Day 42

Air / Water temperature: -6°C (-17°C at night) / 3°C

Wind direction / Bft: Southwest / 2-4

Area: THOLI STAGNUM (white gray air) – Nautical chart showing the route

Combuse: Milk shark (1.5 kg) break out intestines, cut into 2 cm thick slices, remove skin and detach meat from the bone. In a blender puree to a wet masala: 10 dried and partially deseeded chillies, 6 cloves garlic, 40 g of cleaned and coarsely chopped ginger, 1 coarsely chopped onion, 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 4 cloves, 4 cm cinnamon stick, 6 tablespoons water. Scrap the masala out of the blender glass and set aside. In the same blender glass puree 200 g chopped tomato with 3 dl of water and 1 teaspoon salt, set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil, sauté 1 finely chopped onion with a pinch of salt until glazed, add 60 curry leaves (6 branches) and fry for some seconds. Stir in masala and fry until it smells right. Deglaze with the tomato water from the blender, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes to get a thickish sauce. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and season with salt and vinegar. Add shark meat and let it cook in the sauce for 5 minutes. Serve with steamed rice. (More recipes from the Chief cook of «PS Narina»)

We’ve been at sea for 42 days in order to reach an island that is living its own life far away. But, what is the meaning, pray, of far away? Far away from where? For itself Santa Lemusa is very close. And for the inhabitants of the island, it is the centre of the universe: the navel, beginning and end. That’s the democratic way in which our earth functions; in a globe the centre can be everywhere: it depends only on the way one revolves it, and one’s position when it comes into focus.

In the world maps that hang on school walls in Europe the European continent lies, as though it’s the most natural thing to do, in the middle of the world. In the United States it’s America, while the Chinese place Peking at the core. Only in African schools is it different, they cannot afford to have world maps of their own; in its world maps, continents far away from the home country are degraded to the status of fringe zones. In a map that depicts Santa Lemusa as the centre, there are only ocean rings around the island, and the rest of the world is relegated to the sidelines.

Next day (43)

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