Spanish Stories

    A2Moderate · 6 min read · 603 words

    El cuaderno del refugio

    The Mountain Hut Notebook

    On a day hike to a remote refuge in the Pyrenees, a man stumbles on a decades-old notebook entry written by his father, long before he was born, and finally answers the wish written inside it.

    Topics

    • nature
    • family
    • hiking
    • discovery

    Tap or hover any underlined word for its English meaning.

    Listen to the story

    Learner-paced · Spanish

    What you'll encounter

    Grammar
    Pluperfect (había pasado, había escrito, había contado), Preterite vs. imperfect in narration, Direct/indirect object pronouns (lo abrió, le enseñó), Time expressions (mucho antes de, cuarenta años después)
    Vocabulary
    Mountain and hiking vocabulary (refugio, excursionista, pico), Family and memory vocabulary, Expressions of surprise and emotion
    Language skills
    Narrating a quiet personal discovery, Understanding a message written by another character, Connecting a past event to a present feeling

    Javier llevaba toda la vida escuchando historias sobre las montañas donde su padre, Ernesto, había pasado gran parte de su juventud. Pero, hasta ese fin de semana de septiembre, nunca había subido él mismo a un de los Pirineos.

    Show English
    Javier had spent his whole life listening to stories about the mountains where his father, Ernesto, had spent much of his youth. But until that September weekend, he himself had never hiked up to a refuge in the Pyrenees.

    La excursión había sido idea de su amiga Sonia, que llevaba años haciendo rutas de montaña y quería enseñarle uno de sus caminos favoritos. Salieron temprano, con las mochilas cargadas de agua y bocadillos, y caminaron durante casi cinco horas entre bosques de hayas y praderas altas antes de llegar al refugio: una construcción de piedra pequeña y , pensada solo para pasar la noche o de una tormenta.

    Show English
    The trip had been his friend Sonia's idea; she had spent years hiking mountain trails and wanted to show him one of her favorite routes. They set out early, backpacks loaded with water and sandwiches, and walked for almost five hours through beech forests and high meadows before reaching the refuge: a small stone building with no warden, meant only for spending the night or sheltering from a storm.

    Dentro, además de unas de madera y una cocina vieja, encontraron sobre una mesa un cuaderno grueso y , con las tapas casi . Sonia le explicó que era costumbre, en muchos refugios de montaña, dejar un cuaderno así. Los escribían allí su paso: la fecha, sus nombres, algún comentario sobre el camino o el tiempo.

    Show English
    Inside, besides some wooden bunks and an old stove, they found on a table a thick, worn notebook, its covers nearly falling off. Sonia explained that it was customary, in many mountain refuges, to leave a notebook like that. Hikers would write down their visit there: the date, their names, some comment about the trail or the weather.

    Javier lo abrió con curiosidad y empezó a pasar páginas llenas de letras diferentes: mensajes de grupos de amigos, familias enteras, parejas que habían subido allí en su . Algunas páginas eran de hacía apenas unos meses; otras, según los años escritos, tenían más de treinta.

    Show English
    Javier opened it with curiosity and began flipping through pages full of different handwriting: messages from groups of friends, whole families, couples who had come up there on their honeymoon. Some pages were from just a few months earlier; others, judging by the years written down, were more than thirty years old.

    Se rió con un mensaje de dos niños que habían escrito, con letra torcida, que habían visto una gigante (dibujada, por si acaso, al lado). Un poco más adelante, encontró la firma de una pareja que decía haber subido allí cada año, desde su boda hasta sus .

    Show English
    He laughed at a message from two children who had written, in crooked letters, that they'd seen a giant marmot (drawn, just in case, right next to it). A little further on, he found the signature of a couple who claimed to have hiked up there every year, from their wedding all the way to their silver anniversary.

    Fue pasando las páginas hacia atrás, casi sin buscar nada en concreto, cuando un nombre : Ernesto Aguirre. Se quedó quieto un momento, sin poder creerlo, y miró la fecha: agosto de 1985.

    Show English
    He was flipping through the pages backward, without really looking for anything in particular, when a name caught his attention: Ernesto Aguirre. He froze for a moment, unable to believe it, and looked at the date: August 1985.

    «Sonia, mira esto», dijo, con la voz un poco rara. Le enseñó el cuaderno. Su padre, con una letra más joven y más rápida que la que Javier recordaba, había escrito: «Hemos llegado después de perdernos dos veces. Mañana intentamos el . Si algún día tengo un hijo, espero traerlo aquí para enseñarle esto mismo.»

    Show English
    "Sonia, look at this," he said, his voice sounding a little strange. He showed her the notebook. His father, in handwriting younger and quicker than the one Javier remembered, had written: "We got here after getting lost twice. Tomorrow we're going for the peak. If I ever have a son, I hope to bring him here to show him this very thing."

    Javier leyó la frase varias veces. Su padre nunca le había contado ese viaje en concreto, entre tantas otras historias de montaña que sí le había contado mil veces. Y, sin embargo, allí estaba, escrito mucho antes del nacimiento de Javier, un deseo que nunca se había cumplido del todo: su padre había dejado de subir montañas después de un problema de rodilla, cuando Javier todavía era demasiado pequeño para acompañarlo.

