The Torla expedition part I

As my dreams came to a close, my sore tired eyes opened. It was almost 9am on Wednesday and there was only one thing on my mind. Get out of the city. The destination was unknown and the events to take place a mystery. I had five days and a backpack. The contents: a two man tent, rain coat, a pair of paint, extra t-shirt, three pairs of socks, a few book, passport, money, toothbrush, chacos, two long sleeve shirts and a few other things.
As I began to walk towards the bus station, I smiled, for I had no idea where I was going to go. The goal was to go to the mountains and the general direction was north. So, I bought a bus ticket. While I was waiting it occurred to me that I did not have any food, so I bout some peanuts, almonds and bread. Then I had a café cortada (a shot of espresso with a little bit of hot milk) and bout a map.
I took my set on the bus and got out my lonely planet. As the bus set off I quickly fell asleep as the rocking of the bus seemed to put me into a trace. Then a sudden jarring of the bus caused my head to hit the window. This acted as a wake up call for me, because I still needed a plan. I opened my travel guide and flipped through it, El Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido was in the close proximity of where I wanted to go, so I got off the bus a little early at the small town of Sabiňanigo.
It was almost 11:30 when I arrived. The town was quiet and still. The streets we empty and the ticket office was closed until 3pm. As I took my first step outside of the bus station, it began to rain. I wandered around and found a pub in hopes of eating some lunch, but they did not have any food. So, I sat and studied my map and ordered yet another café cortada. After savoring each drop of what could be my last for a while, I headed back into the street. To my surprise, there was another guy who looked about as lost I was.
-“¿Discúlpame, pero de donde eres?” I said.
-“Yo soy de Inglaterra, ¿y tu?”
-“Soy americano”
-“ahh, good! Where are you trying to go?” he asked
-“well, I am not so sure, I was thinking of going to the National Park close to Torla”
“good, that is where I am going. But, I am going to climb Monte Perdido”
-“o yea, what is that?”
-“it’s one of the mountains in the park.”
-“Well, lets go!” I said,

It is always more fun to travel with someone, and this was no exception. His name was Huw and he had a very strong British accent. He told me that the next bus for Torla would leave tomorrow at 11am. We decided that waiting was not an option so we started walking.
The rain was still coming down and I had left my rain cover for my backpack at home. So all my stuff was getting wet and we needed to walk 17km. We tried hitch hiking for a while with no success. I spotted a gas station ahead of us, so we sought cover under the roof far a little while and I begged the men at the station to give me a trash bag so I could cover my bag. He smile and observed with curiosity as I made a makeshift rain cover for my bag and it worked rather well. With a boost of confidence I slung my pack on my back and Huw and I headed out onto the open road.
We had not made in 100 meters when the slight rain turned to a full blown down pour. Any hope of getting a ride was gone, and we walked back to the gas station only to be meet by the guy at the station with this “you stupid kid” look on his face.
-“I think we need to get a bit more aggressive in out approach” I said
-“what do you mean?” responded Huw
-“I mean, I am going to make someone look me in the cold wet face and tell me no, instead of simply driving by.”

Five minuets later we were on our way to Biescas with a group of musicians from Zaragoza. They even played AC/DC in our honor. Huw and I looked at each other and smile while shaking our heads. The plan had worked.

We found a camp site a few kilometers outside of town. After we set up out tent, a nice cold beer was the only thing on our mind, that and not being wet!