ONTO THE OTHER SIDE

by Lorena Moreno Vera

Call me old-fashioned, but I swear I have my reasons.

I've been living on this side of the Mediterranean for several years now, so many that I need several fingers on my hand to count them [the man smiles]. I heard the story of a woman who, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, ventured to swim the English Channel. She talked about the exhausting months of training leading up to her attempt. Once the day arrived, she set sail from Dover at midnight in a boat with her family.

When the moment came just before diving into the water for an adventure that would take at least fourteen hours, she realized the vastness of the sea. That feeling of enormity and uncertainty that only the sea can give. During the journey, she fought against the cold of the water, the darkness, the scourge of jellyfish, the fear of everything that the eye cannot see, and the exhaustion of her own body.

A cada brazada, el azul interminable.

Humans have always sought to “run that extra mile,” either by testing ourselves physically or trying to conquer our environment. Undoubtedly, a woman at 50 years of age managing to cross 56 kilometers in 52,600 strokes is a more amazing feat than transforming the horizon into a veritable armada of modes of transportation.