In the mid-nineties, Mario Picazo broke into television and became one of the most popular faces of Telecinco as a man of the hour. He has lived in California for ten years, but travels to Spain whenever he can, especially in the summer.
“In Santa Monica, where I also make television connections, we live very well, but we prefer Spain. Next year, when my older son will finish university and the younger one, it will be time to return”, Picazo explains to this newspaper by phone from Barajas airport minutes before traveling to Alicante to hold a conference. “Now I am freelance, I collaborate with ElTiempo.es, with the Canadian company The Weather Network, with some television stations and with programs such as Aquí la Tierra, from TVE. And I also teach at UCLA university, where I studied for a doctorate in Geography and Atmospheric Sciences”.
Picazo is very aware of the environment and sustainability, which is why he has accepted the invitation of the Dyc distillery to visit the facilities in Palazuelos de Eresma (Segovia) and learn about the entire process of making whiskey and the environment. “It’s been a rewarding experience and highly recommended, because it’s a local product that’s made with barley from Castile and León, and which includes a tasting where I learned a lot, since I’m not a regular whiskey drinker, but more of wine and beer.” And he adds: “Also, it is in a beautiful environment, like the Eresma river and the Guadarrama mountain range, through which I have run a lot, because I have my house there, but in the province of Madrid, and I barely knew the Segovia band”.
Mario Picazo is in love with Spain, even though he was born precisely in the United States (in Pueblo, Colorado), where his father studied surgery. “In Spain there is a gastronomic, cultural and geographical variety in a very compressed space, if you compare it to the United States, for example”, he comments. It is difficult for him to choose a locality from the many where he has lived: Los Angeles, New Mexico, Valencia, Madrid, Bilbao, Castelldefels. “Madrid is where I’ve lived the longest, in Castelldefels I spent my childhood…, but I think you’re never happy in one place, so I’d stay with a little bit of all of them, 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, such as Buscando a Greta, a project I am preparing to discover young activists”.
From 2007 to 2009 he spent several months in Honduras, in the three editions of the program Supervivientes, which he presented from the and llots Cochinos. “I was attracted by the fact of being in contact with nature, the games, the competitiveness, but I didn’t like it when the scriptwriters told me I had to talk about the contestants’ fights”, he remembers. He says that due to the time difference he has not followed this edition, with Laura Madrueño playing her role. “Those who report on the weather are called the women and men of the weather. It doesn’t bother me at all, because it’s true, but I’d like the audience to know that some of us are meteorologists, and others, like Laura, are journalists,” he explains.
It is necessary 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 in the coming years, and this is already inevitable.” What can each of us do to help fight it? He answered without hesitation: “Start by electing the representatives who take the necessary decisions, because, if not, we go like crabs, moving forward and going back”.
