Old Friends
54.25 miles hiked, 3 Cultural Events Attended
(Note: this post has a lot of photos, so may be too big to read in your email program. Head to www.outonanadventure.com to read the entire post if you don’t see a picture of Pam at the bottom.)
When we were setting up this trip with Pura Aventura, they recommended that we get a guide for this part of the mountains. Since Pam knows the introverted me, she was a little hesitant, but Greta at Pura strongly suggested we should, so we went for it. We are so glad we did. Alberto Marín López, is an incredible guide and I knew he was going to be fun when we called to coordinate yesterday. When I started speaking Spanish, he said “Whew! I speak English, but it’s just too weird to speak English on the phone so thank god you speak Spanish.” I thought that was hilarious.
Alberto picked us up after a superb breakfast at Hotel Terra Bonansa and his enthusiasm for the mountains was infectious. He’s originally from Zaragoza and went to school to be a videographer. During that time, he fell in love with the mountains, fell into guiding and loves his job. He said he’s been guiding for more than half his life. He’s specialized in education, mountaineering, and guiding the blind and visually impaired.
Our plan for the day was to visit Posets-Maladeta National Park so we could see the biggest mountains in the Pyrenees and learn about the glacier formed valleys below them. Along the way we passed through the town of Benasque, below the park. Alberto was pointing out how crazy expensive the area was because it had several ski resorts next to it. That’s when we realized we were looking at the Jackson Hole, WY of Spain.
Even though it was a partly cloudy day, the U-shaped bowl of the main valley covered in wildflowers, surrounded by giant peaks, some covered with glaciers was divine. I took tons of pictures but could never quite capture the Zen of this gorgeous place.
In the above photo the Narcissa flowers were in their full glory. If you look closely, these wildflowers are a very close relative to our Daffodils. Alberto told us the wonderful story of how they got their name. If you recall your Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful young man who spurned all suiters of both sexes. Ameinias, a young man spurned by Narcissus had his pleas herd by the god of revenge, Nemisis, who cursed him by saying that Narcissus would never be able to be loved by the one he fell in love with. After placing the curse, Narcissus was getting thirsty and bent down to get a drink of water and fell deeply in love with his own reflection. Since the love could not be reciprocated, he wasted away to a golden and yellow flower, who’s opening always faced down looking into his reflection. Those Greeks had a story for everything.
Hiking with Alberto was like hiking with the coolest science teacher ever. We’d ask a question and he’d reach in his backpack to show us the animal or flower we were asking about. He carried a whiteboard to draw the glacier process so we could understand all the geology of how glaciers shaped the valley. I’m sure he’s answered some of those questions a billion times, but his enthusiasm was contagious because he made you want to learn more. As a total geek, I loved it, and Pam couldn’t get enough.
We ran into some of Alberto’s neighbors on the hike and they had the cutest little five-year-old boy. He was a little shy, but as we all talked, he walked up the each of the three of us because he wanted to share his chocolate mushrooms. He was so excited to share he did a little dance afterwards. Cuteness overload!
The river we are standing in front of is fascinating. (I didn’t catch the name.) It originates from the glaciers on the side of Aneto and disappears under our feet. No one knew where the water went for centuries until they finally discovered that the water flows under the Pyrenees and comes out in France.
Alberto and Pam had to wait on me constantly this hike. The wildflowers were at their peak, and I made it my mission to photograph every single flower in the valley. The variety was staggering. I hope you don’t mind a few flower photos.
We saw a few people with skis or snowboards on the backs. A popular activity for the hard-core set is to hike up to the snows below the glaciers and ski down. These are the real skiers, not the folks who pamper themselves with a chair lift. We talked to a few at our lunch spot, and they all said this was probably the last day of the season.
