Night in Tunisia

Liquid Night

Wednesday afternoon half the enda headquarters staff left for a
semi-annual review. It was planned that we would spend Wednesday
night, all day Thursday and most of Friday evaluating the work done to
date, and what was left to do in order to meet the organizational
objectives of 2005.

We had little time to play, with meetings taking between 8 and 12
hours per day, and it would have been nice to have more time to get
away, as we had driven 3 hours to Tabarka, on the North-West corner of
Tunisia, near Algeria, for the working retreat.

As it turned out, after a staff dinner in the little tourist port
town, we managed to sneak about 3 hours, between 11PM and 2AM to
ourselves. Myself, a French intern, and six Tunisians found our way
to the beach and dug our swim suits out of our bags. We took turns
changing under towels on the unlit beach until we (the five of us who
wished to brave the waters) were transformed into beach-goers.

Leaving our day clothes under the protective eyes of our colleagues,
we rushed the water, running until it was too deep and our legs got
tangled in the black mass of liquid and we toppled over. The water
was the same temperature as the air, and the only way to distinguish
between them was the soft englobing pressure of the salty sea water
below and the still air above. We splashed around for a few minutes,
reveling in the freedom of the wild water and the night, after such a
long day in uncomfortable seats around a board table.

It was with a soft intake of breath that I first noticed it: the
horizon. The horizon was indistinguishable. The starry sky overhead
was spangled with stars, several of them shooting and streaking away
in little winks of light. The water, the same dark colour as the sky,
ran away from the eye and into the sky, where their texture and colour
blended seamlessly. We were as good as swimming in the sky, I told my
friends, who smiled and agreed. And when we realized that there
phosphorescence were winking with our moving limbs we laughed and
declared that we could make our own stars. It was a wonderful moment,
and we stayed floating in the dark water until we were too sleepy to
stay any longer.

What a feeling to float in the darkness all wrapped in the salty night
sky. I recommend it to anyone, anytime.

posted by tiaraletourneau @ 3:18 p.m.