¿La Antártida?Antartica?

Vale. Todo este tiempo hemos intentado engañaros para que creyérais que aquí se estaba bien y calentito (véanse las entradas sobre el Parque Acuático y el paseo en barca por el río) con la esperanza de no asustar a alguien que pudiera estar considerando visitarnos. Sin embargo, y dado que ya parace evidente que nadie va a venir (sí, ya... la crisis económica, en fin), no hay necesidad de mentir. No hay que aparentar más que aquí no es invierno... Así que, ¿queréis saber cómo es realmente este sitio glacial? ¿Queréis reiros de nosotros? ¡Adelante, no os cortéis! ¡Disfrutad! :-S

All right. All this time we have been trying to fool you guys into believing that here it was warm and comfy (see the posts about the Waterpark and the river raft ride) in the hope that we would not scare some of you who might be considering visiting us. However, now that is pretty much clear that no one is coming (yeah, we know... the economic crisis, whatever), there is no need to lie. No more pretending it is not Winter here... So, do you want to see what this frigid place is really like? Do you want to laugh at us? Please do, you are welcome! Enjoy! :-S

Muy bien, ¿por qué no empezamos con una foto chula del tipo de abominables predicciones meteorológicas que tenemos aquí? Al principio nos espantábamos al ver los números bajar y bajar a medida que el tiempo pasaba... pero bueno, la parte buena es que ahora cualquier cosa por encima de -15ºC nos parece buenísimo, y si ya superamos los -10ºC entonces hasta sentimos que se está calentito (¡no es coña!) Los números de arriba son las temperaturas máximas esperadas para una día dado, mientras que los números de abajo (Min.) son las temperaturas mínimas. Y así es, esa semana en particular nuestras temperaturas el domingo y lunes se movieron entre -38ºC de mínima y -27ºC de máxima (para que os hagáis una idea: el congelador de la cocina está a -18ºC, así que ¡¡salir a la calle es mucho peor!!) Guay, ¡¿verdad?!

Well, why don't we start by showing a nice picture of the kind of horrible weather forecasts that we have here? At first we would freak out when the numbers kept going down and down as the days went by... but well, the good part is that now, anything above -15ºC seems like nice, and if we make it above -10ºC then we even feel warm (no kidding!) The numbers on the top are the maximum temperature expected for a given day, whereas you can see the minimum (Min.) at the bottom. So yes, that particular week our temperatures on Sunday and Monday ranged between -38ºC minimum and -27ºC maximum. (just to give you an idea: the freezer in your kitchen is at -18ºC, so going outside is much worse!!) Nice, isn't it?!

E incluso si pensábais (como nosotros) que esto era imposible, os estaríais equivocando. No sólamente alcanzamos los -38ºC sino ¡también -39ºC! Y aquí está la prueba: una foto del lector de temperatura de nuestro coche. Describir tal frío glacial y las sensaciones asociadas a él en un blog puede ser misión imposible (al menos para mí). En vez de eso, dejadme que os cuente cómo el mundo cambia en estas condiciones... Por ejemplo, cosas que ocurren a estas temperaturas extremas son:

And even if you think (like us) that this was impossible, you would be wrong. Not only did we reach -38ºC but we made it to -39ºC!! And here is the proof: a picture of the temperature reader on our car. Describing such frigid cold and the feelings associated to it in a blog might be mission impossible (for me at least). Instead, let me try to tell you how the world changes under these conditions... Ok, things that happen at these extreme temperatures include:

1) El vapor (digamos de la respiración bajo la bufanda) que alcanza las gafas se congela en tan sólo segundos... así que o bien no te puedes cubrir la nariz y la cara o bien no puedes llevar gafas. Aquí se puede ver a Gustavo bastante contento ya que puede cubirse la boca y nariz pues ¡él es un suertudo que no necesita gafas! 2) El hielo está en todas partes. (Fijáos por ejemplo en el hielo que se forma en la bufanda de Gustavo debido a sus respiración). Y en particular: 3) Parpadear se hace muy difícil (el vapor se queda atrapado entre las pestañas congelándose ahí y por tanto "pegando" los párpados).

