Marimer Pérez: "The landscape seemed magical to me"

Nine years ago, Doctor Marimer Pérez, founder and director of the integral women's health and care center WoMer, went to Cerdanya for the first time. “The landscape surprised me, I had never seen it before," she explains. "For someone from Madrid like me, who comes from inland landscapes, these mountains surrounded by so much vegetation seem magical.” The gynecologist and obstetrician associates Cerdanya with many first times of pleasant experiences, which have since marked her life. That first visit coincided with the beginning of the relationship with his partner, Jorge. Back then, he also met Thor and Quercus, the Pyrenean mountain dogs, who have since passed away, but with whom he took countless walks and discovered many of the places he still visits, now with Coffee, who is of the same breed. “Besides, you can take dogs into most establishments here, which makes everything quite a bit easier,” he comments.They take advantage of the weekends to go there and, if they can, they also take advantage of long weekends, “always provided that the births allow it,” she points out, and recalls that more than once they have had to rush to Barcelona and leave everything as it was at home because there was a birth: “That happens, you can’t go too far, you never know when there might be an emergency. It’s the life of an obstetrician”. The green, the climate with the cool nights or sudden showers, the snow in winter, learning to ski or the fireplace, are some of the things she associates with Cerdanya and likes so much. She is also enchanted by the smell of nature and the silence. She assures that coming from a city like Barcelona, the change is brutal, the pace drops suddenly. "It's a close disconnection, without being a remote place, and very real," she affirms. "Here, Coffee doesn't have to dodge cars or stop at traffic lights, and can walk freely." It is also a place that invites outdoor sports, the paths are conditioned, the routes well indicated and you can choose between various difficulty levels. "I cycle a lot. This not having to lock yourself up in places to follow an exercise routine seems wonderful to me. And with skiing I progress adequately, I have dared with some red slopes," she says satisfied.Now that he has been living in Catalonia for half his life, he is not so surprised, but at first he was struck by the fact that most Barcelonans vacationed in the same places, Cerdanya and Costa Brava. He says that in practice this means he meets a lot of patients at the supermarket in Puigcerdà, and admits that he finds it practical: “We have a very good relationship. We take advantage of these coincidences to meet up, each aisle becomes an improvised meeting space, it's fantastic. At the supermarket we meet to go out for dinner”.