I wanted to stand on the bridge and paint, so as to be able to see the riverbed, the village and Troodos, majestic as it appears from this side of Cyprus, but it was impossible because of the traffic. I drove along the riverbed, from Kantou to where the river meets the Bay of Kourion, and back. Below the village of Erimi I was finally able to enter the dry riverbed. I walked for hours hunched over, searching for the turquoise marks, the picrolite pebbles. At first I couldn’t distinguish them, hidden as they were among the grey and white river stones of all sizes. I was sweating profusely, the riverbed draws humidity, but I also felt an intense joy, I felt as if I had entered the vortex of time, repeating ancient movements, touching the thread of the beginning of things. I eventually sat down and drew the riverbed between the two hills and the surrounding vegetation towards the sea. Then the sun set and all the colours changed.