1) Steam (from one's breath under a scarf, say) reaching your glasses freezes them in just seconds... so either you can't cover your mouth and nose or you can't wear glasses. Here you can see Gustavo happily covering his mouth and nose because he is lucky he does not need glasses! 2) Ice is everywhere. (Note for instance all the ice that forms in Gustavo's scarf due to his breathing). And in particular: 3) Blinking becomes very difficult (steam gets somehow trapped between upper and lower eyelashes freezing there and "glueing" the eyelids).

4) Los coches simplemente no arrancan (a no ser que sean previamente calentados). Pero, ¿cómo se puede calentar el motor de un coche sin arrancarlo primero? Pues bien, literalmente se necesita enchufar el coche por varias horas antes de intentar un arranque utilizando la batería. Por esta razón la mayoría de los aparcamientos tienen un enchufe por plaza de coche. En esta foto se ve el aparcamiento de la Facultad de Ciencias en mi Universidad, y muchos de los coches enchufados. 5) La tuberías estallan (así que es mejor no dejar las ventanas abiertas mientras va uno de compras).

4) Cars simply do not start (unless previously heated). But how can you heat the engine of the car without starting it first? Well, you literally need to plug in the car for many hours before attempting a start on the car battery. That is why in most parking lots there is a socket per parking space. In this picture you can see the parking lot of the Science Faculty at my University, and many of the cars are plugged. 5) Pipes burst (so you better not leave windows open while you go shopping).

6) Cualquier trozo de piel al descubiero (por ejemplo cuando uno se quita los guantes para hace una foto con la cámara), se adormece en tan sólo segundos. 7) Es más, en cualquier momento después de 2 minutos en las temperaturas de -39ºC que experimentamos puede producirse cogelamiento y cangrena (éste es un peligro completamente real y extremo del cual la televisión continuamente nos alertaba, pero desde luego ¡nosotros tomamos precauciones para evitarlo!) No es pues de extrañar que aquí se vendan guantes térmicos a pilas(véase la foto). Estos guantes tienen botones en el exterior para regular la temperatura. 8) Cualquier tipo de apartato eléctrico (teléfono móvil, cámara, cajero automático, gps, etc) funciona terriblemente lento. Pero por si esto fuera poco...

6) Any uncovered flesh (for instance, when you take one glove off to press the buttons of the camera to take a picture) numbs in just seconds. 7) Further, frostbite can occur anytime after just 2 minutes at temperatures around the -39ºC that we experienced (this is a completely real and extreme danger that the weather forecast channel kept warning about, but of course we took precautions to avoid this hazard!) No wonder why here they sell battery heated gloves (see the picture). These gloves have buttons outside to regulate the temperature. 8) Any kind of electrical device (cell phone, camera, parking pay machine, gps, etc) runs terribly slow. But to make things worse...

9) Las pilas alcalinas recién estrenadas duran únicamente 30 segundos (a temperatura "normal" duran días). Para mí, esta foto fue la más difícil de hacer jamás: hacía -39ºC y tuve que enfrentarme a dos problemas difíciles a la vez: frío extremo y vida de batería extremadamente corta. Claro, estaba sólo y quería una foto de mí mismo pero necesitaba 10 segundos para que la foto se autohiciera y varios más para preparar la cámara (pero ¡las baterías se me acababan en medio del proceso!) y lo que es peor, para preparar la cámara era imperioso quitarme el guante para poder presionar los botones, pero entonces mi mano se congelaba inmediatamente y tenía que volver al coche para recalentármela, y por tanto perdía más tiempo valioso con las pilas...

