Culture. Nurture. Tincture. Enrapture.

Let‘s make an Earth sandwich!

Humans can achieve incredible feats. Our ingenuity is often only matched by our ambition, for better or for worse. Many examples exhibit our pomposity. Fortunately, we can also match our pretenses with self-derision and a bit of tongue-in-cheek. In that way, let us enjoy one such challenge which is at the same time fascinating, ambitious and completely ludicrous. Imagine taking two slices of bread and placing Earth within it. Born from allegory (sure, nobody is actually gonna be able to eat THAT), this endeavour turned out to be a lot more complex than what we could anticipate. This quirky challenge quickly gripped adventurers around the world. The first successful Earth sandwich that I know of was made in 2006 (not gonna spoil where right away). Today, I want to show you what you need to know to make your own and how you can manage the feat. Let‘s dive in.

More than you can chew

“Placing two pieces of bread on opposite sides of the Earth? Let me call my Australian friend. How hard can that be?“ you say. Well, a lot harder than you think. Most of us forget that the Pacific Ocean is a lot larger than we see it on maps. In truth, maps we are accustomed to only show about half of the Earth‘s surface. That‘s right, the rest is the Pacific Ocean. Since both bread pieces of our sandwich must be on the ground, it complicates matters. That‘s not considering the Atlantic Ocean (and other water masses for that matter). As an example, most of us in North America think of Australia as opposite to us on Earth. Not a far-fetched assumption but sadly the entirety of Australia's opposite (called antipodal point) falls in the Atlantic. Some numbers. About only 4% of Earth‘s surface has an antipodal point both on the ground. For 46% of the surface, both points are in the water.

But the Earth sandwich still IS possible. I will list here some places/strategies that you could use to make one. If you want to find one yourself, I recommend the excellent tool offered by Google (linked to Google Maps): https://antipodesmap.com/

Right out of the freezer

The most obvious eligible antipodes are probably the poles. Right? Not quite like you think. Remember that the North Pole IS NOT a land mass, but rather a sort of large iceberg. Still, we can use the Antarctic. Most of Greenland ends up antipodal to the Antarctic. The same can be said for the northmost “slice“ of Canada and Alaska (about 1-2 degrees in latitude). In North America, the territory of Nunavut is the most probable candidate. But North America is not alone in having antipodal points to Antarctica. The Novaya Zemlya archipelago north of Russia‘s mainland is eligible. On the mainland itself, part of Siberia works too, notably close to Norilsk.

An Earth hamburger?

Looking at the rest of North America, our prospects are bleak. The only other eligible place would be close to Sage Creek Colony in Montana, its antipode being in French Antarctica (close to the Kerguelen Islands). That‘s it for North America (but not for the USA). Fortunately, South America has much more to offer. Parts of Columbia and Venezuela match with the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The island of Borneo fits in Brazil and Bolivia. Some of Peru fits with Vietnam. Argentina and Chile are also of great help. Both follow a north-west trail through China, Mongolia and a bit of Russia.

Avocado (Earth) toast maybe?

The rest of our possible matches almost all use the smaller islands of Oceania and within the Pacific Ocean. The most famous (and realistic) match is also the most famous one: North New Zealand matches well with Spain (that was the 2006 sandwich I mentioned). Most other Pacific isles fit within Africa. Hawaï fits in Botswana, Fidji goes with Mali, Bora-Bora (in French Polynesia) with Sudan and so on. Maybe a bit hard to make such a sandwich for many, but maybe an exotic trip idea in the making.

To finish things up, let me list some well-known matches between major cities. Remember that New Zealand and South America are your friends. May it inspire you in some way:

USING NEW-ZEALAND

  • Christchurch (New Zealand) — A Coruna (Spain)
  • Weber (New Zealand) — Madrid (Spain)
  • Wellington (New Zealand) — Alaejos (Spain)
  • Masterton (New Zealand) — Segovia (Spain)
  • Nelson (New Zealand) — Mogadouro (Portugal)
  • Whangarei (New Zealand) — Tangier (Morocco)
  • Tauranga (New Zealand) — Jaen (Spain)
  • Hamilton (New Zealand) — Cordoba (Spain)

USING SOUTH AMERICA

  • Hong Kong (China) — La Quiaca (Argentina)
  • Lianyungang (China) — Junin (Argentina)
  • Wuhu (China) — Rafaela (Argentina)
  • Nanjing (China) — Galvez (Argentina)
  • Wuhai (China) — Valdivia (Chile)
  • Ulan Ude (Russia) — Puerto Natales (Chile)
  • Palembang (Indonesia) — Neiva (Colombia)
  • Padang (Indonesia) — Esmeraldas (Ecuador)

Ready and served

At this point, you know what it takes to make an Earth sandwich. Now, you just need to figure out how to eat it. I am sure you‘ll find a way… In the meantime, I hope the exercise showed you that we can learn from any opportunity, even the most absurd. Some of humanity‘s greatest achievements began from silly, seemingly inconsequential decisions. You should take that to heart. Next time you have some crazy idea, go for it! Who knows where it will lead you?

In any case, see you next week.