) who was the Spanish National Champion 3 times for moguls. I joked with Rocio (who also was there from Madrid!) that everyone in Spain seemed to be a champion of some sort. She suggested I adopt some sort of title myself, but when I told her I was the Hawaii State High School Chess Champion she didn't think that would be very cool. Oh well. We went to another place, caught some more drinks (they were flying around pretty fast!) and then headed out to a place called Pacha. It's a world famous dance club with places in unique spots around the world, like Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ibiza, and here in the mountains, on the border between France and Spain! Anytime I see the Cherry symbol I get a little nervous. Just like a big white girl with a Rock-a-billy flair and old-school bangs, you have to be very careful! We danced all night long, I broke up a fight on the dance floor (with my mighty American muscles, haha), and enjoyed ourselves until about 6AM. The little car, which I christened the Trooper, made it back up the hill and we all went inside the house to warm up while Mario parked. I forgot to mention this earlier, but the car's heater didn't work, so it was cold rollin'!

 

[MotoLiam]

No, it is not another beer! Since it was a long night, and I was worried about wearing myself out too quickly, we whipped up some chicken soup to help battle the elements.

 

[DanZX9R]

Sweet! I stayed at the Parador in Costa Rica. they are nice places!
Did you get to Ski??? Snow Board???

 

[MotoLiam]

I woke up the next day to a beautiful, snow filled paradise. Seeing all the snow the night before didn't do the place justice, and because we had travelled by night, I didn't realize how many mountains we'd actually driven through. Everyone was moving slowly that morning, and apparently everyone had woken up at 8AM to check the conditions and declared them to be unski-able on the mountain, because there was zero visibility. What to do? I started my day with a hot shower and took this picture from the window above my sofa. It seems like no matter how small a town or village is, there is always a church or cathedral.

 

[MotoLiam]

Threw the big lense on my Canon and grabbed a shot of the little car, which Mario had parked in a bad spot the night before, haha! I don't know if it was because the snow had covered the no parking signs, or he just wasn't thinking, but the next morning he was pretty upset when he saw that his car had been boxed in by the snowplow. I took a shower while he went to find the snowplow driver to beg for some assistance in rescueing his wheels. Everything worked out in the end because the snowplow driver was from Argentina and Mario was able to use some native expressions to convey his appreciation (one of our other roomates is also from there).

 

[MotoLiam]

Despite how old these villages are in the mountains (some are several hundred years old!), there is still construction going on. This ski resort area is one of the most expensive in all of Europe, and although the Alps are higher in elevation, Bequeira Beret attracts lots of rich people because of the atmosphere and relative exclusivity. It seemed like everyone but us had a nice Audi Quattro, Range Rover, or BMW or Mercedes SUV. Seriously. Please note the cranes in the background. I walked for a bit to survey the construction of the homes and was disappointed to find that they were building modern style Chateaus. Concrete everywhere and wood framing. So much for mismatched stone walls, which to me look so much better and "fit" better into the feeling of this place.

 

[MotoLiam]

On my hike over to the new buildings I found this older home. It didn't look any different than the houses nearby, but this sign says it all. 1763. Maybe it was one of the newer homes on the block

 

[MotoLiam]

After a bit of walking, it was early afternoon, and everyone wanted to go into town for some lunch. We stopped in Arties and had a fantastic meal with salads, Chorizo (YES!), Morcilla (blood sausage), sizzling platters of beef, you name it. I thought after two hours we had had enough, but the food just kept on coming! Since there was no skiing to be done, the only thing to do was "hang out" and have coffee, Pacharan, and good conversation. Pacharan is a spiced liquor that is really good for warming you up. Think cough syrup with some Vick Vaporub, add licorice, herbs and whatnot, and you end up with a reddish pink drink that is really nice. After our three hour lunch, which was considered normal, we headed further down the mountain to Vielha, to sightsee and have coffee and wine at a great little place. Here's a shot of Vielha's church.

 

[MotoLiam]

I have this thing about running water. I love it! The soothing sounds, the idea that life is always moving, never stagnant. I used to fish from the rocky shores in Hawaii and have been around the water for most of my life. Despite living on the mainland for more than five years I have never gone fishing at a lake. Gross! The thought of trapped water is really depressing and dirty, and I feel bad for the water, since there is so much lost potential just sitting there.