9) Alkaline brand new batteries for cameras last only 30 seconds (at "normal" temperature they would last for days). For me, this picture was the most difficult to take ever: it was -39ºC and I had to face two difficult tasks at the same time: extreme cold and extreme short battery life. You see, I was alone and wanted a picture of myself but I needed 10 seconds for the "autopicture" to be automatically taken and several more to set up the camera (so the batteries would die in the middle!) and further, in order to prepare the camera I needed to take my glove off to press the buttons, but then my hand would freeze right away and I would need to warm it up in the car, therefore losing valuable time for the batteries...

... así que aunque esto es Calgary, Canadá, cuando frío extremo como éste se da, la sensación es más bien de vivir en la Antártida. Comparad esta foto con el centro de Calgary al fondo con la de la entrada "Calgary" de Junio, cuando la hierba era verde (bueno, cuando de hecho había hierba, porque ahora lo único que hay es nieve que te cubre por encima de las rodillas). Se pueden ver los edificios envueltos de una especia de humo blanco, pero nada se está quemando, más bien al contrario: esto se debe al alto contraste en las temperaturas de los vapores emitidos y el aire en el exterior.

... so even though this is Calgary, Canada, when extreme cold snaps like this happen, the feeling is more like living in Antarctica. Compare this picture with downtown Calgary at the background with the one in the post "Calgary" in June, when the grass was green (well, when there was even grass, because now all there is in that place is snow up to your knees). You can see every building covered in a kind of white smoke, but nothing is burning, it is more on the contrary: this is due to the high contrast in temperatures of the vapors emitted and the air outside.

Y si queréis comparar todavía más, id a la entrada "Nuestra casa (por ahora)" y veréis cómo era nuestra anterior casa desde fuera durante el verano y cómo es ahora... ¡Afortunadamente ya no vivimos allí! Y digo afortunadamente porque de otra manera tendríamos que quitar la nieve a palazos de alrededor de la casa, ya que esto es una ley local: si no limpias la nieve de todas las aceras que rodean tu casa y que llevan hasta la puerta en menos de 24 horas después de una tormenta de nieve, ¡te cae una buena multita!

And if you want to compare even more, go to the post "Nuestra casa (por ahora)" and you will see how our old house looked like from the outside during Summer and how it looks now... Luckily we no longer live there! And I say luckily because otherwise we would have to shovel the snow all around the house, as this is a city by-law: if you do not clear up the snow off the sidewalks surrounding your house and off the path leading to the doors in less that 24 hours after a snow storm, you get yourself a nice fine!

Pero desde luego ¡hay sitio para la diversión en este clima también! ¡Mirad el hombre de nieve con su perro de nieve que hicimos! ¿A que están chulos? Y no necesitamos salir de la ciudad ni tan siquiera acercarnos a un parque: esto es en mitad de una calle principal justo en el centro de la ciudad, donde vivimos ahora. Además, la plaza que hay detrás es ahora una pista de hielo natural donde uno puede patinar sin ningún problema.

But of course there is some place for fun in this climate too! Look the snowman with his snowdog that we made! Isn't this nice? And we did not need to go out of the city or even go to a park: this is just a main street right in the middle of downtown, where we now live. Also, the square behind us has been turned into a natural outdoors ice rink where you can skate without problems.

Otra buena forma de soportar y sobrevivir este invierno terriblemente frío es salir fuera para admirar los nevados y resplandecientes paisajes y estampas que ofrece. Las formaciones de hielo nos parecen particularmente bellas. Tenemos miles de fotos de ríos, lagos, árboles, calles y parques blanquitos y llenos de nieve... aquí tenéis tan sólo un ejemplo del tipo de cosas que os estamos hablando... podéis pillar la idea.

Another nice way to face and survive this terrible chilly Winter is to go out and admire the snowy, glossy and delicate landscapes and scenery if offers. The icy formations on trees are particularly beautiful to us. We have thousands of pictures of white-covered-in-snow rivers, lakes, trees, streets, parks, mountains... here is just a sample of the kind of thing we are talking about. You get the idea...

