"I love this extreme climate": three Catalans living near the Arctic Circle

BarcelonaEvery day of polar night, when he wakes up, Adri Sanz does light therapy for fifteen minutes. "It's like a tablet "It provides the amount of light that the body needs," he details. Coffee is also packed with vitamin D, and it is the key that is ready to start the day. From now on it is connected to the Inari region, in the north of Finland, and this is the remedy that has been used to combat the lack of light. The winter when the sun does not shine.

In the country of the coast, in Sweden, Cristina Masferrer, with me, can be in a boreal forest full of snowy snow leading a group of Catalan tourists on a motorbike showing the Sami culture, the last indigenous town in Europe. anys what He will give life to Sant Hilari Sacalm to start a tourism company in this area of the Arctic. "I'm going to be surprised that he's a real big boy," diu.

As the day progresses and it's dark, Albert Fernàndez, who recently visited the Lofoten Islands in Norway, goes out with the group he guides in search of the northern lights. "During the day, the landscapes you see, with the steep mountains next to the sea, leave you breathless, but when night comes the spectacle of the northern lights hypnotizes you," he explains.

The first contact

The three of them fell deeply in love with the Arctic. The landscapes, the light, the silence, the immensity of nature, and also the culture are what captivated them with this unique territory, with its unique ecosystem. "My history with the Arctic goes back a long way, driven primarily by nature, but a trip to Greenland in 2014 changed me, and after meeting the Inuit, I was also captivated by the human side," explains Adri. That's why, when she had to do her university internship, she chose Oulu, the northernmost city she could find, and year after year she returned to Finnish Lapland to volunteer or do seasonal work. Finally, in 2019, she settled in the area year-round and later in Inari. Now, trained as a nature guide and with Arctic studies, she is launching her tourism company, Adriártico.

Cristina, on the other hand, went to spend the winter in the Arctic without having been there before. "My partner and I started a joint project of aurora hunting excursions. He was the guide and I was the photographer. It immediately became a hit, and we became known on Trip Advisor as the first company specializing in aurora hunting." Three years later, Cristina missed Catalan and started Luces del Ártico, her own Catalan-language travel company in Swedish Lapland.

For Albert, discovering the Lofoten Islands was love at first sight. Stressed out, in 2018 he took a leave of absence from his show production job in Barcelona and settled in Kiruna. One weekend, he took a getaway to Lofoten. "I arrived at night, and what I saw when I woke up is etched in my memory: I'd never seen anything half as spectacular. I returned to Kiruna to tell myself I was quitting work and returned to Lofoten to make a living," he explains. After a while, he created FgAlbert, his own guiding company.

Trapped

"These islands, in the Atlantic, have everything from rugged mountains by the sea to dreamy beaches. They combine the best of the sea and the mountains in a single space. Plus, I love this extreme climate," he says. The islands have a climatic anomaly, as they don't have the cold of other regions located at the same latitude due to the Gulf of Mexico current, which doesn't let temperatures drop to the -35°C or -40°C that other parts of Lapland can experience. However, they do experience severe storms, with winds of up to 250 km/h. "It's part of the experience: for me, a perfect trip to the Lofoten Islands must have a sunny day and a day of auroras, and if you're stranded for a day because of a storm, it's a truly unique experience."

"My favorite time of year is the polar night," Cristina explains. "I especially love it when there are cloudless days, because the sky takes on beautiful shades of pink." She also likes seeing that "in winter, life is in white (the snow) and black (the forests), and in summer, everything is colorful." She, too, has been captivated by the night sky: "Here, you can walk four steps and see planets with the naked eye, not to mention the spectacle of the auroras. It's incredible."

What attracted Adri most to northern Finland was the silence and the snow. "The first winter, the silence really shocked me. The landscape is frozen in time, and the forests are silent. Here, you really experience the cycle of the year, because each season is very different," she explains. Over the years, she has also been captivated by Sami culture: "My partner is Sami and I am very involved. It is a fascinating culture, very linked to reindeer and nature. I didn't know them before coming to Sweden and I have connected a lot, because they have a very hard fight with the Swedish government that reminds me a lot of Catalonia.

Rooted

All three admit that it's been difficult for them to connect with the local population. "At the beginning of living in Reine, Kristine, the owner of the village shop, charged me and just said goodbye. When she saw I'd been here for a few weeks, she took me out of the tourist category and put me in the local category. "There's a dinner party in the village today," she told me. And from then on."

Adri found it more difficult because he spent a few years as a seasonal worker. "I partly understand it, because the locals keep seeing workers coming and going, and they don't take us as real locals either," he admits. This changed when he settled in Inari: "There are only 600 of us, but it's the center of Sami culture and has a youthful atmosphere that I hadn't encountered in these parts," he explains.

From Sweden, Cristina acknowledges that all the people who work on her team are from outside the country and that her only Swedish friends come from the tourism industry: "Everyone says they're very private and that it's hard to get to know someone." Of the few she does know, she's surprised by "their strong connection with nature." "As soon as they have the slightest free time, they go to even more isolated places," she explains, noting that this is a characteristic of northern Sweden.

Adri says that what continues to surprise her about Finns is "the silence, not only in nature, but also in public places." "People are also very civic-minded. They feel that public things belong to everyone, like the toys in the parks or the firewood for public barbecues. Nobody takes anything from me."

Forever?

Albert doesn't know if he'll stay in the Lofoten forever, but he's clear that if he's on his way, he won't return to Barcelona. "What happens to me when I go to Catalonia is that I don't feel like I'm from there anymore, but when I'm in the Lofoten, I don't feel 100% local either. I think it's a common feeling among the expats", he explains.

Adri, for now, does want to stay in Inari. "But sometimes life can surprise you in any way. For now, I only return to Jijona for visits. 'Forever' is a long time, we'll see what happens," he admits.

Cristina has taken her relationship with the Arctic a step further and this year she bought a house in Kiruna, because she has no intention of returning to Catalonia either. "I'm fixing it up; I have a dry toilet and a septic tank. Here, everyone is responsible for their own services. A few years ago, I would have been very lazy, but now I'm really excited. And what I want to do most is paint it. Here, the houses are painted in bright colors to brighten up the winter landscape. I walk around Kiruna looking for the best color combination for my little house," she says enthusiastically.