 

[budman]

Looks like the adventure is rolling baby!!

Loving it Liam..

30... dayam... your old..

 

[MotoLiam]

I took this picture because I like the roofline, with all the different portals for heat and smoke to escape. I don't know how Santa is supposed to get down all these little chimneys, but he does! Interesting cultural footnote; in the Catalan Nativity scenes, there are the standard barn animals, the three wise men, baby Jesus with his parents, the normal stuff. But, there's an added person off to one side called Caga Nei (sp?), who is a man squatting on the ground and doing his "business". This is portrayed in every nativity scene and represents the Catalan "down to earth" nature.

 

[MotoLiam]

We had relaxed almost the entire afternoon, and since the weather looked to be getting better we all decided to have a quiet night in preparation for the next day's activities! We hit the supermercado and bought some pasta and Nacho made an amazing meal with a white sauce and natural bacon and mustard seeds. Damn good, and just what I needed to warm me up and make me sleepy. We woke up early the next morning, grabbed our gear, and headed out to the mountain! One snowboard rental, a pricey lift ticket, two very long lift rides up, and we were almost at the top. Everyone was an accomplished skiier, and I have only had one other day in the snow, back in early '95, so I opted for the snowboard. I thought, hey, I can surf, right? The last time I had tried it the conditions were really bad and everything was hard packed and icey. All I remember about the first time was that I fell and fell, and then fell some more. Still, I wasn't expecting to do well today and was there to hang out and have a good time in the snow. We took a picture to commemorate our first outing together in the snow and then Nacho promptly dropped off the "course" and into wild terrain. I watched him disappear down the mountain and strapped up, anticipating my first snowboard ride down to be in the form of a rapidly enlarging snowball!

 

[MotoLiam]

The vistas from the mountain were incredible, and I think this was the farthest I've ever been from civilization. Bequeira Beret (also know as Baguera Beret) was deep in the Pyrenees on the France/Spain border. I knew that Hannibal had crossed this mountain range with elephants, on his way to kick some ass in Rome, but I didn't know how big this place really is! I think this is as far from Hawaii as you can get (climatically), and I wonder if anyone else from Hawaii has ever been here.

 

[MotoLiam]

After a couple trips down the hill I paused for a coke and a candy bar. This coke (which looks like the same size as the US cans but is actually a little smaller) was about $2.65. Another strange thing about the cans here is that they're beefier than the US cans, both stronger and heavier. I always get faked out when I'm drinking from one because it feels like I have a ounce or two still left in the can. I had crashed so many times that this candy bar was in a million frozen pieces. It was still super tasty and provided a small recharge for me so that I was able to go on several different runs later in the day and try to take every lift I could. At this point I was merely surfing the backside of the board and was having difficulty negotiating turns. Tricky stuff! I was having a great time, though, and with the elevation and thin air, I was getting really worked!

 

[MotoLiam]

Late in the afternoon I was super tired, from all the crashing, hiking around, and excitement. I went to the peak of the mountain and meditated for a while. Here's a shot I took looking towards the people I love in California.

 

[MotoLiam]

Another shot to the Southeast, to the people I love in Singapore.

 

[MotoLiam]

Those of you who have been paying attention know that I have been jonesing for a bike for a while now. I've been going crazy without a bike! I mentioned this to my friends when we had lunch on the mountain and they smiled and said we had to hurry home after skiing all day to get ready for a special dinner. Great, I thought, here I am ready to drop dead on my feet from exhaustion, and I have to go drinking again! At 5:30 or so we dropped off the gear, piled back into the SUV's, and motored out! We drove for what seemed like a long time, and I curled up in the back seat and took a nap with my head against the window on a rolled up sweatshirt. When we started off-roading I woke up, and we proceeded to head deep into a valley in the middle of nowhere. Bouncing along, sliding in certain places, our three vehicle caravan finally came to a stop and I have no idea how anyone knew where they were going, since there wasn't a real road around and it was pitch black out. We piled out of the cars and the first thing I saw was this!