Farewell to the mountains

These last days we have been visiting friends to say goodbye. We went to Baqueira-Beret on Saturday and today we went skiing at our local resort: Boí-Taüll. Great weather, lots of fun!

The play in the papers

Snow man

This past weekend, our friends Albert and Rita came to visit us. The weather was great and we got busy building a snow man.

Blau gets Medieval

Today was the 8th anniversary of the designation of the Romanesque churches in the valley as a "World Heritage Site" by UNESCO.
There were celebrations in the different towns and churches, but the highlight was a re-enactment of the painting of one of the frescoes in Sant Climent de Taüll. Blau played "Griselda," the lady-in-waiting of the "Lady of Erill", who commissioned the fresco.

Snow storm

We are having a very cold November, and snow has arrived earlier than usual. Tire chains are required to drive around the mountains today.

Happy Thanksgiving / San Guivin

This morning we went up to the Aigüestortes National Park, for a hike. It was very chilly but sunny. As we were arriving to the Park, we saw a herd of wild mountain goats very high on the mountain. They were jumping madly from rock to rock. Scary...

In the evening we celebrated the holiday, Catalan style.

We have visitors!

The Homa's are here to spend Thanksgiving with us. Julia, Claire, Blau and Duna are having lots of fun together. Yesterday we went on a hike up the mountains, to Sant Quirc de Durro. It was cold! Today, Julia and Claire were guests in our school for a while.

We don't go to the library...

The Library comes to us!

Communities with less than 3,000 people are served by library buses here. This one is pretty cool. Inside, they have the picture of a very old library bus from Minnesota back in 1918.

From Barruera to Durro

This weekend we took a hike to a nearby village: Durro. The weather was perfect, but it was a long hike uphill. Our friend Aleix came with us, and he was a great guide!

Don't we look tired?

Festa de la Castanyada

Halloween is still a new thing here. The traditional way of celebrating this time of the year revolves around roasting chestnuts the eve of All Saints Day. At school, my class (Blau's, 5th and 6th grade combined) dressed up and brought roasted chestnuts to the kindergarden kids. They were thrilled. Can you guess where am I? And yes, 5th and 6th grade combined is only 6 of us. It's a small school...

Watch a slideshow here.

Kids for Obama Abroad...

The Obama campaign has two volunteers in la Vall de Boí! Blau and Duna have been busy drawing Obama 08 signs.


After dinner, it was time to plaster Barruera with them. It was cold, but fun!

Happy Halloween!

We've been ghosted twice! Thanks to the Taylor family and to an anonymous ghoster (we have a couple of suspects...). It has been the highlight of the week.

Snow is here!

It snowed today!

First snow!

Last week, there was snow in the mountains nearby. Today we could see how it snowed up in the mountains, while it rained at the foot of the valley, where we are.

Trip to Madrid

A couple of weeks ago, we took a brief trip to Madrid. We visited lots of places, including Congress:
but our favorite place was the Palacio Real.

In the afternoon we went to El Prado, and took our time to draw one of Velázquez's Meninas:

Great hike on Saturday

We went up the mountain to a small hermitage and a nearby refuge. It was a long walk, but well worth it. The views were spectacular, and to top it off, some friends were at the refuge and were grilling some delicious food when we arrived. We did not eat our sandwiches...

An afternoon hike

Today after class, we took a hike and had a picnic on a little hill. There is a great view of our town from there. Then we picked some blackberries. It's time for homework now...

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Morning in Vall de Boí

A few pictures from Barruera and neighboring towns

This is Barruera in the evening:


And this is Barruera from a mountain nearby:


Here we are having fun in Boí, another town in the same valley:

We finally have internet connection!

School started a week ago. See picture of our first day of school. It's a small but fun school, and everybody knows each other. In Duna's class there are 12 kids including her, and it's a mixed grade room (3rd and 4th).

In Blau's room (5th and 6th grade) there are six children: Guillem, Quirc, Lorena, Maria, Sandra and Blau.

Classes start at 9:00 am and go on until 1:00 pm, with a break for lunch. Then, in the afternoon we go again from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.

Goodbye everybody!

Write letters to me at:

Duna Ramos Codina
Carrer Major 24 bis, Bloc A. 2º 1ª
Barruera-Vall de Boí 25527
Spain

Goodbye! I'll miss you!

Duna

We are leaving August 25!

I will miss everybody, but I am excited to be in Spain for 4 months!

Blau

We have the tickets!

We'll be flying via Zurich. These have been the most expensive tickets ever. A taste of things to come with the weak dollar...