The Spain Under the Spain
Not another list of must-sees. A way of reading a place — its ground, its people, its food, its time.
THE BOOK · FORTHCOMING
WHO’S WRITING THIS
Warren Alford
Before any of this I packed mules into the high country of Yosemite, hauling supplies over passes on animals that can’t be rushed and don’t forgive a bad decision. That’s where I learned to read ground — where the water is, what the weather’s about to do, which route goes and which one only looks like it goes.
Since then: a decade scouting rural Spain, sixteen of the seventeen autonomous regions (Canaries, I’m looking at you), most more than once. And the last several working the same questions across the Sierra foothills of California, where I live. Same latitude — the 38th parallel. Two mountain cultures growing similar things in similar dirt, and neither one knows about the other.
Before taking on The Under Tourist, I ran communications for a living, which mostly taught me that the interesting thing is rarely the thing being advertised.
I’m writing The Under Tourist, a book about how to read a place. Everything here comes out of the same fieldwork.
How to Read a Place
The travel guide that teaches you to read a place — so you arrive already knowing what you are looking at.
Five transferable skills — reading landscape, architecture, agriculture, time, and people — illustrated through field-verified examples across rural Spain and Portugal. Not a guidebook. Not a list of hidden gems. The tools to arrive anywhere already knowing how to read it.
THE TRIP READING · $95
A Field Intelligence Briefing, Written for Your Trip
Not an itinerary. A document that teaches you to read the exact place you’re about to see.
Landscape, architecture, agriculture, and time — applied to your specific destination and travel dates. Delivered as a formatted document within five business days. The interpretive framework, built for the trip you’re actually taking.
Consultations
Or talk it through with me
If you’d rather build the trip yourself and just want someone who knows the ground on the other end of the call — that’s what the consultations are for. Thirty minutes on the one question you can’t settle, or an hour on the whole route. Five slots available per week.
THE TEMPLATE
The Trip Planning Worksheet I Actually Use
Not a packing list. The organizing tool behind every trip I plan — logistics, structure, the same framework the book teaches. Consider it a pintxo from the kitchen. One bite, on the house.