Eici l’aigo es d’or

The Durance river, crossing the Southeastern corner of France, was once one of the “three scourges of Provence” (les trois fléaux de la Provence in French / li tres flèu de la Prouvènço in the local Occitan), along with the Mistral wind and the Provençal Parliament. With wild rapids, a wide and shifting basin, dangerous floods, and droughts, the river was untamable, unpredictable. But while it was a source of complaint and frustration for centuries, called every brutal and negative name under the sun and ultimately “subjugated” and “beaten,” it has also always been the primary source of water for all of Southeastern France, a dry region where another diction, eici l’aigo es d’or, tells us that “here, water is gold”.