When I arrived the first thing I did was read the warning sign at the foot of the pier: “Danger. Don’t pass.” But there was nothing blocking access, so I walked out to find the fishermen.
Orlando caught my attention when he claimed to have seen elves in the salt mine. I asked what they were like, and he answered, “They’re small with elongated ears, very mocking, the size of children, and very ugly.”
When they were ready to start the pageant the girls looked nervous, and some appeared envious of others who had more elegant dresses. The prison guards approached curiously to praise some for being prettier than others.
The hummingbirds were so small that any one of them could easily fit into the palm of my hand. Their wings produced a unique sound, especially when they dipped downward and changed speed.
Some of these captives had been gone for 14 years, but they still walked very slowly on the airport runway. It seemed to me that they were carrying the weight of so many years of the horror they lived.
The last time Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi traveled to western Europe, she was feted as the freshly elected civilian ruler of a fledgling democracy who had brought an end to half a century of military dictatorship.