Fairytale Andorra

It is a beautiful day here in Andorra. There’s a light breeze and the perfect amount of cloud coverage to see the sun but not be baked by it. Today is also a beautiful day because I finally saw the side of Andorra that I expected to find in the beginning...
With a population of roughly 85,000 in seven different parishes I expected the towns of Andorra to be quaint, quiet, small towns where people are slower because they’re just enjoying the beauty around them. I was shocked to find that I was very wrong and that Andorra la Vella (the capital where I am currently staying-ish) is a pretty loud, congested city filled to the brink with shopping malls, restaurants, and tons of people. Now I will admit that the hotel I’m staying at is right near the center of all the action and there are places in Andorra la Vella and the neighboring town Escaldes-Engordany that are more peaceful and less congested. But overall I would describe the city as bustling.
And I must admit, it’s not my favorite. This is most likely a personal problem :) frustration at the city as a result of my horrible sense of directions (thanks Mom), gluten intolerance (which makes eating at the many many restaurants quite complicated), or maybe I’ve been away from the Chicago big city too much and gotten used to Texas small towns more…whatever it is I was feeling a bit disappointed that my vision of Andorra was so wrong.

But then I went to Ordino. As I road the bus this morning up through the mountains to Ordino  it was like the fairytale land of Andorra I imagined was crystallizing right before my eyes. From what I experienced Ordino is a beautiful, quiet, small town with gorgeous views and hiking. I walked around for hours and it was so peaceful. It seemed like every balcony had wind chimes that created this sort of serene feeling that you were walking through a sacred place.

The historic district of Ordino

There's downtown Ordino :)

One of the small backroads I walked along for a while. This is the first time I felt the altitude a bit, nothing drastic. Ordino's elevation is 4,259 ft

A tobacco field...interesting things I've learned since arriving: tobacco is the only cash crop grown in Andorra. Tobacco has also been, historically, very important to Andorra. Currently smoking is allowed everywhere, but a law has been passed that will ban smoking inside restaurants starting in December (or so I was told, I haven't double checked those facts so don't quote me on it)

Isn’t it beautiful? I even found the school where I’ll be teaching! I didn’t take a great picture of it, so if you want to see what it looks like check out the lip-dub the school made. It takes you on a tour of the whole building (choreographed to the song “I will survive”! How can you not love that?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNH7ja4aHjw

I am so excited to teach in Ordino, I also am joining the Tennis Club via the International Club of Andorra and we play in Ordino once a week. So I can’t wait to spend a lot of time in this beauitul town. I’m actually even thinking of looking for an apartment there and getting to know the quieter side of Andorra. We shall see! I’ll keep you updated :)

¡Hasta pronto!