Note: Today begins the first of the April A-Z challenge. See Running a Small Country for more details.
Fast Facts
- Named for: The “Andosins” i.e. Big People or Water People or “land covered with bushes” or “the wild valleys of hell” as in Andor in the Bible. That is, nobody really knows.
- Long/Lat: 42.30 N/1.30 E. 6,000 miles east of Castro Valley, 10 hours.
- Population: 89,000 or 1.3 Castro Valleys
- Size: 467 sq mi or 30 Castro Valleys
- Avg temp in April: 55 F, very similar to CV
- Median income: 28,000€ ($30k)
- Ethnicity: 35% Spanish, 32% Andorran, 10% Portuguese
- Main industries: Tourism, Banking (tax haven)
Andorra is a carve-out in the Pyrenees, the mountain border separating France and Spain, a roundish dot, balancing the stability between those two large personalities. It’s far larger than my Castro Valley, but more sparsely populated. That’s due to the mountains: average elevation is 6500 ft. Mountains mean ski resorts, which explains the 20 millions of tourists per year, 117 tourists per inhabitant.
It’s also a tax haven, meaning taxes so low that international companies are headquartered there. Nothing like wealthy people skiing after they’ve finished their banking. Meanwhile, the people serving them coffee earn a pittance. Same as it ever was.
