If we trust the old Chinese proverb, the extraordinary can be anywhere. It will appear before us if we simply sit quietly in the shade of the bamboo. Carolina Reymúndez pays little attention to it and sets out to travel the world: from Siberia to Durazno and from Zimbabwe to New York. A lobster hunter in Panama, the endemic rain of Galicia, the iron gait of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the deputy director of a Uruguayan zoo, and the spiciness of chai in India—in 25 short stories, this book not only crosses countries but also traverses landscapes, tells anecdotes, is filled with nostalgia, and travels through the time of travel. The unusual is the detail. The fleeting that remains, like cumin, like mint, and other flavors of the recipes that accompany each of these stories. Words were always close to the fires.