Two days to build it, twenty minutes to dismantle it . That’s life.

Today, the journey on the fifth most plastic-polluted river in the world has reached the finish destination.

Calcutta, initially, was not meant to be my my final destination because I wanted to navigate up to the delta of the river, but it is nature that has decided for us again. The navigation ban in a stretch south of Calcutta, the danger of sudden tidal waves, the shallow water and the difficulties of transport have forced us to make new plans and accept them. And in the end, I have to be honest, I’m so happy because in fact Calcutta is the last big city on the river before the mouth and today it was really a wonderful day to finish the navigation.

At 2 pm, that same boat that I spent two whole days to build, which accompanied me for 1100 km, was dismantled in just twenty minutes and its pieces donated to some fishermen.

Two days to build it, twenty minutes to dismantle it . That’s life.

For most of the journey I have had two words running in my mind, these are the words I have repeated myself more often: horrible and wonderful. These are the two words that best describe the Ganges. Horrible is the state of degradation, exploitation and destruction to which it is subjected to. Wonderful is its water which, in the second part of the Ganges, incessantly creates and destroys. Just like Shiva.

It will take me a few days before I can draw the final conclusions, which I will not fail to share. Meanwhile, I wanted to thank all of you who have been of great support. Although this was not a race or an expedition, you did cheer for me and this gives me courage and enthusiasm to continue the project that, instead, has just begun.

Now I will take a little break to rest, but within a few weeks I will be starting to work on the next stage: the crossing of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this summer. Once again rowing.

I also have to give my sincere thanks to the partners of the mission, without whom the project would have been simply impossible to undertake. I already talked about my team, but I owe these two guys and Mauro the photographer a special thank you because they were all extremely helpful, as well as being personally involved in the mission.

One last very important thank you goes to my family, my wife co-creator of this project and my daughters who complained a lot about my absence lately.

A big hug from me.

Alex

photo credit: Mauro Talamonti