Im now sitting in the apartment from Sergio and Jeronimo in Escaldes close to Andorra de Vella (capital of Andorra).
How did I get here? Hitchhiking, but I was cheating a little on the way here from Perpignon. But lets start from the beginning.
I left Milan on the 10th of June and hoped that I would get to Andorra by the 12th. Indeed it worked out very well. The start was problematic, since it is always difficult to get away from big cities like Milano. I took placed myself on the first petrol station on the A8 towards Genova, that could be reached by public transport and walking. The first car stopped after five hours but wanted to go the wrong way. After about 6 hours a "Specialista in Neuologia" stopped and saved the day. From 5pm to 10pm I made it from Milan all the way to Nizza. It's amazing how you experience yourself during the time of waiting... becoming impatient or staying calm and content, smiling to car drivers or being annoyed that nobody smiles back, sitting on my "Holy Stuhl" walking around, waiting at the exits or asking around... these and many more tell you more about yourself. I like doing it since the outcome is literally always better than expected. What you experience while hitchiking is impossible by using public transport. After I was taken the first by the doctor (whom I have to send the address of my blog... he regrets never having done much travel when he was young (functions as reinforcement for oneself)). The second was a lorry driver from Marrocco. He was doing his job for 20 years but seemed content. We spoke a mix of Spanish, Italian and French... wherever I found the appropriate words. Before dropping me off he wished me good luck and gave me a chocolate (kind heart). After waiting another hour and expecting that I would have to stay on the petrol station without an option to sleep anywhere (fence and mountains) another lorry driver picked me up. He was Hungarian and used to be a DJ, cool huh.
He drove me even further than Nizza to Frejus and dropped me at a station where he picked me up the next morning. I slept in the woods nearby
The morning consisted of being taken to Perpignan from where I wanted to hitchhike to Andorra while listening to techno. In Perpignan it went pretty bad and I gave it up around 5pm and took a bus to the city center where I booked into a youth hostel. There I was able to get and overview of how to reach Andorra, which turned out to be really difficult. Not many people drive there at all since the country has ONLY 80.000 inhabitants *lol* After taking a train half way I had to change to bus coz they were working on the tracks. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding, so I left the bus too early and would have to wait 3-4 hours for the next one aaaaaaah... since I thought I would get another connection to Andorra by then I decided to use the time for hitchhiking, which worked out pretty well. After 30mins 3 young Frenchies took me all the way to Andorra, where they wanted to buy cigarettes and alcohol. Our conversations were funny, as they spoke no English and only little Spanish. So 3 Frenchies and 1 German tried to converse with one another with some basic Spanish. It worked out and was fun. After doing all purchases they drove me another 40 km to Escaldes, where I met Burgi and his hosts. It was even more fun from then onwards, since Sergio and Jeronimo were happy to welcome the guys I just met, thus we had a bigger gathering in their flat. During night we had some drinks and went dancing. I don't wanna describe that in all detail, because it's too much. But to sum it up... being open can give you so much in life... meeting so many random people and blablabla that it is mindboggling or perhaps harmful to be fearful and closeminded as it deprives you of soooo many incredible experiences you love thinking back to once you're older.
OK... what's up now? Sergio is cooking and I'm gonna make or go and buy a salad now... let's see.
Burgi and me are gonna start walking a day later, meaning tomorrow because I have to salt some stuff out and look how I can help a friend from India (see mail above... it's sickening and saddening).
Greets to you all!!!
Don Felipe :)
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