As I was bent over photographing yet another flower, I heard a huge shout and looked up to see Alberto and one of the backcountry skiers in the kind of embrace only long-lost friends do. That was exactly what it was! Alberto and José were teenagers in Zaragoza who came up to the mountains all the time together and started Alberto on the path as a guide. Life interceded and they hadn’t seen each other in over 30 years! They were so happy they couldn’t stop talking. We were close to the end, so Pam and I gave them their space because we thought it was beautiful mountain magic. Even though today was the best vacation day we could ever have, that shout, hug, and meeting was by far the best thing that happened and will be the highlight of the entire trip. Alberto told us later, he looked at the guy passing him and thought, “Wow, he’s an old school mountain climber, he’s like me,” before they recognized each other. What a moment to see!
On the way home in the car, Pam hit 100% as in 100% of our trips Pam sees a snake. Even though she’s not too fond of them, she has that knack. It was a seven-foot green snake, but it was too fast to get a photo. Alberto got a huge kick out of the story we had in England when Pam actually tripped over a black adder, their only poisonous snake. I managed to get a photo that time and when I asked another hiker what it was, he looked so sad and dejected. He told us he’d been coming to Yorkshire for over 20 years because his life goal was to see that super rare snake and us two dorks tripped over one on our first day. If you ever travel with Pam, she’s a snake magnet so beware.
Alberto dropped us off at Hotel Terra Bonansa and it wasn’t a final goodbye. We have another hike with Alberto in a few days. (How much luckier can we get?) If you ever visit this area, we are ordering you to stay at Hotel Terra Bonansa and go on a hike with Alberto. We guarantee that it will be a perfect vacation day. We know this from experience! We give both ten stars out of five.
Remarkably, a perfect day got even more perfecter (I just made that word up by Microsoft Word says it’s a real word, who knew?) We wanted to stroll around the thriving metropolis of Bonansa where fifty people live. The owners of the hotel have three dogs who are the official greeting committee when anyone walks in their driveway. The dogs are border collie and sheep dog mixes, which means they are smarter than most people. It breaks my heart I’m allergic to dogs because all I want to do with this friendly family of dad, mom, and their baby is love on them hard. The next time we visit I’m bringing elbow length gloves, and they are going to get so many ear scratches and tummy rubs I’m wearing fur off.
As we went on our stroll, we had three new guides. Dad wandered off, but mom and baby were on the job. They were hilarious to watch because the baby always runs up to mom and rubs against her side. It’s like mom is a magnet. As we walked past a hill at the back of town, two big dogs came charging down the hill at us barking in not a pleasant manner. Before I knew what was going on mom and baby were between us and the dogs barking at them just as threatening. Mom and baby stayed between us and them no matter where the big dogs moved. As the big dogs got closer, mom and baby upped their game and I thought there was going to be a fight. The owner of the big dogs was yelling at them, and we hustled down the road calling for our professional bodyguards to try to avert any problems. I WANT TO LOVE ON THESE BABIES FOREVER!
On the way back we realized we were going to run into the big dogs again and felt bad because we saw they were sheep dogs as the shepherd was moving a flock of sheep. We did our best to get past them quick and tried to sign sorry to the shepherds. When we got back to the hotel Pam gave them plenty of loving. I could only whimper in sadness.
Then our day got even more perfecter because it was dinner time. If we thought yesterday’s meal was stupendous, this one topped it. A flatbread with tomato jam, caramelized onions, and black olives. Second course was a quinoa salad with perfectly ripe fruit. The final course was a braised lamb shank that could have only been prepared in heaven. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had in our life.
I am just so overwhelmed with today. It was perfect and thank you for letting me share it with you.
Also: Will you dare a via ferrata with Alberto??
AMAZING! I want this 10 stars out of 5 experience with those views and wildflowers and personal guide! All the details when you get back on this one please. And thank you for the wildflower pictures! I am so curious: Is the rose daphne fragrant? I want it to have as lovely a smell as daphne odora and perfume the mountainside but I’m guessing you would have mentioned if it had. At any rate, I think daphne are poisonous to humans and some can cause skin irritation. There’s probably a Greek story about that. LOL! What a perfect day!