I left to the chosen destination not very well informed. I had a busy period before the holiday and too less time to gather some proper information as I normally do before visiting a new country. Cape Verde was actually the second option, the first one being The Gambia, which had no vacancies for that period.
After a six hours flight without turbulence, a film, a few dozen pages of my book and some M&M (I swear I did not buy it myself, I was corrupted by the travelling companion), the pilot announced we are approaching the airport of Boa Vista, the temperature is 33°C and sunny and fifteen minutes later the plane was landing. Successfully landed, we gathered our belongings, including our kid and stepped out from the plane’s air conditioning directly into the 33°C, felt even hotter since we were coming from 3°C. We undressed some layers of our clothes, strategically arranged to be suitable for both 3°C and 30°C and twenty steps from the plane’s stair we were entering into Rabil International, a small exotic airport. We encountered a nearly empty airport, there were just us, the passengers of the flight Amsterdam – Boa Vista and the airport’s staff. I haven’t seen more than one runway, so it’s unlikely to have been crowded anyway 🙂 Arrived at the customs, we filled the visa forms (you can get the visa at your arrival in the airport) and tried to remember a few Spanish words. I realized that if I would have watched soap operas, it would have been helping at that moment 🙂 The customs officer stared at us, stared at our passports and finally  seriously stamped the three documents. We collected our luggage and the travel agent assigned us to the bus number 5 (there were only two buses, number 1 and 2 … ). After precisely five minutes by bus, we arrived at the accommodation. In the bungalow were no more than 17°C, which, two days later, combined with plenty of ice in all beverages except coffee, brought very much happiness to my husband – a total lack of my voice.  I couldn’t talk at all for the coming three days 🙂

Our hotel, Club Riu Karamboa, was located on a white sandy endless beach with crystal clear water. Years ago, the area where is now the hotel was covered with vegetation, but due to drought and a poor agriculture policy, the area became dry and very arid. I don’t know how many employees the resort had, but it was looking like hard-working bees buzzing around to make tourists happy, continuously cleaning behind the lazy tourists eager to linger in the sun. I watched them discreetly behind my sunglasses as they worked, danced and smiled. Locals often say no stress, no stress and greet you happily with ola.
Cape Verde is an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands arranged in a horseshoe shape, located 570 kilometers from the west coast of Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Cape Verde Islands were uninhabited. The islands were discovered by the Genoese and Portuguese navigators around 1456. According to official Portuguese, the first discoveries were made by António de Noli, who was later appointed Governor of Cape Verde by Portuguese King Alfonso V. In the 16th century, the archipelago prospered from the slave trade. The decline in the slave trade during the 19th century led to an economic crisis and prosperity slowly disappeared in Cape Verde. Since 1951, the islands were seen as an overseas department of Portugal and their independence was achieved peacefully in 1975. Praia became the capital in 1770. Cape Verde Islands have a population of just over half a million inhabitants, the majority being Roman Catholic. The islands are divided into two groups: Barvalento islands (Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista) and Sotavento islands (Maio, Santiago, Fogo, Brava).  Our accommodation was in Praia de Salines in Boa Vista island and we visited Sal Rei.

With a population of 9 000 inhabitants, Boa Vista is the third largest island in the archipelago of Cape Verde, after Santo Antão and Santiago. In Portuguese boa vista means good view. The island is known for the marine turtles, traditional music, for its ultramarathon and sandy dunes. Regarding music, do you know that song Bésame mucho (como fuera esta noche la última vez …)? Sure you know it, all lovebirds sing it once in their lifetime waiting with pursed lips ready for a kiss. The lady singing this song barefoot on stage, Cesaria Évora, is born in beautiful Cape Verde.

