A small town in the Finnish archipielago, Nauvo/Nagu has beautiful natural scenery.
Category Archives: in english
Finnish berries
One thing that I couldn’t quite understand before I moved to Finland was the sheer amount of berries in these parts. You can pick them from the forests, from the hills and sometimes from the sides of the roads, and depending on the time of summer you will see different ones available.
The funniest thing about it all is that I’ve learned their names in Finnish, so I needed to check in Wikipedia what were their Spanish names and lo and behold, most of them were fruits I already knew, but didn’t know what their appearance was. Some examples below:
Grosella = Redcurrant = Punaviinimarja/Punaherukka
Frambuesa = Raspberry = Vadelma
Mora azul= Blueberry = Mustikka
Cowboy towards the sunset
What do you guys think of this new avatar?
Recommended book: Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller
You might have heard of peak oil, the idea explaining the point in time when we have reached the maximum amount of oil produced, after which starts a decline that affects the world as we know it (and yes, I’m using this phrase on purpose). Jeff Rubin, a Canadian economist, took the issue head-on in this book, explaining not only why in his view the current economic crisis is at its source one huge oil price shock, but also how will the world economy change once oil is not so plentiful, more expensive and there are more economies hungry for it.
Basically, what he predicts is an end to the current version of globalisation, where you have distributed value chains, cheap travel and products from all over the world at your doorstep. I don’t know about you, but even if I live more or less ecologically, use renewable energy where possible and don’t have a car, such a future would wreak havoc with my lifestyle as it would be impossible for me to find the food I want and be able to visit my family over the holidays. The subtitle of this blog is “musings from a child of globalisation” after all, isn’t it?
I think it is time to sweep this issue under the rug every time it is brought up and start thinking about what kind of innovations are needed. Who’s with me?
Nuuksio national park
Found in the outskirts of Helsinki, it is one of my favourite places to walk around between April and October. The scenery, composed of hills, lakes and woods and its almost absolute quiet and peace are of course a plus.
Hietalahdenranta
Now, really, would you believe this is in Helsinki, Finland?
Bouganvilleas at home
As you might know, I love having plants in my house, and bouganvilleas (ihmeköynnökset to my Finnish friends) are my favourites. They grow almost everywhere in Mexico and were abundant in the neighbourhood where I was raised, so they make me feel at home.
I’ve been trying to find them for a long, long time, so you can imagine my surprise when we finally got them when we were in London. They survived the flight back in our suitcases and are now enjoying the sun here in the outskirts of Helsinki. Whatever makes home more homey is welcome 😀
British Museum
I seriously wonder why is the British Museum called British at all, when it is anything but. It was awesome, however, to see all these pieces from all over the world I had read about in books for years finally live and in front of me, all in one place.
Café Tacuba in London
As part of their 20 years, 20 cities world tour Café Tacuba, my favourite Mexican band, visited this part of the world and we were there (careful with the speakers, sound level is rather high).
As you can imagine, I jumped around like a little kid, sang my heart out and was exhausted after the 2.5 hours were over. We took some more videos and pictures of the gig.
London
The last bits of our summer holiday were spent in London. Even though I had been in the city many times before, it is only the second time I’m there for leisure (if you count a 6 hour stint 9 years ago) and was the first for my wife.
The main reason to go was to attend a concert by Café Tacuba, but we also walked a lot around the city and caught up with some good friends. The photos, as usual, are in Flickr.