... pues sí, los inviernos canadienses son espantosamente fríos, con clima glacial y árticos a menudo (y esto, aún siendo terrible de soportar, será una experiencia única para nosotros), pero al fin vamos a disfrutar de las Navidades "clásicas" blancas y nevadas que siempre hemos visto en las películas pero que nunca perecen llegar a Málaga. ¡¡¡Felices Fiestas y Feliz Año Nuevo a todos!!!

... so yes, Canadian winters are outrageously cold, frigid and with artic-like climate at times (and this, even though it is harsh to endure, will be a life-time experience for us!), but finally we are going to enjoy the "classical" snow-covered white-colored Christmas we have always seen on the movies but never seemed to be getting in Málaga. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone!!!

Finalmente, y como siempre: NOTA PARA LOS BLOGGERS "TORPONES" (¡COMO NOSOTROS!) 1) Pincha con el botón izquierdo sobre las fotos para verlas a tamaño completo. 2) Si te apetece comentar esta entrada (¡cosa que agracederíamos!), simplemente picha en "comments" abajo, y sigue las instrucciones cuidadosamente (al principio puede resultar un poco lioso...

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Calgary river raft ride

Let us come back to summertime once more! To those days when the grass was green, when we would not wear hat, gloves, scarf, down-jacket, 5 layers of clothing... oh my! those days were long and warm (sort of) and the Sun actually made it above the horizon: right now I am not sure I could say there are sunrise and sunset... for us it is like the same thing lasting for some hours :-( So anyway, let us remember those times, shall we?

In August Gus and I rented a raft to go down the river from the outskirts of Calgary to downtown. We had never done rafting before, and at least technically it wasn't too difficult (of course the river does not really have rapids -well, just a couple of tiny little ones- and it was very shallow throughout). The whole ride was like 4 and a half hours total... much more than what we had anticipated! And at some point we were fed up and tired of paddling, but we had to make it to where the car was parked, otherwise it would have been even more annoying to carry the raft (it is heavy!) to any train station...

Even though it was summer, the river was freezing cold and after 3 and half hours so were our asses, you know... Anyways, we were definitely relieved to finally see the downtown (background of the picture). The vague promise of a prompt arrival made us paddle even faster (we should have been the slowest ones, as everybody else would pass us :-S)... but it turned out the downtown was still 1 hour away...

... and in fact in this 1-minute video you can tell our lack of energy when we finally reached downtown (we became too relaxed and ended up hitting the rocks at the shore -almost dropped my camera in the river!-)

But we did survive, we got to our jeep, all parts of our bodies recovered their normal temperature, and we went celebrate our victory to some fancy restaurant afterwards. :-) As you can see, and despite of the winter times these days (well, it is allegedly still Fall in here and not officially Winter yet :-0) we Malagans always go back where the tempeture is warm: we go to either huge indoor Waterparks... or we time-travel! (in our minds and in our blog).

Finally, and as usual:

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Edmonton, ...Canada??

Gustavo on the beach?! ... Look closer ... Gustavo on a water park in November in Canada? ... Wait a sec ... Wasn't Canada the coldest place on Earth? (or kind of!) Can this really be happening? Is this some type of Photoshop joke?... A miracle?

I am not kidding! This is a huge swimming pool in Edmonton, Canada (just a 3-hour drive north of Calgary) and it is November and the temperature is a "warm" -7º Celsius... (You read well: minus 7 degrees.) ... ? ? ? ? ....

You guessed it! This is a huge indoor Waterpark where the temperature is always 25 ºC (let it freeze and snow outside!) In fact this park, being the largest indoor water park in North America is just a tiny little piece of one of the world's largest malls: The West Edmonton Mall, which of course has some astonishing figures likes more than 800 shops, 23000 employees, parking space for more than 20000 vehicles, 3 movie theaters, 1 hotel, 1 ice rink, 1 water park and more...

... an Amusement Park too! You see, I don't specially enjoy going shopping to the mall (in fact I quite hate it!)... but what I did like about this one was riding the slides in the Water Park and the exciting rides in the "dry" Galaxyland Amusement Park... look at this World Guiness Records rollercoaster (I loved it!). It is the world's largest indoor triple loop roller coaster! (Galaxyland is the largest indoor amusement park in the world too...)

