November 9, 2024
Cape Verde Islands - honestly had never heard of them before!
We had a day at sea after Dakar, Senegal to sail west to the 10 islands of Cape Verde. All are inhabited, except one which has no drinking water. The Portuguese found them virtually unspoiled back in 1462, colonized them and they just became independent in 1975 making Praia their capital city on the island of Santiago. Today they export salt and charcoal and rely on tourism for 25% of their economy. They were a port in the African slave trade for mostly enslaved originating from Senegal and Sierra Leone. Today, there is still a significant portion of their population from Senegal and the can travel freely between the 2 countries. I put together a group of 8 of us to do a full day and island tour of Santiago, we docked at Praia and had to clear customs, then we meet guide and van driver just outside dock. I booked tour thru viator for 4 of us and then once had direct contact was with local guide, via whatapp, was able to add 4 more that wanted to join us. Turned out to be a really fun group. We shared lots of laughs and memorable moments!
The tour took us thru the capital city of Praia into the countryside, with the first stop being the above local family's home for a cooking lesson and taste of the local's breakfast. We were greeted by genuinely joyful women, who just wanted to dance and smiling men playing the music. I am not sure whose home it was, but they could not have more gracious. The ladies then taught us how to make Cuscuz (corn meal steamed) bread and Fidjos (banana fritters) and we danced some more while it cooked.
The tour group had another van load at the house the same time as us. The two young gentlemen pictured here, one in white tee from Ukraine and his friend in green from Poland. I told the Ukraine one i liked his t shirt - he laughed and said he borrowed from his friend in green. I said it looked like California imagined, he agreed but when I asked, did he get on trip there? He laughed and said no, Poland. We all chuckled! And we had several smaller conversations, like this, as we kept meeting up with their van, at almost all of our stops.
Below are some photos from our host's home. The bedrooms, bathroom and living room were on the ground floor and upstairs was the huge open-air space with views of the valley. The rooms on the ground floor stayed nice and cool being out of the sun and made out of concrete block. They had all the basic needs - stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, flat screen tv & a motor cycle in the garage.
From breakfast in Sao Domingos area we traveled north through the center of the island, winding up and down hills and mountains of the countryside. We then headed to the stunning beach area at the far north end of the island, Tarrafal - for swimming and lunch.
