This Place is Andorra-ble!!!

Andorra is the 16th smallest country on earth and the 6th smallest in Europe. It is situated right between France and Spain along the southern peak of the Pyrenees Mountains. We figured a tiny unique place like that definitely deserved a tiny bit of our time! So, with Lou Mei and Josh in tow, we bussed our way up there and settled in the village of La Massana. We stayed in a secret little hostel and made fast friends with other travelers. We had dinner at the most adorable little crepe restaurant, and it was like having Christmas in a gingerbread house, very festive and frilly.

That night we scoured our phones in search of a good hiking spot but nothing seemed to be what we were looking for. Then, like a rock hurtling out of the mist, a memory smacked me in the psyche. A memory of road trips past, I remembered the cramped backseat of the car, me, my car sick brother and babbling baby sister all squished together, desperate for wide open spaces. But when the chance finally came for our seatbelts to unclip I found myself not at the lake, but forced to stand in a room full of maps! I am talking of course about the dreaded, dull tourist information center.

I see now that I was an idiot child. Tourist information centers are not boring, they are shining beacons of rebellion! Who needs google when you can talk to a real person who knows all about the place you're visiting! We went the next day to the information center and got so much insight about the area we were in. I was really happy we took advantage of that resource because it was much more personal and informative. Just goes to show technology does not always have the best answer. We found a perfect hike, that led us to a tiny body of water almost on top of a mountain. We had lunch, and Ryan and I hiked further up to dunk our heads in the highest waterfall we could find. We also found some very sweet mountain ponies, I know my mom's heart would have melted to see. The hike was steep and beautiful, it almost reminded me a little of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque but far more vast and colorful! Andorra is not a place I was even vaguely aware of about an hour before I bought a ticket to visit it, but I'm glad we checked it out. While there have been some things on this trip I wish I'd planned a little better, I'm so glad I kept a lot of my time open because it has allowed for excursions such as this. 🇦🇩💌