C turned 26 today and didn’t even realize until he wrote the date in his journal yesterday that it was his last day as a 25-year-old! We had a great day even though we didn’t do anything special – other than spend the day enjoying the French Pyrenees! I told him we might be able to find him some cake or a special pastry in Villefranche tomorrow – he wants something “dangerously sweet.”
We’ve heard a lot of American music already – just like I did in Spain in 2004. They played American alternative rock – like Cake and Greenday – and even country! – in the fancy restaurant at Auberge Catalan while we were eating breakfast (the last place I’d think we’d hear American music considering it was fine dining – but it was before normal hours.) And they even played American R&B and country at Mas de Bordes today! They also love to blast the Buena Vista Social Club cd over and over – good “international” music as Nimo called it. I have yet to hear any music in French.
We finally met the host today – Nimo’s dad Luc. He got back home yesterday evening. He made sure that all was well for us and chatted a couple times today. Luc is quite different from his son – more light-hearted, has a loud, gritty voice, much more blunt. Nimo is very soft-spoken, though not shy at all, and has a high voice, is carefully polite. Both are very friendly and fun to talk to.
Luc seems to get a kick out of quitting our jobs and traveling for so long. He says empathetically that traveling light by train and staying in gites/rural guest houses is the way to do it. Really we’re staying in all of the above, including hotels and apartments, but mostly rural guest houses – what the French call gites, Spanish call agriturismo/casas rurales, and Italians call agriturismo(i). Anyway, Luc seems to understand the travel bug – a kindred spirit. I’m sure this amusing Frenchman has many-a-story to tell.
Luc helped build the stone structures that encase the free hot springs on his land that we visited today. We saw two other groups of people just come and go as they pleased. The springs are in the middle of the woods along this narrow path and you just come upon them – you know you’re near when you see steam and smell sulfur. Bright blue/turquoise ground is a pretty good indication too.
You don’t have to pay or register anywhere or sign a disclaimer, ask the landowner for permission, or even check a thermometer to use these hot springs. This is the same sense of freedom I felt in France over four years ago when there were no disclaimers involved in the para-skiing off of a cliff in a ski resort; you could just ski up to the operation and pay for a turn or watch. No one to tell you to stay away from the cliff, no warning signs, you aren’t shooed away because you pose a threat to anyone’s safety by standing too close to the operation or the cliff. Obviously they don’t have the same lawsuit crisis we have in the U.S.
Mountain weather is mountain weather no matter where you are. We are having to remember how to dress and pack a day pack for fickle weather – one minute it’s sunny as can be with mostly blue sky, then 10 minutes later we’re socked in with ice pellets pummeling our ponchos – but only for 20 min., then sun again! We went from hot, cold, hot, cold, to wet then drying in the sun, etc. Good thing for layers and raincoats and hats.
There are little villages everywhere here, scattered all through the mountains. One village WAY up the mountain across the valley is a legit town with five families (none with young children I was told.) There is a road that somehow makes its way up there, along with a footpath, and the daily mail! We walked through what we thought was an abandoned old village on the mountainside well above our gite, but someone actually lives there part-time, and Luc goes to church in what we thought were ruins! Built in 875!! There are high rock walls all through the woods in the vicinity of the village. The only way to get there is a small footpath.
I talked to Nimo’s sister today (can’t remember her name), and she confirmed my understanding of the Catalunya region. Only the older generation still speaks Catalan on the French side of the Pyrenees. The Catalunyans did not receive the same autonomy as they did on the Spanish side, and some are still upset about that. If Catalan is spoken by members of a household on the French side, it’s mostly just in the home. French Catalunya was taken from Spain in the 17th century. There was a Catalunyan revolt in nearby Villfranche a couple decades afterward, but I don’t know if there were others. Obviously the French won.
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It’s my birthday! I don’t feel any different, and that’s a good thing. We got up a little earlier, 0930, and had breakfast outside in the courtyard while the owner, Luc, was having breakfast with his two daughters , and his son’s family at the table beside the driveway. We talked to Nemo for a while, about this job as a plant pathologist, and American politics. He brought up the politics, and I eventually mentioned my interest in what Europeans think of what is going on in the US since it is such a big election. He was very aware of our politics, and was obvious in his dislike for Bush, big surprise. Later, he drew up a map of another good 3-hour hike, and we headed out shortly after. The trail left directly out of the back of Mas de Bordes and went up the hillside towards an abandoned village that we could see from Mas. It was a very dry area compared to the gorge. There were a few houses in the village, one of which is lived in periodically, and a chapel built in 875 AD! The tower was used to send smoke signals back in the day. We had a nice lunch in the shadow of the tower and watched the rain roll through the valley, towards us. We were heading back down the mountain when it started raining w/ ice pellets mixed in, very interesting. Down almost to the railroad were the hot springs/baths we were looking for. Once the sketchy guy left, we had the place to ourselves. The water is between 37 and 47 degrees C according to the ownder of Mas de Bordes, who helped build the stone baths, and it was definitely hot! The rain stopped as soon as we got there, which was appreciated. There was a distinct sulfur smell and green slime growing in the bottom of the pools. A young French couple appeared and we left so they could have it to themselves.On the way back we stumbled across some horses standing on the trail, eating. That explains all the horse crap everywhere. Anyway, they weren’t moving and didn’t look too happy either, so we cut through the woods and got back on the trail below a switchback. As soon as we got back to Mas, it started the rain/ice pellet mixture again but we were content to get the fire started and eat dinner…very similar to last night. While getting firewood, we heard puppies in a bocx near the pile. Sure enough, there were two puppies in there with their mom squealing over the best position to get milk. We dried clothes in front of the fire all evening since our hand-washed laundry was not dryinhg upstairs in the room. I’m getting used to this journal-writing by the fire, but tomorrow we head out.
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