The third day of our undergraduate field course in Andalucia took us to the villages of Otivar and Jete in the Valle Tropical to the north of Almunécar. It provided a vivid reminder that geography is about all of the senses:
- sights: the mountains, valleys, diversity of crops (from chirimoyas and bananas to vines and beans), tourist apartments, hang gliders…
- sounds: birds, goats, dogs, children at school, cars driving along the motorway cutting across the valley…
- tastes: the local wine, solomillo de cerdo (in the great Buena Vista restaurant in Otivar), asparagus in vegetable broth with bits of ham
- smells: wild lavender and fennel; burning rubbish…
- touch: steering wheels, the roughness of the schist and avocado skins
Thanks Mike and Alex
Tim Unwin's Blog 