Riding the waves.

         "Even before embarking on their journeys, explorers usually are weird and non-conformist, children whit a mindset free of convection and received asumptions", Aberto Salza dixit.

         My name was Hassam and this was my story, my dream, to be wind and to ride the waves. I was a little child, and taking a stroll with my father, when I saw another shore in the clear day. I asked him what shore was that, and he answered that it was Spain. My father talked me that the gods seemed to have chosen the straits of Gibraltar as their dwelling for the winds. These were the emigrants whith a dream: to transform the long aventure into a stroll to the paradaise from childhood. If you were a wind, you would choose worse spots in the world. A port localet in the bisection of two seas, the departure from one continent in order to reach another one which tradicionally had seemed to be more distant than in reality.

         My father had only left Morocco once in his life, when he emigrated to Europe, and his memories concerning the world outside our territory, and his dreams, had this geographic reference. All emigrants had dreams of the another shore. And he managed to achive that my firts shore was the one rigth across from us, so close that in my imagination I could reach Spain swimming.  That may explain why, sometime later, standing in the harbour I took great delight in watching the arrivals of the ferry, and was always tempted by the possibility of jumping aboard in order to reach my personal across the waters. As a young man, I spent many a night aboard the old tub, and the journey was a sort of dream come true for me. Then, I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful sunrise over that shore, the happy culmination of my journey. I will remember being sick on a ship that constantly will roll from side to side, transforming my sleep in a veritable nightmare. However this will be a necessary price to pay for my dream and my adventure, while I knew perfectly how short was the journey these days. A person needed on hour to confortable cross from one shore to the other.

         Across history, many emigrants crossed the straits of Gibraltar and chose to stay in Spain for ever. The winds blowing between the two continents will remain in our memory forever.