What a day

Today we walked over 20 miles for 9 straight hours in the ice and snow leading four horses up and down two mountains. It was probably the most dangerous day of either of our lives. Luckily Ivan realised (finally) that it was getting too dark to walk the horses through the woods so we left them in a field and took a cab back here. Tomorrow we think it's only 12 miles roundtrip to bring them the rest of the way. Ivan says it will take 2 hours. Ha!

Two days until we leave here...
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Cleaning and Noel

Today was a long day. We tackled the kitchen, which was at such an advanced state of dirtiness at the outset that it felt distinctly unsatisfying at the end. After 4 hours of concentrated scrubbing, there remain many grimy spots. As Ed put it so nicely, "it's like trying to clean out a puddle."

One big thing that we have forgotten to mention is our Christmas experience in Europe so far. Now that it's less than 2 weeks away we have of course been thinking about it, though sadly we haven't really had any exposure to the joys of commercial Christmas. We are trying to accustom ourselves to the idea that we're not really having a Christmas this year, since it will just be the two of us in a hotel and we don't even know where yet. We are okay with that though it is sad, too. They only have one little string of greens here at the farm; they're going away for Christmas this year so they aren't going to decorate. They have a very lovely advent calendar, though, which consists of small gold-wrapped presents dangling with red ribbon from the greens that are strung along the exposed beams in the ceiling. Very pretty to look at and every day the gift has a different person's name. So far Ed has received a truffle and a burned CD and Marisa has received chocolates and a special pen. It's a nice idea and was very thoughtful for them to include us, so at least our one and only Christmas exposure has been a good one.

Tomorrow, rumor has it that we have to wake up between 5 and 6 to drive to some place "in the high mountains" where Ivan keeps some of his horses and then we are going to walk back to Cavalus (all the way down "the high mountain" and back up this one) leading said horses. We can't get anyone to tell us exactly how far it is but supposedly it will take all day, which is why we have to leave so early. Considering that it will be us, Ivan, and The Spaniard, there is a good chance that the entire day will pass with fewer than 10 words spoken. So another fun day is in store. Though on the bright side, the weather has been incredible here lately - there was snow on Monday and every day since has been cold but bright and wonderfully sunny so it's fun to be outside where everything looks clean and sparkly - so it may be an enjoyable day after all.

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The French Connection

So much to say and we don't know where to start! We seem to have left the blackberry charger behind somewhere in our travels, so when the battery died last week we were incommunicado for several days until we received a new one from Cathy/mom - thank you!!

So now... Where to begin? We are still at the horse farm Cavalus in the French Pyrenees. They have a website so you can google Cavalus for pictures if you're interested. It has been quite an experience. In all honesty and fairness, we can't actually say that it has been bad. But we can make it clear that it has not been our favorite place to stay. On the upside, it is an absolutely beautiful location. 360 degree views of the mountains and a lovely rustic farmhouse and plenty of lovely horses. Based on location and ambiance alone, it is fantastic and we are glad to have been here just for that.

On the downside. If you look up "The Boonies" or "backwater" in the dictionary, you will find Cavalus. The greatest insult they throw around here is: "est-ce que vous etes un espece de parisien?" or "are you some type of Parisian?" The Pyrenees have no relation to Paris whatsoever. Ivan's son (we call him Bobbin; real name unknown) lives in a small house up the road (why??) and has no job. Apparently no one here finds it necessary to be employed. He asked us whether most people in Boston work during the week or not - and was interested to hear that the answer was yes!! We can't quite figure out how they survive up here, though it is quite clear that one requirement for the survival of the population is the death of the trees. We have cut down 3 trees in the last 4 days and chopped them up into firewood, which Nien says will last one week. We think she's exaggerating but since their entire (huge - functions as a guesthouse and sleeps 15 people) house is heated only by wood fires, it may not be too far from the truth. To give you a slightly clearer picture: Bobbin and his girlfriend are moving OUT of their house for the winter and into a "Mongolian tent" which they are buying and plan to set up on a hand-constructed wooden platform higher in the mountains, purposely accessible only by foot. Apparently the word for this neo-hippie-ism is "baba-cool". Our guess is that they'll be baba-freezing in January without a heater. Or baba-asphyxiating from trying to start a fire in their tent.

Aside from this slightly antisocial oddness, everyone is pretty nice, though Ivan prefers not to talk (we've sat through two painful lunches with him during which no one said a word) and Nien is, well, bizarre. She told us about her "very, very avant-garde" school in Amsterdam (of course) where she learned all about how to express her internal emotions through external movements and where they "did such intense body work" that she needed therapy afterwards. It's all a bit of a circus here.

The work has been fine, we just wish there was a bit more of it. We usually spend the morning busy; from 9 to 1 we have been either gathering and chopping wood, building fences, or tracking down horses that escape at least once per week. (Aside: why we don't just fix the broken fence that allows them to escape time after time is a mystery). This work is pleasant enough, though at times wrought with danger because Ivan wears no protective gear and swings the chainsaw like he's doing a do-si-do, and the ax broke today so that a hard enough swing would send the blade flying off the top of the handle, but we use it anyway. At 1ish we stop whatever we're doing to have lunch, often leaving wood on the tractor or tools in the pasture, and then we do nothing for 2 hours. The Spaniard has a siesta and Ivan disappears. We usually take a walk and feed the horses to pass the time. Some days we do work again in the evening, but lately most days we don't. We just leave the wood on the tractor and the tools in the field overnight and instead of working, have nothing at all to do. The bad part of this is that it is infuriating, since we have yet to finish a single project and the horses continue to escape while the wood for their fence sits by the side of the road half a mile away. The good part is that it gives us plenty of time to run every day.

In addition to that enjoyable farmwork, Nien has also delegated to us some household jobs. Sweeping and dishes we do not mind. It is, however, somewhat demoralizing to clean someone else's bathroom. And today she asked us to spend one day before we leave cleaning the kitchen. Like really cleaning it. As she said, "it's nice for this to be done at the end of every year" since it is never done otherwise. We have to pull appliances away from the walls to clean the backs of them, clean out the refrigerator (yuck), use a hands-and-knees scrub brush on the floor, and get "all those icky places way back in the corners that nobody ever wants to do." The crowning glory is that we also have to wash all of the walls, ceiling to floor, with soap and a sponge, including the grease-soaked untreated-wood window frames. She was going to have us repaint the walls and ceiling but luckily the store didn't have the right paint. And it's not that the house is dirty, persay, but this morning the cat caught a big rat in the living room. While we were sitting there. It then brought it up onto the couch next to Marisa. Now, we don't want to be ungrateful, since these people are allowing us to stay in their house and eat their food, but doesn't it seem as though they're maybe taking advantage of our inability to say no, just a little bit? We will clean the disgusting kitchen, but we're not too happy about it.

On a lighter note, here is a list of interesting foods we've eaten here so far - keep in mind that "interesting" can go either way: lots of quiches and tarts, escargot (chewy), lamb hearts (also chewy), "ze pizza" (love the accent), remarkably delicious butter, crepes with sugar, crepes with cheese, crepes with nutella, pate (on the table at every meal), and anchovies (Europeans love their anchovies). Quite a mix of good and bad, no?

Think that about catches you up on our adventures here in France. Looking forward to Barcelona next week!

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