(Post published by Lorenzo Cipriani on Milanto Expedition: click here for the original post )
“The courage of the sailors does not lie in taking the waves, but in facing the departures” says Valerio as we tell each other the experiences we have lived in these two weeks in Lombok. And that’s right, every departure is painful, because you leave behind many memories of life, lived intensely in the different parts of the world we have visited. But starting from here is really difficult. The moon sets on the coast in front of the island of Gili Gede and traces a path of light on the placid sea of the lagoon, tomorrow we will set sail and leave the islands of Indonesia behind for a long crossing of the Indian Ocean to the island of Reunion.
I will take with me the memories of the days I spent surfing in Selong Bay with Sandy and the local surf community; the nights spent in Kuta, the songs sung to Ratu by the light of a candle; the atmosphere of freedom that we experienced in getting to know each other and talking with Nada, Marianne, Alan, Raymond and Michael. I will never forget Kim’s eyes that enchanted me from the first glance at Tanjiung Aan beach; his smile so kind and open to life is a precious gift that I carry in my heart. I will remember the scooter trips along the coast and in the countryside of the interior, where I stopped to talk with peasant families, children who went to school holding hands, a boy with a gun bigger than him, an elderly couple from toothless smile that I hugged from how beautiful and happy they were.Poverty is bad and ugly everywhere, but the atmosphere that is lived on this island always has the face of hope. The hope of a people that always smiles in the face of the many adversities of life and the thousand contradictions that our today’s societies have brought.
