Nos refugiamos bajo unos árboles cerca del prado, a pesar de que ya faltaba poco para llegar al coche.

Because the verb here is refugiarse, a pronominal verb meaning to take shelter or to shelter oneself.

• refugiar = to shelter / to protect
• refugiarse = to take shelter

So:

• nos refugiamos = we took shelter
• literally, something like we sheltered ourselves

In Spanish, many verbs that describe a change in someone’s state or position are often used this way. In English we usually do not say we sheltered ourselves, but in Spanish this structure is perfectly natural.

Nos refugiamos is in the preterite because it describes a completed action: at a certain moment, we took shelter.

The sentence sets up a scene in the past:

• Nos refugiamos... = the action that happened
• faltaba poco... = the background situation at that time

This is a very common contrast in Spanish:

• preterite for the main event
• imperfect for the surrounding circumstances

So the idea is:

• We took shelter under some trees,
• even though there was little left before reaching the car.

Yes, both can relate to under, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

In this sentence:

• bajo unos árboles = under some trees

This is the most natural choice for being sheltered by something overhead.

Debajo de also means under/beneath, but it often sounds more physical or spatial, as in something directly underneath something else.

Compare:

• Nos refugiamos bajo unos árboles = natural, idiomatic
• Estaba debajo de la mesa = he/she was under the table

So bajo works very well for shelter, cover, shade, etc.

Unos árboles means some trees.

Spanish often uses an article where English might or might not. Here, unos helps present them as some particular trees nearby, not just trees in general.

Compare:

• bajo unos árboles = under some trees
• bajo árboles = under trees, more general and less natural here

So unos makes the scene sound more concrete and natural.

These are contractions:

• de + el = del
• a + el = al

So:

• cerca del prado = near the meadow
• para llegar al coche = to get to the car

These contractions are mandatory in standard Spanish whenever de or a comes before the masculine singular article el.

The only major exception is when El is part of a proper name, such as a El Escorial.

A pesar de que means even though / despite the fact that.

It introduces a full clause, because what follows has a conjugated verb:

• a pesar de que ya faltaba poco...

Compare:

• a pesar de la lluvia = despite the rain
  
  • here it is a pesar de + noun
• a pesar de llegar tarde = despite arriving late
  
  • here it is a pesar de + infinitive
• a pesar de que llovía = even though it was raining
  
  • here it is a pesar de que + conjugated verb

So the que is needed because a whole clause follows.

Faltar poco para + infinitive is a very common structure meaning:

• there is little left before...
• it won’t be long before...
• to be close to doing something

So:

• faltaba poco para llegar al coche = we were close to reaching the car
• more literally: there was little left before getting to the car

Other examples:

• Falta poco para terminar. = There’s little left to finish / We’re almost finished.
• Faltaba poco para las ocho. = It was almost eight o’clock.

This use of faltar can feel unusual to English speakers, because English does not usually say little was lacking in everyday speech, but in Spanish it is very normal.

Because faltaba poco describes an ongoing background situation, not a single completed event.

It means something like:

• there was only a little left
• we were almost there

That is why the imperfect is used:

• faltaba = it was the case that little remained

If you used faltó, it would sound more like a completed event of something being missing / lacking, which is not the intended meaning here.

So the tense contrast is:

• Nos refugiamos = the action that happened
• faltaba poco = the situation at that moment

Ya here adds the idea of already or by that point.

So:

• faltaba poco = there was little left
• ya faltaba poco = there was already little left / by then there was little left

It emphasizes that they had progressed quite far already. In English we often leave this untranslated or express it more naturally as:

• we were already close to the car
• there wasn’t much left before reaching the car

So ya adds a sense of progression.

The comma separates the main action from the concessive clause:

• Nos refugiamos bajo unos árboles cerca del prado,
• a pesar de que ya faltaba poco para llegar al coche.

This is natural punctuation in Spanish when adding extra information like even though...

It helps the sentence breathe and makes the contrast clearer:

• action: we took shelter
• contrast: even though we were already close to the car

While punctuation can sometimes vary, the comma here is very standard and natural.

Because cerca normally goes with de:

• cerca de = near
• lejos de = far from

So:

• cerca del prado = near the meadow

English speakers sometimes want to use to, but Spanish does not work that way here.

More examples:

• Vivo cerca de Madrid.
• Estábamos cerca de la estación.

So cerca de is the structure to remember.

Yes, coche is the most common everyday word for car in Spain.

In much of Latin America, people are more likely to say:

• carro
• auto

A learner of Spanish from Spain should definitely be comfortable with coche.

So in this sentence, llegar al coche sounds very natural for Peninsular Spanish.

Sometimes, yes, depending on context.

Prado usually suggests a meadow, grassy field, or pasture. It is more specific than a general campo.

So:

• prado = meadow / grassy field / pasture
• campo = countryside / field / open land

If the meaning shown to the learner says meadow, that is a very good choice. In some contexts field could work, but meadow is often closer.

Yes, that would be possible, but the nuance is slightly different.

• faltaba poco para llegar al coche = little remained before reaching the car
• estábamos a punto de llegar al coche = we were about to reach the car

Both mean they were very close, but:

• faltaba poco para... focuses on the small amount of distance/time left
• estar a punto de... focuses on being on the verge of doing something

So they are similar, but not identical. The original sentence sounds very natural and emphasizes that the car was not far away.

A useful breakdown is:

• Nos refugiamos = main action
• bajo unos árboles = where
• cerca del prado = more location detail
• a pesar de que... = contrast
• ya faltaba poco para llegar al coche = what the contrast is

So the pattern is:

[main past action] + [location] + [concession/contrast]

That is why the sentence feels like:

• first, what they did
• then, where they did it
• then, why that might seem surprising

The surprising part is that they took shelter even though they were already quite close to the car.