Fontibre, by Luis Pancorbo

It is not true that the Ebro originates in foreign lands. Nor was Pereda right in Peñas Arriba (1895) when he claimed that "the famous river" hurried to leave its native land to"... carry the benefit of its waters to strange fields and unknown people." The Ebro follows its course, and it is quite different to know, as is the case with other illustrious rivers, where its first drop emerges. I have a fond memory, apart from being warm and hazy, of the Nyungwe Reserve in Rwanda, a fantastic habitat for chimpanzees that could almost be described as hobbits. It was there that in 2006, a group of Brits led by Neil McGrigor claimed to have found "the true source" of the Nile. This was located in a puddle in the Rwandan forest, not in Lake Victoria, as had been believed after so many controversies and expeditions by Richard Francis Burton, John Hanning Speke, and others.

If one must walk hard to reach the first drop that would originate the Nile, artificial satellites are typically used for such tasks. One of them reconfirmed in 2011 that the Amazon originates at the Apacheta spring, in the snow-capped Mismi, at an altitude of 5,150 meters. From there it spreads into branches and gathers tributaries until it reaches 6,400 kilometers, making it the second longest river in the world (the Nile still wins by about 300 kilometers).

Returning to the headwaters of the Ebro. In 1987, an experiment by technicians from the Geological and Mining Institute seemed conclusive: they colored the waters of the Híjar River, and that distinct color appeared in Fontibre, which is considered the official source of the Ebro. The Híjar, which runs 20 kilometers before sinking and resurfacing, originates in a fantastic place at Pico Tres Mares (at 2,171 meters above sea level). It is actually the spring of three rivers: the Nansa, which empties into the Cantabrian Sea; the Camesa, a tributary of the Pisuerga and in turn of the Duero, which finds its way to the Atlantic with its humid bones; and the Híjar, the father of the Ebro that ends in Mare Nostrum, if we can still call the Mediterranean that.

Three seas and more than three rivers in play in a unique area of Alto Campoo and its snow-capped peaks. Beneath Tres Mares, the source of the Chivo springs, which seems to be the most proper or original source of the Ebro. On a clear day, climbing to its viewpoint is an experience that allows for an eagle's-eye view of the surroundings. Isn't Erebor, the capital of Tolkien's dwarves, that Lonely Mountain? But all that beautiful towering mountain majesty does not make us forget the modesty of Fontibre, where the Ebro resurfaces once again as a spring.

A place like Fontibre has all the elements for myth and comfort to ally in aid of the traveler. La Fuentona Natural Park in winter is a fabric of mists that clings to the first waters of the Ebro, where teal ducks dive looking for food. A forest of elms, beeches, mountain-ash, and hawthorns frames the first lull that the Ebro spring forms. There they have mounted, over greenish waters, a pillar with a Virgin and shields of the provinces that the river traverses on its noble journey of 930 kilometers to the sea.

In the neighboring village lies in ruins what was once the splendid Fontibre Spa until the mid-20th century. A tap that has been supplying good water since 1912 for constipation, the liver, and many other ailments still flows for nothing. The spa has been reduced to a simple skeleton of walls, and some horses grazing in the adjacent meadow are those who most enjoy the place. As in so many other things in Spain, there is no agreement about that spa, its possession and purpose, and its waters flow without healing, quenching thirst, or providing benefit.

This should be concerning in such a symbolic place, aside from where the very source of the Ebro River is located. Or from source to source, like in the game of goose, though worse is the situation of you for the delta and me for the spring. Pliny the Elder already spoke of the existence of Fontes Iberis near Julióbriga, ruins that are more than just a footprint of Roman sandals in Cantabria. The sources of the Ebro were also the sources of Iberia.