A year ago today Doñana came my way. A National Park in southern Spain that is internationally acclaimed among ornithologists houses a familial community of ecologists, conservationists and passionate cooks. During my tenure at El Palacio in Doñana I caught glimpses of migrating Kites, flocks of flamingos colored like a tye dye T-shirt, sweeping White Storks, ugly gallipatos (but never the elusive Iberian Lynx…), and a Spain from an earlier time, when each morning the family would banter about whatever over cafe and tostadas and maybe a chupito de vino dulce, in the cocina where the fireplace endlessly flared, and when men still mounted horses to traverse infinite marshlands and when on any given Sunday a barbeque would be stoked to roast the ribs a newly sacrificed cerdo. Doñana is a sanctuary of wildlife and traditional andalucian Spain. May the two be eternally preserved.
Sunrise from the firetower. Reserva Biologica de Doñana. Huelva, Spain. Jan. 2010.
El Gallipato (Pleurodeles waltl). Reserva Biologica de Doñana. Huelva, Spain. January 2010.
Familia and la cocina. Reserva Biologica de Doñana. Huelva, Spain
El Palacio. Reserva Biologica de Doñana. Huelva, Spain. Sunrise flight. Reserva Biologica de Donana. Huelva, Spain. February, 2010
Morning Flight. Reserva biologica de Donana. Huelva, Spain. February, 2010
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