    Show English
    Javier read the line several times. His father had never told him about that particular trip, among so many other mountain stories he had told him a thousand times. And yet, there it was, written long before Javier was even born, a wish that had never fully come true: his father had stopped climbing mountains after a knee problem, back when Javier was still too young to go with him.

    Esa noche, mientras Sonia preparaba la cena en el pequeño , Javier se quedó un rato más mirando la página. Pensó en llamar a su padre esa misma noche, pero recordó que allí arriba no había . Decidió esperar hasta bajar.

    Show English
    That night, while Sonia made dinner on the little camping stove, Javier stayed a while longer looking at the page. He thought about calling his father that same night, but remembered there was no signal up there. He decided to wait until they came down.

    Antes de dormir, cogió un bolígrafo y escribió, justo debajo del mensaje de su padre, una nueva línea: «Cuarenta años después, su hijo ha llegado hasta aquí. Gracias, papá, por querer traerme, aunque fue solo con esta frase.» Firmó con su nombre y la fecha.

    Show English
    Before going to sleep, he picked up a pen and wrote, right below his father's message, a new line: "Forty years later, his son made it here. Thank you, Dad, for wanting to bring me, even if it was only with this sentence." He signed it with his name and the date.

    Dos días después, ya en casa, le contó a su padre lo que había encontrado. Ernesto se quedó en silencio un momento largo y después sonrió, algo que Javier no le veía hacer muy a menudo. «Ese verano fue uno de los mejores de mi vida», dijo finalmente. «Me alegra saber que, al final, sí llegaste.»

    Show English
    Two days later, back home, he told his father what he had found. Ernesto stayed silent for a long moment and then smiled, something Javier didn't see him do very often. "That summer was one of the best of my life," he said finally. "I'm glad that, in the end, you did make it."
    Show English translation

    Javier had spent his whole life listening to stories about the mountains where his father, Ernesto, had spent much of his youth. But until that September weekend, he himself had never hiked up to a refuge in the Pyrenees.

    The trip had been his friend Sonia's idea; she had spent years hiking mountain trails and wanted to show him one of her favorite routes. They set out early, backpacks loaded with water and sandwiches, and walked for almost five hours through beech forests and high meadows before reaching the refuge: a small stone building with no warden, meant only for spending the night or sheltering from a storm.

    Inside, besides some wooden bunks and an old stove, they found on a table a thick, worn notebook, its covers nearly falling off. Sonia explained that it was customary, in many mountain refuges, to leave a notebook like that. Hikers would write down their visit there: the date, their names, some comment about the trail or the weather.

    Javier opened it with curiosity and began flipping through pages full of different handwriting: messages from groups of friends, whole families, couples who had come up there on their honeymoon. Some pages were from just a few months earlier; others, judging by the years written down, were more than thirty years old.

    He laughed at a message from two children who had written, in crooked letters, that they'd seen a giant marmot (drawn, just in case, right next to it). A little further on, he found the signature of a couple who claimed to have hiked up there every year, from their wedding all the way to their silver anniversary.

    He was flipping through the pages backward, without really looking for anything in particular, when a name caught his attention: Ernesto Aguirre. He froze for a moment, unable to believe it, and looked at the date: August 1985.

    "Sonia, look at this," he said, his voice sounding a little strange. He showed her the notebook. His father, in handwriting younger and quicker than the one Javier remembered, had written: "We got here after getting lost twice. Tomorrow we're going for the peak. If I ever have a son, I hope to bring him here to show him this very thing."

    Javier read the line several times. His father had never told him about that particular trip, among so many other mountain stories he had told him a thousand times. And yet, there it was, written long before Javier was even born, a wish that had never fully come true: his father had stopped climbing mountains after a knee problem, back when Javier was still too young to go with him.

    That night, while Sonia made dinner on the little camping stove, Javier stayed a while longer looking at the page. He thought about calling his father that same night, but remembered there was no signal up there. He decided to wait until they came down.

    Before going to sleep, he picked up a pen and wrote, right below his father's message, a new line: "Forty years later, his son made it here. Thank you, Dad, for wanting to bring me, even if it was only with this sentence." He signed it with his name and the date.

    Two days later, back home, he told his father what he had found. Ernesto stayed silent for a long moment and then smiled, something Javier didn't see him do very often. "That summer was one of the best of my life," he said finally. "I'm glad that, in the end, you did make it."

    Vocabulary in this story

    refugio
    mountain hut/refuge
    sin guarda
    unmanned / without a warden
    resguardarse
    take shelter
    literas
    bunk beds
    gastado
    worn
    despegadas
    coming unstuck
    excursionistas
    hikers
    luna de miel
    honeymoon
    marmota
    marmot
    bodas de plata
    silver wedding anniversary
    le llamó la atención
    caught his attention
    pico
    mountain peak
    hornillo
    camping stove
    cobertura
    phone signal
    Comprensión(check what you understood)

    Answer a few quick questions about the story. This is just for you: there's no account or score saved.

    1. ¿Por qué subió Javier al refugio de los Pirineos?
    2. ¿Qué encontró Javier dentro del refugio?
    3. ¿Qué había escrito el padre de Javier en el cuaderno en 1985?
    4. ¿Qué hizo Javier antes de dormir esa noche?