Yes... everything at West Edmonton Mall is the largest something indoors... even this exact replica of the Santa Maria ship sailed by Christopher Columbus is in the Mall too! (indoors of course) :-o

So going back to our World Waterpark... we certainly had a great time riding the slides, splashing in the big wavepool, relaxing in the hot tubs, having a "Pina" Colada in the shade of a palm tree at the "Beachview" Bar & Snack (background of this picture)... and even catching tan!

So living is such a cold climate can be annoying, that's for sure (well, I find it kinda exciting, different... a life-time experience sometimes :-s), but it also has its advantages: Water Parks and Amusement Parks are open all year round!! That is soooo "cool"! ;)

Finally, and as usual:

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Colorado Springs

I love math conferences. Not only do you get to listen to many interesting talks, to promote your own research, to establish new scientific relationships and to pick up a lot of mathematical ideas... but it allows you to visit new places (some of which you wouldn't otherwise go for holidays), return to old ones, and meet your worldwide-scattered math friends over and over. This time the destination was beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado! As most of you already know, I spent many months there in 2004 and in 2006 (that time with Gus too!), so for me it was just awesome to be able to come back and see the place and the people one more time. I always feel at (a second?) home there.

Even at risk of sounding like a broken record: here is the irrefutable proof that I actually attended a math conference and wasn't just traveling around with the Spanish government money (your taxes folks! XD). Can you find Wally in the picture? [Hint: by clicking on it you'll see it at full size.]

This picture (which is rather poorly taken -I am not a very talented photographer as you can see-) shows three typical elements of the place: Pikes Peak (the high mountain in the background), the Garden of the Gods (those reddish-coloured wall-shaped huge rocks right at the foothills of the big mountain), and deer (yes, there's one at the right-bottom corner!) [Again, click on the picture for the full-size version.] Deer are all around the place (this for instance is just one of the parking lots of the University where the conference was held...)

The fantastic three: Lia, Roozbeh and me. This picture was taken at Colorado College right before we had (another) celebration dinner... Colorado College is the place where I was accommodated in 2004/2006 (in fact we are just blocking the view of my "house" ¬_¬), so plenty of nice memories there too! A great picture. Will go on my office wall in Malaga as soon as I get there. ;)

Another group of fantastic three: me, Mickey and Gene. :) For some reason we are laughing and having a lot of fun! (but I cannot remember what was the joke! too much wine?) This is during the other celebration dinner, when Ranga's touching speeches (on the occasion of his retirement) were delivered.

Once the conference was over, we had almost one day off to sigthsee. Hence, Roozbeh and I decided we should "climb" Pikes Peak (or the car should, whatever). Thus, we needed to recharge our batteries with a succulent food at a Mexican restaurant (which I specially liked because of the nice patio and the memories that I had there...)

... and we made it to the top of Pikes Peak! (altitude = 4.301 meters = 14.110 feet). Two comparisons: Mt. Mulhacén is 3.482 meters high (continental Spain's highest peak) whereas Mt. Teide is "only" 3.718 meters (which really is the highest one in Spain). The temperature on the top dropped sharply and accordingly (note the extra layers of clothing). By the way, the lake in the first picture of this post is some beautiful spot halfway to the summit. Throughout the visit and even on the top of the mountain, the weather was much better than in Calgary! So I certainly did enjoy that too!!

Finally, and as usual:

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Let's switch to English!

First of all, this is not a real post but an announcement (or warning!). Thing is, it just occurred to me that it would be better if I just wrote in English. Why? Well, I have several reasons, but above all is my willingness of making sure that nobody gets left out. After all, the main reason for maintaining and updating a blog like this is to let people know about what's going on with you and with your life, and I fortunately happen to have non-Spaniard friends/colleagues who have tried "sneaking" a little bit around here but of course have been faced with the Spanish language barrier, and I don't like that: it is sad, unfortunate, unfair and... it is avoidable!

