Two old friends - Poniente and Levante

Christine / firmm

Those of you who have had the pleasure of vacationing in Tarifa have certainly met "Levante". He is omnipresent and responsible for many things -- when we can't take the boats out to sea, or even when locals are a bit confused or distracted. But who is this "Levante"?
The Levante is a very strong wind which forms in the Mediterranean sea between Spain and the North African coast. It originates in the East and blows West, towards the Atlantic. It is surrounded by chains of mountains around the Strait of Gibraltar, the Atlas mountains on the African coast and the Sierra Nevada on the Spanish coast. The Levante usually blows from June until August. His counterpart, the Poniente, is a lighter but colder wind which originates from the West. It blows east from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
And how can we grasp all this?
The Levante originates in the East, where the sun rises (to rise in Spanish is "levantar" thus "levante"), on the contrary the Poniente comes from the West, where the sun sets (sets in Spanish is "poner").
If one morning you wake up from a fun night and you don't remember how you got home, you can blame the "Levante" which makes everyone lose their mind and memory…