Mahas salaama!

Those who live the life in successive geographical contexts should be used to start and finish each stage, like awaking and falling asleep, day after day. It should be easy after some years… Some would look back to the runway the plane just took off from, other would just relax and think about the nice things they would do back home, before leaving for a new adventure… Sometimes I cursed the place I was leaving behind in anger and frustration; sometimes I cried during goodbyes to friends I may not see again; sometimes I just could not care less.

However I shall feel, this stage of my life has reached its end. Unless Yemenia comes out with a last-minute nasty joke, I shall soon say farewell to Socotra, like many other tourists did before me. I may not see again such beautiful beaches again, or won’t have the chance to work among very peaceful people anymore. But these last timeless weeks made clear to me that it is about time to go. Sure, it will not be easy to say “good luck” to Ona and Soma: most probably this would be the only tear I shall shed; the monsoons that started last week undressed my tree and spread around my patio foreign garbage. There is nothing left for me here.

“And still those voices are calling from far away”. I cannot track down the source yet, but I hear them loud and clear. Like the Argonauts, I shall not resist the Sirens; anyway, to bind myself to the mast would not be a wise thing to do, for this ship is now sinking. Who knows: maybe a sweet mermaid will take me to the happy djinns beneath the sea; or maybe I shall just drown somewhere else…I have to find out; I shall definitely answer the call.

To you, who followed this blog from time to time or came across it while searching for something totally different, I would like to express my gratitude for the attention you have paid to my words, or for the comments you left behind. I just hope that, in addition to the personal satisfaction and self-entertainment I had in leaving behind these footprints on Socotra, you also had some good time while walking with me for a while, on this wonderful island.

All people I talk to are sure that Socotra will dramatically change in the near future, and not for good. Hurry up! Eve has already bitten the apple: one of the last paradises on earth is about to disappear for ever.

Mahas salaama!