Second, our reduced -but well-established!- blog "fan club" (you guys know who you are!) will certainly not have a problem whatsoever with the English stuff (or will you?!) What's more: someone out there in the "audience" might even consider this an enjoyable challenge, plus learning out of reading the stories in here might be a somewhat useful experience (right mom?). And finally, I should confess I myself want to use this blog as an excuse to keep on brushing up (I wish I could say "improving", but I am not sure I improve anymore...) my English writing skills as well. Never must one stop "exercising" a language!

So what about the flags? Well, essentially the crappy English you can expect to come across here will be of course the worst of the mixtures of Canadian, American, British (and Irish!) English, which obviously is the inevitable and predictable result of having spent important parts of my life in these countries and of having been exposed to these "variations" of the universal language that English is nowadays. I will go further and say that, after having listened (mainly on math meetings though) to such a wide range of English accents and "styles": Japanese, Chinese, Corean, Italian, French, Brazilian, Iranian, Serbian, Indian, Australian, New Zealander, Mexican, Uruguayan, Argentinian, German, Norwegian, Russian... (I wonder if this list really ends...), now I don't know which accent is which or if I can even speak/write in proper English anymore! :)

Special mention deserves the Irish flag (Sheila, this goes for you!) This is the story: when I was a graduate student I was given the (time-consuming and unrewarded) task of setting up my Málaga departamental webpage. All right. Since I am a stubborn guy, I wanted to have both the Spanish and English versions of it (the kind of unfinished project that this became can still be reached at http://agt.cie.uma.es). Needless to say, my naive idea was to put tiny little Spanish and British flags in order for anyone to be able to switch from one language to the other. Makes sense, right? I was visiting Belfast (Northern Ireland) at the time and I thought I could ask the extremely helpful secretary to the Pure Mathematics Department (where I was staying at) if she could be so kind to have a look at the English version of the webpage in order to detect errors, correct mistakes, improve expressions and the so. Thus, she went through all the pain of performing a thorough checking and in the end, and to my surprise, she said that everything was OK and really nice except for one thing, which was a huge mistake: I had the wrong flag for the go-to-the-English-version part, as it should be the Irish flag instead!!... And after the 10-second initial shock and knockout, I realized in some sense she was right: English does not only "belong" to England, but to many many countries around the globe.

Hence, and to put an end to this boring story (sorry folks!), what I decided here is this: OK, I cannot put all the English-speaking countries' flags, can I?... But I can at least gather the ones of the countries that I have lived in for a while. Thus, hopefully, and if I keep on running this blog and keep on traveling around (the second is more likely and exciting than the first, I should say...), then someday soon I will be adding the New Zealand flag, and then the Australian flag... and I won't stop until there are no more flags left. :)

I am not really sure I was very convincing here (wow, this resembles a declaration of independence, or the swearing of an oath or something!), but should you have any complaints about this "blog policy change", please do not hesitate to go to the "comments" section below to let me know what you think about it (whether you are glad, pissed off, or simply don't give a damn!) ;p

By the way, don't panic: the next "real post" is coming soon (about my travel to beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado!). I am just waiting to have all the pictures of the event ready (most were taken with other people's cameras, ups!) So stay put for the next chapter!!

Finally, and as usual:

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Türkiye

Queridísimos seguidores del blog: perdonad por la tardanza en la esta entrega (para compensaros, os he preparado un post larguito...). La cosa es que he asistido a un congreso en Turquía, y he estado bastante liado antes del viaje (preparando la charla), durante el viaje (evidentemente) y también a la vuelta (con un montón de trabajo atrasado que me esperaba en Calgary al volver).

He aquí la prueba de que no miento: ésta es la foto de familia de los matemáticos locos que nos aventuramos en la calurosa Türkiye en verano... Ahora ¡buscad a Wally!

