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Shopping
I used to think it was stupid to go overseas for shopping. Sometimes it can be quite fun, though. Actually, it is always interesting to
walk through a department store or grocery somewhere far from home. Most of the shops in Andorra are boring. They sell the same name-brand stuff that you can find elsewhere in the world but here it is duty free. So, we got a little caught up in the silliness and made a few purchases, passing the afternoon in various stores that line the main road through Andorra.
Driving
We didn't make it out of Andorra la Villa until about five or so. We drive up into the hills so as not to backtrack on the same road. I have to admit that is some beautiful land, if you can get out of the crowded cities. There were some ski resorts at the top before we went back into France. Filled up on cheap gas and bid farewell to Andorra.
Mataro
We headed for Barcelona, but I really didn't want to stay in the city. We picked a small town up the coast named Mataro. There seemed to only be two hotels in the town, both three star. We thought it was a little rich for our taste, but we got a good deal at the Castell de Mata, just outside of town. By this time is was quite late already and I was quite tired from more mountain driving. We vowed to stay here a couple nights to recover from our city hopping. Just as I was about to fall asleep in a bad mood, we decided to drive into town to look for food.
Restaurant
The city was totally dead at 11pm, but we managed to park somewhere on the sidewalk and get a table at one of the few establishments that was open. More pizza for me, pasta and soup for the women. I read through the sports pages, all news about the World Cup which started today. There was some cycling and auto rally news too. The NBA tournament thing didn't come until about the last page, and somehow I was happy to be away from home.
A Lesson from the Manager
The guy that seemed to be in charge of the place was a little confused by our strange Spanish at first. Somehow he brought me pasta instead of pizza too, though I think that was just a memory problem. Anyway, to make up for it, he poured us all a couple shots of Spanish Orujo de Miel, a sweet strong liquor that must have had some strange effect on the espresso I had just finished. Then he starts talking to us. I asked about the different languages in Spain, and he explained how he was from central Spain and mostly speaks Castellano, which is commonly referred to as just Spanish. However, this region has a sort of French mix known as Catalan, which is significantly different to confuse even the best Spanish speaker. It is not just a dialect, but another language. He told us about the problems with the Basques and the economy and other stuff.
Spectator Sports
Then we talked about sports. I asked if he would be going to the see any World Cup matches since it is so close, in France this year. He put it like this: In the Roman times, the rich people would all gather in stadiums to watch poor people get run over by bulls or eaten by lions. Now the tables have turned so that the poor people must pay insane amounts of money to watch rich people play. He professed that it is better to do than to watch, and I couldn't agree more. It felt good to actually understand and be understood, even though my Spanish is bad. The joy of new people and places.
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