After a couple of days in the north of Italy we decided to escape from the heat wave by heading towards the north of Europen.

After some consideration we decided to go to Switzerland, hoping to escape from the temperature of almost 40ºC in Italy with the aim of getting to know a country where we thought that in the field of energy might be of interest for its experience on a local level, which could be adapted in another small country like Switzerland such as the Basque Country.
So we ended up in Como, a small town divided in two by a rather peculiar border where the only regulation for crossing it was to pay 80 euros in exchange for a sticker as road tax in Switzerland.
They did not seem to care about anything else. So joking about the peculiar way of welcoming people that they have, we entered the country from the South side.

The first impression we had was the amount of water that you can find in this country in spite of the fact that it has no coast. The whole of Switzerland is strewn with rivers, channels and enormous lakes, which add an even greater image of fertility to its landscape, already rich in itself.

Really, the trip from the beginning of the south of Switzerland to Biel-Bienne, our destination was spent observing the green lakes, mountains and valleys from the van (except poor Manel, at the steering wheel,- the only landscape that he saw was the badly tarmacked highway)
On the other hand, after many days without sight of even a small cloud, shortly after entering Switzerland we saw rain again. Later we discovered that here the changes of weather are fleeting.... from a clear, sunny day we changed in ten minutes, to a storm that left trees uprooted in its path.

After some hours travelling we arrived at Biel, a village of 50,000 inhabitants near Bern, located just on the shore of Bielersee lake, one of
the 3 Great Lakes of that corner and surrounded by green mountains such as Mont Soleil.
There Isabelle was waiting for us, the one who for 5 days would be our objective for the hundreds of questions that we had about Switzerland and its people. Thanks again to Isabelle.

The first thing that strikes you about Biel is the standard of living that they have.Just by taking a small stroll around the city you see how well-taken care of all the streets and public squares are.You rarely see anything dirty or broken; how 18 year olds drive Porches and BMWs to the door of their own house or how in summer the discotheques are closed in this area because the vast majority of people can go abroad every summer.Isabelle explained to us that the majority of her group of friends were not in Switzerland, and that is something very usual in this place, at a certain age, to leave and to try and earn one’s living in other countries from a very young age.
Of course not everything is perfect, if you take a walk near the railway station you come across some groups of people without a roof over their heads livening the walls of the tunnel up with their music.
Even so, nobody can deny that in Switzerland the people live well.
Unemployment is unusual in this area. We were told the average wage in Switzerland is around 1800 euros... so you can see why we paid 5 euros for a bottle of water!

Another subject that surprised us and in a way made us envious was the ability that they have for languages. In Switzerland 4 languages are spoken mainly according to the zones: German, French, Italian and Romanche-talked in the mountains-.So understandably from childhood they learn German and French and according to which zone they are in, Italian and German.
For this reason from school, and having already as a base another language of the same linguistic group as is German, the great majority of people (mainly the young) have a good command of English. And to top it all and to our surprise, we met some people who either spoke Spanish or were able to understand everything that we said. Switzerland is a country that because of its geographical position and its political status has a very diverse society in the linguistic field.

The contact with the people was very good. Although you get the impression that in the beginning they can be a little bit reserved when meeting people, once some words have been exchanged you realize how wrong you were.
For 5 days the doors of the houses of people that we met were always open. And they have offered to help us at any moment. Perhaps it is because, as we commented before, they travel a lot, and for this reason they have this hospitality towards the people who, like them, have been abroad. From a very young age people becomes independent, they go abroad, or rent their own house, something much more habitual here than in the Basque Country.
Among other things, for one very simple reason, the cost of renting a house in Switzerland, where, as we said, the wage average is about 1800 euros, is the same as that in Basque Country, where the work situation mainly for women and young people, is precarious.
This is the main reason why there is a difference between the people here and us in terms of having total independence almost from the age of 18.This is a luxury that nowadays we cannot even imagine.

On the other hand another fact that surprised us very much, and that sometimes, we must also admit made us laugh, is how correct and civic Swiss society is.
It’s true that we only got to know well a town of 50.000 people and its surrounding area which maybe can’t be compared with other cities, like Bern, but from what we saw we do not think it changes that much.
There is a very good example to explain what we mean: in Biel, as is normal, they have a service of rubbish collection. And they have official bags as well to deposit the rubbish. Up to this point all seems normal, but here, when you say that there is something specific for something, in this case the rubbish bags mean that you must use that, exclusively for that purpose Thus it is understood that to make sure that everybody uses the official bags in Biel, they have a police force for rubbish whose job, among other things, is to detect the ones that do not use official rubbish bags. As a cosequence they are able to open the rubbish in search of some data that leads them to the offender who then ets a large fine.

Although it may seem that in general they are very strict, in matters such as drugs they do not seem to have the same position. Thus, although marihuana is not legal in Switzerland, there are shops (hemp shops, grow shops...) that are almost exclusively dedicated to its sale, although outside they do not say explicitly what is sold.
In our opinion it is something that is quite acceptable, in spite of not being legalized. Therefore it’s normal that these stores maintain from the outside the image of herbalist’s shops, and they do not advertise the sale of grass- although it’s well known that its sale is considered illegal. The contradictions of this society are based on the external image.

These 5 days have been useful to realize how great a jump there is between, as we say, the European society and ours.
The prologue of what we can expect these 100 days that we have ahead. The beginning of the trip, the first jump to a Europe that although it pretends to be sold as a united organization keeps as many differences as kilometres that separate it.

It goes without saying that those 5 days flew by, what with the work, the people and the places that we met.
It is certainly a place to return and to get to know more calmly. .

The 2 first visits that we made were in the same area, at the top of Mont Soleil, a mount located a few kilometres from Biel. We visited the solar installations and then we crossed the path to the Mont Croisin, where there are some Aeolic generators.