[François] The revived people of South America helped me to learn it [Spanish]

Things like this are the ones that make me like the least this part of the series. It shows how much they rushed research.

There’s no way they’d learn Spanish in Araxá, most of the population there speaks Portuguese. In fact, I don’t even know why they decided to mine niobium there, if they entered SA through the Amazon river delta; for reference they’re further from each other (2000km) than Berlin from Moscow. Plus there are niobium deposits in the Amazon basin, smaller and less profitable but still enough for their purposes.

And the whole idea of going to Catalunya feels silly. There are some fluorite deposits in Sant Cugat del Vallès but they’d need to walk something like 15km from the coast, on a rather hilly terrain. Transport is hard. There are better deposits in Asturias, by the coast, but no olives. But you know, where there are fluorite deposites near the coast? And olives? Tunisia. Plus dates; amazing travel food, tasty even if dried for long-term storage, and with a high caloric content. I should stop chewing on those everyday, though. They certainly don’t help with my weight.

Those things don’t make me say “bleeergh, I’ll drop it!”, but come on… it’s a stain in a series that shone because of all the research behind it. Granted, mostly Chemistry, but still.