A variety of rare birds attracts every year ornithologists worldwide in Cape Verde, the beaches are often full of birds and crabs. The ocean is an explosion of colors, fish, dolphins, turtles and whales. For fishing enthusiasts is a true paradise! Professional and amateur fishermen rent boats for sea trips searching for a memorable catch. Memorable was also the ocean fishing trip of my husband! I was so close to collect a life insurance policy 🙂 The fishing trip was scheduled from 2 am to 6 pm. Around 6 pm, I was in the bungalow, waiting for the fisherman with great news about how many sharks/whales/beasts he has caught and how this would have been the best fishing from the entire intergalactic world. An hour later, I was still waiting. I thought maybe he was talking longer to the boatman, with a glass of grog in his hand (grog is the local drink, 43% alcohol, made from sugar cane and having a terrible taste in my opinion). Around 9 p.m. I was really starting to get worried. I was imagining already how we lose the plane the next day, the kid missing the school and spending my time wailing around the embassy that I have lost the husband fishing. I was running between the reception and the beach thinking of a solution. The beach was as black as my thoughts. I start thinking what shall I do if, you know, husband was the dinner of a shark. Almost two hours later and a possible heart attack from my side, and the lost fisherman arrives hungry, thirsty and happy to be still alive. There was windy all day, but on the ocean, it started a storm with waves beyond the tin boat. In fact, not the storm was the problem, though I imagine he must have been embraced fondly any railing of the boat, not to be thrown out of the funny boat, like a steak for the sharks. The real problem was the engine which died unexpectedly when to return. And this is how the fun began. There was not a millimeter of sandy beach in the sight, in the deep dark night, the boat was poorly lit and filled permanently with water due to the high waves. It was fun and adventurous until the damn boat started to sink and the fisherman to realize that it’s no joke. Desperate, the boatman opened all the boat covers and saw that the boat was full of water. As the boat was accepting its fate and was slowly sinking, the boatman began to call for help. Emergency, emergency. The mind of a relaxed human being (is not for nothing that they say no stress, no stress) sent a tiny boat with four men and four buckets. The four men with buckets pass into the fishing boat and start to take out the water. The tiny boat which brought the helping guys left. It’s to laugh and cry at the same time. The four men threw out forty liters of water and the ocean was doubling the thrown water with just a new wave. Our fishing boat, old as the fisherman himself, was slowly having to become the new Titanic. The boatman decided that the rescue isn’t really working, grabbed again his telephone seriously typing the Morse code. A new promise: another boat is going to arrive for a rescue operation in some minutes. After almost an hour, it was still as dark as hell and not even a sparrow had arrived. I’ve could imagine husband looking around for any object that might float, in the possibility of Titanic scene and how, by radicals, integrals, differentials and abscissas, he was calculating how far offshore the boat was and how much he must swim during his own Sea Rescue Operation. He was surely wondering if he could swim that much. I’m sure he could, but it would have not been necessary since halfway he would have become a delicious Dutch dinner for the sharks. Finally, the rescue boat triumphantly arrived and rescued the fisherman from the ocean waves and the sharks from indigestion 🙂 Obviously, the fishing boat did not have life jackets, but it seems logical, isn’t it?

Let’s return to our island. Each year, Boa Vista is a landscape of marathons, the most famous one is an ultramarathon of 150 km on sandy arid beaches. The event is called Boa Vista Ultra Trail and includes an Ultramarathon of 150 km around the periphery of the island, a 70 km Marathon whose finish line is in one of the last remaining salt on the island and a 42 km Eco-Marathon. The event takes place in December each year. You can read more about the event here.

In Boa Vista we visited Sal Rei. With its pale unfinished houses, with shriveled paint, some close to collapse, Sal Rei seems a sleepy little town. The first visit was to a primary school. I’ve never felt more compassionate towards children than here. Someone in our group gave them pens (the cheap ones in Europe), stickers and balloons. The joy of those children is difficult to explain in words. The school, the classes, everything was old and partially damaged, but, most of the cars I’ve seen in the city were SUVs! From school, we walked to the fish market in  Sal Rei, a market for small fish, located on Avenida dos Pescadores, just behind the Praia Diante beach. The dry fish is sold on the street, laying on a sheet of paper, women are washing their laundry or the dishes in the ocean across the street, mothers are breastfeeding their children sitting on the ground in front or at the corner of the house! There are two extremes in the African world, luxury resorts for tourists and poverty inhabitants! What to us seems to be normal, unthinkable to live without, there, do not exist or exist only in their imagination as an unattainable luxury. However, here people are happy with their lives.

If you visit the Cape Verde islands, you have to try their traditional food, cachupa. This is a stew of corn, onions, green bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage and sometimes bacon. It is seasoned with bay leaf, garlic and chili and it can be made with beef, pork or fish (cachupa rica). Another tasty dish is feijoada stew, which is made of beans. You can try as well canja galinha, a rice soup with chicken and caldo de peixe, a fish soup. Prices may vary. A meal for three people, with local wines, cost between € 25 and € 30. The local beer is usually around 150 ECV per liter (ECV = Cabo Verde escoudos). One euro is 110 ECV.

We had a lovely adventurous holiday, I finished four books and we have seen beautiful places. If you love white sandy beaches with crystal clear water, the Cape Verde islands are a perfect destination!