The Arrival

12th November, 12 AM. After of couple of flight hours and a short stop in Mukhalla, the Northern coast of Socotra finally appeared in all its beauty. Some of you know that airplanes and turbulences are not the things I like the most, so my happiness and relief was considerable at the end of my long way to my duty-station.

At the airport, seing a young gentleman holding a sign (“Robertto”) assured me that this time somebody came to pick me up: he was my assistant, who, during the following days, made clear that, without him being around most of the day, I would have had serious difficulties to get started. “Smile, you are in Socotra!” was what he said, while starting the engine of one of the Yemen Red Crescent Society pick-ups. I smiled, as actually nothing allowed me to do otherwise.

He took me to the house/office in Hadibo, capital village of the island. It’s a simple, beautiful house that quickly became my new home: my two-bed room, another room for guests (!), a terrace, a bathroom, the shelter for the generator, a kitchen, the actual office with its door to the outside. All this is scattered around a Socotri patio and garden, with a beautiful tree in the middle. The house is made of big stones held together with cement mixed with reddish sand and a wooden roof. I met my house-mates, mother cat Soma and her eight-months-old daughter, who I named Ona. Those of you who know how much I like cats should definitely be sure by now that yes, there are good reasons indeed to be happy in my new home.

I also met the lady who will take care of the house and cooking, she is always smiling. Yes, she grants me the honour to see her face, as she is used to the previous foreign inhabitants of the house and, after all, my house is not in a public place! The smell of the food she had prepared invited my assistant and me to the first Socotri lunch.

The day after, my assistant, who is rapidly becoming a friend, took me to one of the amazing beaches of the island to have lunch there with other colleagues and friends: another great experience of the flavours and tastes of the local food, as well as the kindness the people I was with. I later swam in perfectly clean water, exploring the amazing bottom of the shore: fish and crustaceans I even did not know they existed, and corals all over me. See picture obove.

The rest of my first week in Socotra was fast: meeting key people in key restaurants, shaking many hands here and there and starting the first professional activities.

Smile, I am in Socotra.