The hills are alive

Hola,

I spent the weekend just gone in the Pyranees. I am sorry if that is not how you spell it in English. I know how to spell it in Spanish but I am loosing it in English. I have noticed that sometimes when I talk to my friend in English I say really daft sounding things - because I am saying what you would say in Spanish - but in English. Its really quite amusing sometimes.

Anyway, the mountains.................... are incredible! So beautiful. We drove up there on Friday afternoon (it takes 4 hours from Barcelona) and arrived in time for a lovely meal in the evening in the hotel. The hotel stood alone in the wonderful landscape, not in a village or nearby to anything. Just there, amidst it all. We stayed in a Parador - for those of you who know anything about Spain. From our room we could see nothing but snow capped mountains (Monte Perdido to be precise) and cascading waterfalls.

Saturday´s excursion was a seven hour event. I´d say we were walking for about five hours and nibbling cheese, gluging back wine and taking in the sun for the other two hours. The route was pretty treacherous actually and half way round we decided to turn back rather than go on as we encountered a glacier that looked a bit risky to cross. We reckoned there was only a slight chance that we would slip in the snow, but as the land was at a serious gradient and very high up, the consequences of slipping would have been fatal. So, we turned back (with Jose cursing the cold winter that Spain has suffered and mumbling about it being incredible that there was still snow at this time of year at this height).

It was an altogether fantastic day. 30 degrees heat yet snow in view (and often under foot). Fantastic views to all sides. I loved sitting on big rocks sticking up from the lagoons beneath the waterfalls and drinking wine and eating cheese with my feet in the cold fresh running water. Amazing. Another favourite was the sight of the wild horse that we came across. It really was like something out of a film (I did my best to maintain a look fit for a film with my Pradas firmly glued to my head and my Lancome juicy tubes lip gloss to hand at all times).

Jose usually sleeps in a tent when he goes to the mountains with his friends, and he has even slept in the streets once. Apparently this was because they decided to go down to a village to get a room for the night but then found that there weren´t any hotels or guest houses ...........and so slept in the street! He reckons he woke in the middle of the night to find about ten stray cats cuddling up to him and decided to let them stay there to keep him warm. Anyway, he suggested that I might prefer a nice hotel - and I didn´t disagree. I think he had concerns about my appetite for the wilderness when we set off walking on Saturday morning ..........but I am confident that he was suitably impressed with my performance by the end of the day (despite the lip gloss).

Saturday night involved hot baths and foot massages followed by another great meal in the hotel. On Sunday we walked for about 2 and a half hours - again with wine and cheese in rucksack (of course!). We then drove off in the direction of Barcelona but stopped of in Ainsa for lunch. Ainsa is a 12 century village and if you are ever passing by I recommend you pop in. Its beautiful.

I´ve actually done some work this week! Well kind of. My English friend here is a translator and she had to translate some power point slides for a business contact. She did all the translation from Spanish to English but then she wasn´t happy with the English version. This was because the slides were for a seminar to be given on selling methods in the advertising industry and she didn´t feel that she understood enough about advertising or business terms in general to be able to correct the literal transaltion into English that an English person would use. So thats where I came in. It was a good two hours of marking up and amending - just what we lawyers love to do! I enjoyed it. Glad I don´t HAVE to do it all day long though (hee hee hee).

I am flying into Yorkshire tomorrow night. My Mum has just told me that it is only 12 degrees centigrade - I will have to break that news to Jose tonight. He will be shocked I am sure. I have got his gloves out of the drawer for him in preparation!

I hope to see some of you in London on Wednesday 18th - Keston Lodge, Upper Street, Islington.

Nos vemos!

S xxx