Y como supongo que la parte matemática de mi viaje no os interesará demasiado (sí mamá, intentaré prepararte una versión divulgativa de mi charla...), he pensado en contaros cosas y mandaros fotos de la parte ociosa (en la mayoría de los congresos -como en éste-, se reserva al menos un día exclusivamente para excursiones organizadas, etc). Así nos llevaron, por ejemplo, al "Museo de civilizaciones de Anatolia"... ¡cómo eché de menos a Gus para que me lo explicara todo!

El congreso se desarrolló en Ankara (la seca, caótica e inmensa capital de Turquía). Aquí tenéis una vista parcial de la ciudad desde la "cuidadela" (ruinas de castillo en colina central de la cuidad: vamos, el castillo de Gibralfaro de allí). Pueden verse la "torre de Ankara" (esa especie de chupa-chups gigante al fondo que contiene un divertido restaurante giratorio), o la principal mezquita de la ciudad. [RECORDAD: Podéis ver las fotos en tamaño grande pinchando sobre ellas.]

Otro de los destinos de la excursión fueron las ruinas de la cuidad de Gordion, a unos 100km de Ankara. En la foto está la entrada a la tumba (en el corazón de la montaña) donde yació el rey de lugar (el legendario Rey Midas...) El sitio, desierto feo donde los haya, está lleno de historia. Por ejemplo, aquí también es donde Alejandro Magno deshizo el llamado "nudo gordiano" (la leyenda decía que aquél que lo deshiciera se proclamaría Rey de Asia... así que el listillo de Alejandro vino, y lo "deshizo" a corte de espada...)

Después nos llevaron a Beypazarı, pequeño pueblecito turco famoso por sus casas tradicionales, agua mineral, repostería (¡qué buenas estaban las Baklavas!) y sus mercados. Aquí por ejemplo tenemos una tienda de frutos secos donde la dependienta regateaba alegre con nosotros, los ingenuos matemáticos turistas... digo yo que pensaría "a estos me los como yo con patatas" (bueno, o con Döner Kebabs).

Aquí estamos unos compañeros del congreso (de atrás a adelante: Ramón, Lia y Boza) haciendo el tonto en el borde de la muralla de la ciudadela. Es curioso que con lo altísimo que estaba no hubiera barandillas... los turcos desde luego no se iban a caer (si sobreviven por ejemplo cada día en el tráfico más absolutamente imposible), pero seguro que más de un turista no ha podido contarlo...

Este es el mausoleo donde descansa el padre de la patria turca (Atatürk). Este hombre debió hacer cosas estupendas por el país, porque su imagen está en todas y cada una de las esquinas, puertas, billetes y monedas. Los turcos lo veneran... Este edificio en concreto es imponente (por ejemplo, la puntito blanco que se dirige hacia la entrada principal no es una hormiga ni un mosquito de tu monitor... ¡es una persona!)

Después de un largo día pateándonos la ciudad, ¡qué mejor que entrar en la mezquita principal, descalzarse y tumbarse a rezar! (Los calcetines a juego con la enorme moqueta son del menda.) Suerte que llegamos en un momento cuando no estaba llena debido al rezo colectivo (al que todo buen musulmán debe acudir 5 veces al día: aproximadamente a las 4:30, 9:30, 13:00, 17:30 y 21:30, después de la llamada por megafonía desde los omnipresentes minaretes de las mezquitas -oígase el video más abajo-). Nótese también la curiosa decoración de las lámparas, estilo bola discotequera setentera.

Repartidas por las estanterías de las mezquitas hay multitud de libros del Corán para uso individual. Sí, sí, muy bonitos, pero no se entiende ni papa. :)

La semana del congreso acabó con una cena financiada por el Ministerio de Educación de Turquía, nada menos que el hotel Hilton (el hotel de 5 estrellas más pijo de los alrededores). Y claro, uno se sentía un poco fuera de lugar, acostumbrados que estabamos ya a comer Shawarmas pringosos. En la foto se ve el primer plato de pescado (nos pusieron salmón -esa cosa en forma de flor- como si fuera toda una delicatessen -que lo es allí-).

