VALL D'ARAN: Day 2
- Estel
- Sep 14, 2017
- 3 min read
After sleeping for what seemed like an eternity in our peaceful, cozy hotel room, we wake up to a delicious and locally-sourced breakfast. Laura is there to recieve us with a big smile. She guides us through the offerings and takes our coffee order. Everything is delicious, and you can totally picture what breakfast is like during the ski season here: fireplace burning, everybody in their ski gear, and quiet chatter about weather conditions and the best ski slopes.
With a full belly, we pack our bags, jump in the car, and head out of the valley and a little bit down south to meet my grandma & co. for lunch.
They are staying in a charming, picturesque little mountain town called Ribera de Cardós. The streets are narrow and crooked, and it's all uphill from the main (and only) road. If you blink, you miss the whole town. Avia is waiting for us by the road with a big smile on her face, waving vigorously at us like we are the Royal Family. After showing us around (and walking at a speed that makes me suspect that the water of this town is loaded with electrolytes), Avia gets tired and decides that we need to go to lunch. At this point, I'm starting to feel a light headache from all the talking (my grandma and her widow friends argue like old married couples), I'm amazed at the amount of words-per-breath they can manage, and I miss dearly the tranquility I was enjoying a few minutes earlier, not knowing if I'll be able to hear silence ever again.
Apparently, and I quote: "they are the rudest people at this restaurant, but the food is amazing so we have to go." They open for lunch from 2.30 to 3.30pm. That's it. If you want lunch, that's your window. If you are interested in knowing why, I could send you a recording of my grandma and/or her friends talking about how rich the family is and how poorly the "children" are taking care of the business, but I won't mention it here because it gives me PTSD. While we wait for our table, we stick around visiting the little shops in the area. The "must-go" places are the butcher shop and the dairy farm. I walk into the butcher shop with Alex, thinking it's a great idea to get some alone time and silence... dead meat can't talk. My grandma surely can, though, as well as the parade who follows us inside 30 seconds later. The shop fills with chatter and everybody starts "suggesting" what we should buy. By suggesting, I mean telling the poor girl "give them some --" "we'll also get ---" I make eye contact with the girl. Since we are both millenials, we have an instant connection, and she quickly understands that I am the boss and that she is not to put anything I don't approve of on the scale. We make it out of the shop, and I swear I hear the breath of relief from the girl working there as we walk through the door. I know how much she is enjoying silence right now.
We take our circus sketch to all the stores until lunch time comes. And it doesn't disappoint. While it's true they don't have the warmest service, their food is delicious. During lunch I get a text from one of my best friends/former roomates Irene, who's pregnant and just had a doctor's appointment to find out the sex of her baby: it's a boy!!
As expected, our trip back is beautifully quiet. Even my mom feels like it's not adequate to narrate any of the events happening outside the car. We all need time to find ouselves again and to find our inside voice. Avia waves goodbye at us from the same spot we found her, this time with a heavy heart like she's sending us to a cruel war. We'll see her in a few days.
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