In the mid-nineties, Mario Picazo broke into television and became one of the most popular faces on Telecinco, as a man of the weather. He has lived in California for 10 years but travels to Spain often, especially in summer.
“In Santa Monica, where I also make my television connections, we live very well, but we prefer Spain. Next year, when my eldest son will finish university and his little High School, it will be time to return”, Mario explains by phone to this newspaper from the Barajas airport, minutes before traveling to Alicante to give a conference.
“Now I am a freelance, I collaborate with eltiempo.es, with the Canadian company The weather network, with some television stations and with programs like Aquí la tierra, on TVE. And I also teach at the University of UCLA, where I did my doctorate in Geography and Atmospheric Sciences”.
Picazo is very sensitive to the environment and sustainability, which is why he accepted the invitation from the Dyc distillery to visit the facilities in Palazuelos de Eresma (Segovia) and learn about the entire whiskey-making process and the environment. “It has been a gratifying and highly recommended experience because it is a local product, which is made with barley from Castilla y León, and which includes a tasting in which I learned a lot, since I am not a regular whiskey drinker, but more of wine and beer”. And he adds: “It is also in a beautiful setting such as the Eresma river and the Sierra de Guadarrama, which I have kicked myself a lot, because I have my house there, but in the province of Madrid, and I barely knew the Segovian side.”
Mario Picazo is in love with Spain, although he was born precisely in the United States (in Pueblo, Colorado), where his father was studying surgery. “In Spain there is a gastronomic, cultural and geographical variety in a very compressed space, if compared to the United States, for example”, he comments. It is hard for him to choose a town from the many in which he has lived: Los Angeles, New Mexico, Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao, Castelldefels. “Madrid is where I’ve lived the longest, I spent my childhood in Castelldefels… but I think you’re never happy in one place, that’s why I would keep a little bit of everyone, because of the experiences I’ve had.” And that he hopes to continue living: “In December I will be 60 years old, but I still have a long way to go and many things to do like Looking for Greta, a project that I am preparing to discover young activists.”
From 2007 to 2009, he spent several months in Honduras in the three editions of Survivors that he presented from the Cayos Cochinos. “I was attracted to being in contact with nature, games, competitiveness, but I didn’t like it when the writers told me I had to talk about the contestants’ fights,” she recalls. She says that due to the time difference she has not followed this edition, with Laura Madrueño, playing her role. “Those of us who report on the weather are called weather women and men, but I would like the audience to know that some of us are meteorologists and others, like Laura, are journalists,” she explains.
It is obligatory to ask a meteorologist about the weather that awaits us: “With climate change, heat waves like the ones we are experiencing now will be more common, because extreme weather will be the climate scenario for the coming years, and that is already inevitable”. What can each of us do to help combat it? He answers without hesitation: “Start by electing the representatives who make the necessary decisions, because if we don’t go like crabs, we move forward and go back.”