Spain: Expo 2008 - where is the water?

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September 1st 2008

Published: September 4th 2008

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Ewa and Jill

Expo 2008 lineup

Ewa is not happy.

Hello all,

We took the bus from Barcelona, and an hour before arriving in Zaragoza, we witnessed a screaming match between two women of around 50 years. (Ewa is not the only one who does not like it when the seat in front of her fully reclines) The bus driver had to actually separate the women with the help of some passengers and evict one of the women off the bus (typical Jill slept through it all). Other than this setback we were stoked and ready to take on all of the world (well more like the 104 countries that were there presenting) when we arrived.

To begin, we decided to include a bit of a blub on what exactly Expo is in the off chance some of our readers have not heard of it before
- so basically it is an international exposition where many countries and private companies display and present their national innovations on the particular topic, which this year was ˝water and sustainability.˝

With that being said, we arrived at the event and joined the massive line, and let me tell you it was huge, LARGE lineup to enter. Very bittersweet, however the

A view of part of the Expo grounds

tides turned in our favour and after working some magic and batting some eyelashes we took the opportunity to purchase student tickets which saved us 10 euros. YAY. Our happiness was short lived, once we soon realized that nobody spoke english, and even the program that included the map came only in Spanish, German, French and Dutch! Rude!

After visiting a number of various countries we asked ourselves where the water was. With the exception of a few of the private companies selling water systems, we saw vendors, markets, restaurants, bars and tourism promotions in each counrties pavillion space -yet nothing about water conservation, purification methods...nothing of the sort. Go figure. On the bright side we did get some stickers, a few candies, and a button.

Sadly Canada nor USA were present, and this could explain the lack of English Expo promotional products. Taking a break from the countries we went to some of the exhibits and shows put on by Zaragoza (pronounced THaragoTHa -are you kidding me?) Unfortunately again we were disappointed as these shows lack substance in the material presented or a climax. They were more of a display of technology and art as opposed to