Cualquier visita a Turquía sería incompleta sin visitar Estambul (not Constantinopla!). Esta ciudad es en dos palabras: im-presionante. Es milenios de historia. Es modernos rascacielos. Es la mayor megalópolis de Europa. Es un tranquilo crucero por el Bósforo. Es el bullicio de sus calles. Es los baños turcos, el olor a especias, el sabor de los Kebabs. Es ver pasar toda tu vida ante tus ojos cada vez que cruzas la calle. Es una ciudad entre dos continentes. Es laberínticos bazares... Y es, desde luego, sus mezquitas, palacios y banda sonora puntual 5 veces al día.

Aquí estoy yo ante "Santa Sofía", uno de los símbolos de İstanbul. Aya Sofia es una basílica bizantina reconvertida en mezquita, reconvertida en museo y por más de un siglo fue la mayor catedral del mundo... En la foto anterior a ésta tenemos la Mezquita Azul, tal como se veía desde mi habitación en el hotel. (Dicha mezquita es también la que aparece en la primera foto del este post.)

Aquí tenéis un pequeño video (1 minuto de duración) grabado desde mi habitación del hotel. El sonido más fuerte viene de la Mezquita Azul, pues la tenía justo en frente, pero también pueden oírse de fondo varios cánticos más provinientes de otros minaretes y mezquitas. Es una banda sonora melancólica y mística ésta, que te envuelve allá donde vas. Preciosa al atardecer mirando al Bósforo...

Uno de los mosaicos milenarios de Santa Sofía: éste en concreto es un pantocrator... que debe ser muy importante porque hasta yo me acordaba de haberlo estudiado en Historia del Arte en el instituto... :)

Ante la entrada del Palacio del Topkapı, que es digamos el equivalente turco a la Alhambra de Granada: mosaicos arabescos, patios con fuentes, recovecos, jardines... La entrada tiene una arquitectura que los lugareños consideran como muy exótica (así estilillo centroeuropeo), aunque no lo sea tanto para nosotros.

Ésta es la sala del dicho palacio donde el Sultán recibía en audiencia.

Aquí tenemos una de las vitrinas del Museo Arqueológico de Estambul. Contiene los restos del año 3000 antes de Cristo (!) de lo que entonces era la capital del imperio: Troya... pena que no tuviera más tiempo para visitar las ruinas troyanas, ¡y pena que Brad Pitt no estuviera allí tampoco! :)

Ésta es una de las cabezas de medusa en las cisternas de la cuidad (enormes reservas artificiales de agua). Es aún un misterio el porqué esta cabeza está boca abajo...

No. No es el puente de Brooklyn, ni el de San Francisco. Esta foto es una una vista nocturna del puente que cruza el estrecho del Bósforo para comunicar las dos partes de la cuidad, esto es, el puente que une Europa y Asia.

Usando el máximo zoom posible de mi ya arcaica cámara, ésta fue la mejor foto nocturna que pude hacer del casco antiguo desde la parte asiática de la ciudad (de izquierda a derecha: Mezquita azul, Santa Sofía y Palacio de Topkapı).

Visión de uno de los múltiples callejones del intrincado Gran Bazar. Se venden mapas a la entrada, ya que si no lo tienes, corres un serio riesgo de no saber salir...

Y qué mejor forma de acabar el viaje que con una visita a un "hamam" (baño turco). Por razones obvias no dejaban fotografiar el interior, así que lo máximo que puedo ofreceros es una foto de la entrada, el resto tendréis que venir vosotros a experimentarlo en primera persona, cosa que os aconsejo encarecidamente. Güle güle!!

NOTA PARA LOS BLOGS-NOVATOS (COMO NOSOTROS):
1) Pulsa en las fotos para verlas en tamaño grande.
2) Si quieres hacer algún comentario (¡que se agradecen!), pulsa en "comentarios" justo abajo.