Hello
We are Marisa and Ismael

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Lluís Companys 65, 43597 - ARNES

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+ 15 years

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Independent house and/or Rooms

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From €230 the house or €39 AD

The hosts

Marisa&Ismael

Since we were very young, the mountains have been part of our lives: walking, climbing, mountaineering, ski mountaineering, mountain biking… and it was the mountains that brought us together. All these activities have led us to get to know the natural environments of our country and many other parts of the world. With friends, in partnership or working in the case of Ismael, we have climbed the main massifs of Europe, Africa, South America, Central Asia and the Himalayas. We leave the usual job to work in a refugee or to go on an expedition.

The important thing was to spend as much time as possible in the mountains and that is why in 1991 we bought a farm in Arnes, a place where we were going to stay with the idea that one day it would be our refuge, our base camp. Until 2001 when we took the big leap. While Ismael was left with the works of the farm in Arnes, Marisa went on an expedition with her friends “Dones al Shisha, 2001” and as she will find the taste, she will repeat the experience with “Dones a l’Everest 2004”.

After overcoming the many bureaucratic hurdles and 18 months of “paperwork” we will be able to make “Lo corral d’arnes” our rural accommodation. With the experience of working in the refuge of Restanca (Aran Valley) and the knowledge of how the semi-organized mountain treks worked, we created Estels del Sud, the trek of the Els Ports massif, together with the rest of the accommodation. that form it.

Ismael

MOUNTAIN GUIDE

My passion for the mountains made me become a professional.

In 1995 I started mountain guide studies starting this new stage.

The fact of living in Arnes has made me specialize as a Port Guide, although I still occasionally work in other mountain areas of our country and especially in Nepal, my adopted country.

The guide “Estels del Sud“, the crossing of the Ports massif and other circular crossings” by Editorial Piolet is a sample of my relationship with the natural environment of Els Ports, which has so many possibilities.

I also worked with the re-equipment of the climbing area of the Arnes Straits and the opening of some routes, among others: “Dandruff and cavities, “I’m not coming back here”. The “Return of the Inquisition” and “Tibetan Salshishes”, opened in 2001 days before the “Women to the Shisha” expedition marched into Nepal.

The work of Mountain Guide is closely linked to the passion for the whole natural environment that surrounds us, environmental education is an important part of our work. The butterflies have always been my weakness, and the one that will begin with a hobby (well, look, it will start with a hobby), from 2005 will become an important part of my day to day. The follow-up of the butterflies that fly to the Estrets d’Arnes and to the Monsagres in the Parc Natural dels Ports, within the program of the CBMS and the collaborations with the Tècnic de Fauna especialitzat en Ropalòcers (Durnal Butterflies), has been a gift more than the nature has given me

Marisa

MASTER ARTISAN WEAVER AND DYER
I studied Pedagogy while working in a company with a fixed job and where I hated it miserably.

Around the age of 28, I wanted to learn how to make tapestries so that I could do an activity that would fill me up, since my job didn’t.

was at the School of Arts and Crafts of the Diputació de Barcelona where I plunged into the world of textiles, and where, in addition to making tapestries and mats using the vertical or high lliç loom, I discovered other techniques such as the horizontal or low lliç loom with which the most clothing pieces are woven (scarves, shawls, clothes…).

I also discovered the world of natural dyes (a technique that I had to put aside because I lived in Barcelona), and above all, thanks to my two teachers, I realized the pleasure of creativity.

Those 4 years of study also helped me to discover that it is useful to study what really motivates you.

When we decided to carry out the project of “escaping” from Barcelona and creating a rural tourism lodge to make a radical change in life, it became clear that it was also the opportunity to turn the textile trade into a profession, and to put into practice the use of natural dyes.

The choice of the place will not be fortuitous, the mountains of Els Ports, the possibilities of its paths and its rocks, will be what will make us decide in the town of Arnes.
Els Ports, wild nature, is an inexhaustible source of dyeing plants and inspiration, a place that sets the perfect rhythm for this craft and for living life, the leisurely rhythm of the seasons.