Breaking in those hiking boots

It seems like all of my posts are going to start with "It's a beautiful day in Andorra" because I  haven't had a bad yet {knock on wood}... So... it was a beautiful day in Andorra today :) and I went on a hike today to break in my hiking boots. During my trek I realized some things:

First I realized that I am out  of shape, haha. You didn't see that one coming :) I also began to understand why Andorrans are, consistently, among the top 3 longest live expectancies in the world. 

I also realized that hiking + horrible sense of direction = problem. So as I was hiking up (and in circles? how are those two things simultaneously possible??) I decided I have two options to avoid major dilemmas and search parties... 1. Buy chalk to mark my trail  OR  2. Get a dog.
I contemplated the decision on the way down the mountain and as soon as I got down to town I walked to the pet shop and bought a dog.

Just kidding. Haha, gotcha.
I'm not saying it's not in my future though :) It seems like everyone has a dog here in Andorra and they are acceptable in all locations--hotels, restaurants, cafes, bring 'em in! I even sat next to a bunny today at a coffee shop in La Massana. And as helpful as chalk will be, what will I do in the winter when there's snow and no clear rock to write on? Will chalk be able to keep me warm in the winter? Can chalk warn me of someone coming into my apartment? Nope. Just saying.
I hear my parents in my head and, yes, I do realize the obvious flip side-- chalk doesn't need to be given a tranquilizer and put on a plane to get back to the States, nor do I need to feed it or clean up after it. Pros and cons.

But back to my hiking epiphanies, about half way through my hike (and possibly why it was the reason it was half way and not a quarter of the way through) I realized that as much  as I want to love nature I am a city girl by birth and when I am left totally alone  with nature it scares the crap out of me. Anything that brushed me was a possible spider trying to spin me into a tangled web of beady eyes and disaster, a bush shaking was really a pack of the wolves that migrate through Andorra, let's just suffice it to say my imagination was ridiculous. But today I learned about how ignorance can lead to fear. I don't know these paths, these woods, these mountains, this country that I am in and that can either immobilize my ability to learn by stopping me in my path and forcing me to turn around, or it can entice me to climb a little farther to make the unknown known and the uncomfortable comfortable.
I saw this metaphor in action later this afternoon when I was at that coffee shop in La Massana next to the bunny. It's interesting what happens when you are an obvious foreigner in a country, I realized this more so when I was in the Dominican Republic and the only blonde for miles, but it kind of tends to make people uncomfortable because they don't exactly know what to expect from you. Tack onto that traveling alone and people are doubly uncomfortable because not only do they not know where you've come from, what languages you speak, and what you want, but they don't have a clue of why you are there because who goes on vacation to a Monte Plata or Andorra by themselves? It's that fear of the unknown and often times it's immbolizing. I have had a lot of thirty second conversations here in Andorra these last couple days becuase of this uncomfortableness...
stranger--Hola, que quiere? me--Un cafe con leche por favor. --Vale... --Gracias.Cuanto cuesta? --Dos. --Vale... --Gracias. 
Kind of boring. Did get coffee, but that's about all.
But today as I was paying for my coffee in La Massana the woman asked me, what are you (an American girl) doing here? I told her that I was going to be teaching in Ordino. And instead of a thirty second conversation with nothing but coffee we talked for 5 minutes about her kids (one of whom will probably be in one of my  classes), America (they roadtripped  from Boston to Florida last summer stopping in like 6 big cities along the way!), and the Catalan language. She told me not to worry about Catalan, that I would pick it up and be fine. And as I left she said she looked forward to seeing me again at parent-teacher conferences :)

Moral of the story of my day today is we all need to do more hiking in life. Instead of stopping at the first ridge, climb to the second. You never know, you might find the perfect picnic stop there :)

A perfect picnic spot :)

Hope you all are doing well! Thanks for reading!

Here's a little "Where's Waldo" for all y'all interested  :) But instead it's "Where's Caldea Spa" and unfortunately it's not painted in red and white stripes to make it easy. Sorry! 

Can you find this in the next two pictures? (Hint: The pictures are being taken from the mountains in the background)

Closer

Farther!