I had to crouch underneath a wire fence and drag my bike after me to get here last night; next to this dry river bed, dry bushes and litter, tucked away in a corner of the small town of Toubacouta. Now the sun is beaming down and I gather moist branches and bark and heave air from the depths of my lungs and into the roots of my suffering fire to make my coffee boil. A sticky, sweet-yellow mango for breakfast.

I came from the border and kept folding away the kilometers behind me despite the pitch black and the fear that sparked underneath my white, exceptional, conspicuous and noteworthy skin every time men kept yelling after me on the road.

Curiosity kept me going: I had read that in this water live algae that glow in the dark when they are moved, and I wanted to swim with them.

Exhausted and sweaty, the bike cast on the ground, I slid and slipped on the small rocks, on my tired feet, clamped down to the waterline. Small fishing boats silent in the back light. Plunged my arm in.

The water so warm, like in a bathtub. Like inside my own skin.

And it happened: small stars lit up beneath me in the black. Blinked. Swirled.

My breath got caught, stumbled; then fell out as laughter.

My clothes in a pile somewhere in the dark. I am only half-scared of some man passing this shore, half-scared of crocodiles eating me, though I don’t think they live here. I swim my strong arms out, into the stars swirling below and still above, body deep, deep down with small, blueish-glowing points kicked up by my feet. I dive; stars and galaxies light up around me.

The water is slightly salty too, just like me.

I submerge my ears and float in one space as I look up into the other. All difference disappears; the water same in-side and out-side the skin, same temperature, same salt; same universe of stars and galaxies above, and below, and inside me.

My heart the only sound through this water-body-space; life a loud, steady pulse.

The coffee is finished and it’s time to turn the bike upside down for the first go of the day at patching the tube. I rummage through my tools, drag everything out. A small white note falls out from one of the tubes. I pick it up, unfold and read:

If you find this chances are you have a smal breakdown xD
this is a little help from karma. you are an amazing person and you deserve it, if you find it but have no problem it means you are only allowed to spend it on your personal pleasure ; )

Folded inside is a 10 Euro bill, and I know exactly who has put it there.

…

(This story told in pictures.)