Anyone who has ever driven through Norway knows perfectly well that navigation apps there get their estimates spectacularly wrong: 200 km trips can easily take 4 or 5 hours, encountering heavy camper van traffic is common, and it is by no means unusual to find tunnels and bridges closed for maintenance. There are virtually no … Continue reading Municipality of Beiarn. Nordland. Norway
There was a time—distant or perhaps not so distant—when the water set the ancient machinery of the mill in motion. Pieces of hardwood, iron tempered in nearby forges, granite stones carved with great skill. In old tales, even the most ancient ones, there are millers—men and women—who live through adventures, heartbreak, betrayals, and proud deeds. … Continue reading Zarzalejo Mill
In some of those beaches that are now few and far between, with a bit of patience and luck, we can still encounter the small and elusive Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), wandering about as it carries out its endless tasks, like a tiny and restless shorebird “roadrunner.” On what I call “My Beach,” although in … Continue reading Kentish plover, the last inhabitant of the beach
Edward Osborne Wilson was a prolific biologist and entomologist who, through his studies, was able to reveal to us the most intimate and essential aspects of Homo sapiens, bringing humans evolutionarily closer to bees, termites, and ants. Eusociality is a level of organization found in some species and is characterized by the coexistence of individuals … Continue reading Spring gathering
The experts in botany, along with some satellites and a few algorithms (Nature journal, Crowther et al., 2015), estimated that there are 3.04 trillion trees on planet Earth. That means each human would “have” 375 trees. In Spain, it is estimated that there are about 7.5 billion trees (National Forest Inventory), so we would each … Continue reading Dehesa. The Living Woodland
Being close to an erupting volcano, feeling a massive sea storm, seeing a northern lights display, discovering that a book you wrote moves someone... Dreams, longings, or desires are sometimes simple, strange, childish. To touch some of them, we went back to the North. This time during the harshest winter, many days at -30°C. Yet … Continue reading The Neverland Country
Introduction Neptunite and benitoite are two classic minerals that appear in all mineralogy guides and are systematically classified within the silicate group. Their genesis is hydrothermal, associated with igneous rocks with a high content of titanium, as well as lithium and barium, which means they occur in nature only very locally and their deposits are … Continue reading Benitonitathe minerals of the San Benito County Mine, California, United States: benitoite and neptunite
We are used to seeing many phenomena around us unfold in cycles: the water cycle, the carbon cycle, solar cycles, the alternation of day and night, the seasons. We also know that during the Quaternary —the most recent geological period in Earth’s history, extending from around 2.58 million years ago to the present— there have been numerous … Continue reading Strange Landscapes
The word “pagensis” is of Latin origin and literally means “inhabitant of a pagus,” where pagus is understood as a village, district, or rural area in the Roman Empire. The term “pagensis” referred to people who lived in these territories, that is, villagers or peasants, the “payeses” or “paisanos.” From this same origin comes the … Continue reading Landscape and its people
Those of us who have had the fortune to study will no doubt remember some mediocre, dull, and obscure teacher who would merely recite, with an almost infinite lack of enthusiasm, what was written in the textbook, managing to make students instantly detest the subject and want nothing more to do with it. Yet, surely, … Continue reading Climb to Peñalara
intemperie.home.blog 