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The old ferryboat tottered slowly back
and forth, its bilge pumps laboring loudly and
continuously, intermittently spitting streams of
brackish, oily water into the blue-green Adriatic. To our
port side, off in the hazy distance, floated the rocky
shore of Corfu. Ahead and to starboard hovered dry,
tumbled hills, shimmering and barren. A wave heaved
itself up onto the desolate, boulder-strewn beach, only
to roll right back into the sea, frustrated. Across from
me, a young man with curly blond hair and giant Dumbo
ears removed his old, worn tennis shoes and nonchalantly
tossed them overboard. Smiling, gap-toothed, he put on
new footwear, purchased during his ill-fated and illegal
trip to Greece. All the men on the boat, the whole
rag-tag lot of them, were deportees, being forcibly
returned to their homeland. Monastery of ShÎn Mri in Apollonia, Albania, headquarters for the Mallakastra Regional Archaeological Project. (Photo by Michael L. Galaty) PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 1 OF 5 | NEXT PAGE |