Accustomed to traveling all over Catalonia for work, photographer Joel Codina has found it difficult to choose his favorite spot. It was after considering where he feels most comfortable or why he returns, that he decided on Salardú. Four years ago, he established the tradition of going alone for a week: "I don't do it to find myself or hug trees, I just felt like it, it's an opportunity to be in a different way, and I've realized that I need it." He recalls the first time he went there, when he was working at the Department of Research and Universities, on an outing to Viella and Salardú, the whole team stayed at the hotel where he returns every year. "I like to go to a place that isn't foreign to me and where I know I'll have a wonderful time."There he completely changes his environment. Used to a job with tension, noise, and many people, it's hard to disconnect. He always stays at the Hotel Deth País, where he usually meets a group of friends. Last year he met a Basque retired couple who have been going there for thirty years: “They don't leave the Aran Valley, they know everything. It was a luxury to do some excursions together.” Sometimes he chooses to be alone and other times accompanied, and he tries to go when the Dansàneu Festival is celebrated, to enjoy some of the shows. He loves not having any obligation or prediction of how the day will be, if he can he goes for a walk, heads towards Montgarri, to see a lake or to Les. He improvises.  Explica that Salardú is like many of the towns in the area: narrow streets and stone houses, in an exceptional natural environment with the mountain, the river, the fountain and a strange and pleasant sensation at the same time; a foreign place that feels familiar: “Visually it takes me away from my day-to-day, which takes place mostly in Barcelona”. In Salardú, his life takes place in the mountains, the swimming pool and the bars or restaurants where he eats, three basic parameters that disconnect him from the usual stress and agitation, going up and down all day, covering two, three and four acts. This simplification gives him peace of mind, his head is carefree, he knows that if it's not one street, it will be the next one or the one beyond. A simplicity that he finds tempting to the point that he considers the possibility of moving there. He often goes with his camera: “Instead of photographing books, presentations, politicians or events, I photograph nature that takes me somewhere else”. However, always in summer, he doesn't like the winter atmosphere, he says snow and he are not friends. When he was young he tried skiing and hasn't repeated: “They propose me getaways or excursions in the snow with snowshoes, but it doesn't appeal to me. I'm more of heat and sun”.