Eleutheromania

When I got on that ship, I knew what I would have seen, but I couldn't predict what I would have felt.

I remember the capitan, Edoardo, he had that kind of glance in the eyes that one would never forget, ice-blue eyes penetrating my dark eyes. I remember his handshake, strong and firm, and I remember his smile and the surprise in his eyes in finding out that also my long fingers could face his big hands.

We were a little white spot in the ocean when we stopped to wait. Everyone's eyes were wide open scanning the water, we were all waiting. I was there, with the feet almost dangling, ready to see it. And all of a sudden the show exploded, and it was there, that enormous whale's muzzle, and a common breath from all of us was heard, in unison, and then silence again. I couldn't close my eyes, I didn't want to miss not even a second of that gorgeous creature. It was there, standing majestically in front of us, so close you could almost touch it by stretching your hands. Its arrival started the show and slowly, as if their shyness had been suppressed, some others approched. They were appearing out of the water‘s surface, completely upright, it seemed like they wanted to observe us, understand us, one could see their eyes and if one was careful enough, it was possible to spot something into their eyes, in their gaze.

When I went on that ship I knew I would have seen them, but I couldn't expect the throb of my heart while waiting, the excitement when I saw them, the feeling of being complete. I couldn't imagine to see them so closely I could touch them, to feel them so closely, to be wet by their own water. In that infinite time I was exactly where I wanted to be, there, in the middle of the ocean with the eyes and the heart filled with life.

Going back to the coast felt like loosing a friend, getting off that ship felt like loosing someone you love.

I was nearly at the end of the world, in Patagonia, and I had the feeling of being at the beginning of the life. And I was, and I am, at the beginning of the life.