5 Days in Borreda

In case you didn’t know, in Spain during the month of August everyone shuts down and goes on vacation; that’s how it was when I was young, and to an extent it continues, however, due to the recession, most people can’t afford to go away for the entire month, many don’t even go anywhere, they simply take time off from work. So those who have managed to still be in business shut down for a week or two. 

It took me a couple of weeks just to get used to businesses closing in the middle of the day; so you better be sure that you have all your ingredients for the sumptuous meal your about to prepare, cause if you forgot anything you’re S.O.L.

So Renfe, the train company shut down most of their stations downtown Barcelona in order to do some improvements, which meant you would need to take the Metro or Ferrocarrils Catalans to connect in between. Dogs are allowed on trains, but not on any other public transport, so getting around with Wilbur was not possible without a little help.

The previous week I went to visit Esther in Roda, and left Wilbur behind with Edward overnight, but last week Edward dropped us off at Sants station so we could take the train to Ripoll, where Maite, a very dear high school friend met us, as this was the closest, half an hour to Borreda (in the Bergueda region), the town town of her mental release for the last 20 years, which has been her husband’s family getaway for the last 50 years.

She had told me awhile back that I would understand the reason of their decision to become dangerously loaded with a mortgage once I saw this place. As Xavi’s other family, brother, sister and all their kids just got too big for one house, and the two of them couldn’t bear the thought of letting go of this old house...could you?

Maite is one of two very old, very dear friends that are truly akin to me, much like those new friends in my river Ebro experience, knowledgeable, concerned and acting to better our environment; so you can imagine we have plenty to talk about, so much so, that a couple of times we caught ourselves not leaving the kitchen for hours on end, while Xavi was busy cleaning and fixing the outdoor shed.

But our late afternoon, early evening hikes were totally awesome, we kept heading along one river or other so both Wilbur and Roc could play along the way jumping in and out of the water, so we didn’t need to worry about them getting hot or thirsty.

Our mood was high-lit by delicious cookies, brownies and a blackberry cheesecake of which we used the special ingredient butter we had prepared early on.

I had a hard time leaving this place and my friends, and I hope to go back sometime soon.