Hello again from Bilbo! Contrary to what I was told as I prepped for my last post, we have had some very sunny days this week and very little rain. My group has begun this trend of grabbing lunch outside to enjoy the heat and I have really noticed the positive impact the extra hours of sunlight have had on my happiness and mental peace. I suggest whoever is reading this tries and spend a few extra moments under the sun!

However, if there is one thing that spending extra time in the heat makes you want, it is more water. This is coincidentally what we will be discussing in this post. The last day of our first week in Bilbao we had a small campus tour. Little could we have imagined that one of the “remarkable” stops on campus was the first “official” water fountain by the vending machines. Walking around Wellesley, we can usually find at least one water fountain per floor, and this is only for about twenty-five hundred students. As such, imagine my surprise when I realized there was only 1 water fountain for a school of about fourteen thousand students. The thing is that all tap water in Spain is drinkable; therefore, most students just fill up their water bottles with water from the sink. The Spanish Ministry of Health has claimed that 99.5% of the country’s water supply Is safe to drink. However, questions arise as some has been found to have legally unharmful chemicals; yet, they have been proven to be harmful in terms of long exposure. Nevertheless, the water in Bilbao and San Sebastian —two of the biggest cities in the Basque country— have been studies to have the best quality tap water in Spain. Where does it come from you might ask? It comes from two main reservoirs, the Zadorra system and the Ordunte system.

Now I am going to take a brief parenthesis here to give you the fun fact of the week. When discussing my findings with my host parents over dinner, they explained that before the Civil War houses in Bilbao used to have two sinks everywhere. One with potable water and the other with Nervión River (remember my sit spot?) water for all other chores. Nowadays, people won’t even dare step foot in that river because of how much untreated waste has been dumped in it. Kinda sad how disregarding humans can be with their resources huh? I hope this encourages you to be more mindful about where your natural resources are coming from and where are they being discarded. All waste must go somewhere. Agur!

This fountain below called “The Fountain of the Dogs” was brought to Bilbao to depict the lions from Ancient Egypt, but the Spanish having never seen a lion called it after their shepherding dogs. Walking around I would have never thought it was drinking water, but indeed it was. It was even cooled. Refreshing!