Active Adventures provided a wonderful blend of culture, hiking, kayaking, and mountain biking along with incredible scenery. Our blend of guides which included Holly, our Kiwi connection, Jean Marc, our French guide, and Boi, our Catalonian driver and food gatherer extraordinaire were fun, extremely knowledgeable, and very committed to the enjoyment of our trip. Taking a day to kayak in the middle of the trip and then a day for light mountain biking at the conclusion gave different perspectives of the area and a much needed rest to tired muscles. Jean Marc had a wealth of stories and details about the region and cultures that added depth to the beauty of each hike. He quite frequently took the 'road less traveled' to ensure that we were as alone on the trail as we could be. Our food in each location was of each region and excellent. One of my absolute favorite aspects of the trip was our daily lunches. Boi would procur items from each area; breads, cheeses, meats, spreads, etc and we would each take an item in our own pack. Holly and Jean Marc would then take other items like homemade salads, special condiments, or spreads. We'd hike to a spot and eat a wonderful picnic of essentially tapas at a Refugio or on a mountainside. My biggest regret is that they didn't keep a list of the things we ate so I could possibly find them at home. It was delicious and beautiful dining with glorious views of the mountains. Holly was certainly our caretaker. You'd never know it as she was delightful, fun, knowledgeable, and never seemed to tire. She packs a good snowball too. With all of that, she took good care of making things work, of being sure the guests were comfortable, and that life went smoothly. I'd travel with her anytime. One last thing, I like the guest limit that we had. There were eight of us and it was a good sized group. It was fun to meet new people but it wasn't so large that you either felt like a herd on the trail or that being at the front of the pack was imperative. Well done!

| January 1970