7-23-23 Day 5: a day of rest

Fortunately for us, most Earthwatch trips have a scheduled day of rest in the middle of the trip, and thank GOD the day of rest fell after the site 11 day!!  We apparently have the hardest hike tomorrow (site 9) so more adventure awaits…

These Earthwatch trips often take the volunteers to something cultural on the day off, and today was no exception:  Jana and Uri drove us to two museums today, both in La Massana.  The first was Casa Rull, which is a museum that consists of a home that was donated by an Andorran family.  This family was well-off, but still farmers, lived off the land and animals, and were self-sufficient in this amazingly rugged terrain.

The house was 4 stories, built into the side of the mountain (because let’s face it, there is nothing but mountains here).   The museum tour started out with a movie for background, and then we were free to wander the house, with interpretation audio available to us.  Check out the cool pictures

The second museum we went to was one describing and demonstrating the history of iron forging in the area:  the mountains are rich in iron ore, and was so famous for the product, it was actually called “the iron route in the Pyrenees”

https://ironrouteinthepyrenees.com/

We went to the iron interpretation center at Rossell Forge, and it was very well done.  Again, a pretty modern “background” film on the iron making process, and the history in the area, and then we were let loose in the actual forge itself, and then it was followed by a demonstration of the process (like, a guy heated up some form of iron ore, and then, driven by the water wheel, the giant hammer pounded out the impurities)

Check out a video of the forging process

Iron being forged

I was personally very impressed with both museums:  very modern presentation (with video, graphics, etc) of very historic places and processes.

A friend of mine who is following this blog (@buledki) sent me this link to Andorran history, as he got sidetracked delving into the weeds (he is quite the science-adjacent history major…) and I thought I’d share 😊.

https://en.topwar.ru/191069-andorra-vo-vtoroj-microvoj-vojine.html

After the two museums, we went back to the hotel for lunch, and the hotel prepared for us a very special lunch:  paella!  My friend Candace and I spent 4 days in Barcelona before traveling to Andorra, so we had had both the traditional paella, as well as the squid ink paella, and I have to say, this one that the Hotel Bringue kitchen prepared for us was the best one I had.  Highly recommend.

After a siesta, Jana and Uri drove folks down to La Vella (the capital of Andorra) and let us loose to shop, explore etc and then would pick us up a few hours later.  I was pretty drained, so I opted to stay at the hotel and work on the blog, but I have several great pictures from those who went.  Apparently Andorra is very popular for shopping, because the sales tax here is 4%, whereas in Spain it is 21% (but you kinda don’t know because it is integrated into the price…so yes, things were very cheap in Andorra)

And now, a bit of science.

When we go to a site, one of the things we do is take the SD card from camera traps.  These cameras are strapped to particular locations (on trees, pointed to an area where the scientists think animals will pass), and they record a combination of movement, and heat.

We have been going to sites at lower elevations, and then higher elevations (at the ecotone, so the tree line), and for sure there are many animals at the lower elevations, less so at the higher elevations. There was a day when we were going through the SD cards, and I had a higher elevation SD card with 2,229 pictures, only 5 animals 😩.  Apparently what can happen is on a hot day, when the wind blows, the camera thinks the blowing grass is an animal 😤

Some pictures for everyone to enjoy from the camera traps, since everyone seems to love the animals ❤️