Cape Verde April 2014 - Part IV: Mindelo

//To the first post about Cape Verde (Santiago: Praia)//
//To the second post about Cape Verde (Road trip Santiago)//
//To the third post about Cape Verde (Santiago: Tarrafal)//

After more than a week on the road, discovering Santiago island, we took a flight to Mindelo. Mindelo is the principal town of São Vicente, and many say it's Cape Verde's secret capital. São Vicente is one of the Ilhas de Barlavento, the northern part of the country, about 200 km from Santiago. The flight takes less than one hour, but as regular readers of my blog might know, I don't like flying very much, despite many months of confrontation therapy. And while some people might enjoy flights in unusually small planes at night, with the lights in the cabin off and nothing at all to see outside the windows - well, I don't. But we landed safely and took a taxi to get to our hotel. Because we knew we would arrive late at night, we had booked in advance. Hotel Gaudi is one of the hotels in Mindelo offering european standard, and while our room was smaller than we expected, it was clean and the staff at the hotel was very friendly. So we were looking forward to a nice weekend in Mindelo - in hindsight definitely one of my favourite places in Cape Verde..

After a not so calm night (weekend nights in Mindelo are party time, obviously), we enjoyed the breakfast at the hotel's restaurant very much - papaya salad with goat cheese became one of the things I will always remember when thinking about this trip, so yummy!

We started our stay in Mindelo with a walk along the bay, shortly visiting the fish market (not my favourite place), getting lost in the alleyways between colonial-style buildings, coming back to the harbour (to check out the ferry schedules and see the rescue boats - Monsieur can't pass by any emergency vehicle, I assume this is called déformation professionnelle), and when we already thought about returning to the city centre we arrived at this incredible beach. White sand, turquoise sea, it could be a tropical paradise - if not for industrial companies right on the other side of the street. For me this is another example of how tourism does not really work yet in Cape Verde - of course the noisy and ugly industrial buildings have to be somewhere, but does it have to be right where most tourists will stand in awe and stare at this wonderful beach? We tried to ignore this contradiction and enjoyed the white sand and warm water very much, finally we could go for a swim again!

Back in the city, we were hungry, and it didn't take us long to find Casa Café. It's a really nice place, good coffee and some traditional dishes - of which you should have tried at least the Cachupa. Cachupa is Cape Verde's national dish, but in case you're looking for recipes, I think there are more than you can count and it is served in many different ways. I ate it in different locations and liked the one at Casa Cafè the best as it reminded me of the traditional meals from the region where I grew up - not because they taste the same, but because they follow the same principle: they are made of the things even poor people always had around, like flour (of different sorts), potatoes - adding whatever kind of (cheap) meat and vegetables you have at hand. I think there are so many different versions of these dishes because they have been varied by people who didn't have all ingredients at hand. And still they are considered traditional =) Yesterday's Cachupa is often fried in the morning and enjoyed for breakfast. I must admit I didn't try this...

Compared to Praia or even Tarrafal, Mindelo felt very different to us. The atmosphere is more lively, the city seems to be more welcoming. Some people say Mindelo is more "european", and I'm not exactly sure what they mean by this, but I still can understand why they say it. The history of São Vicente (and thus, Mindelo) is shaped by other milestones than Santiago's. Discovered in 1642, the very small island has only been used by the farmers of neighbouring Santo Antão as pasture for their livestock. The lack of water makes São Vicente difficult to live on, so it was more or less uninhabited, except for pirates who used the natural harbour as their hideout. The 19th century brought new people to São Vicente: Mindelo became a coal deposit for the steam boats of the British East India Company and later for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. Mindelo had about 1400 inhabitants in the 1850s, and when the first submarine communications cable was laid between Europe, Africa, India and North America, the city became an important communications centre for the British empire. Mindelo has seen people from all over the world, mostly seamen, and has become a cultural melting pot - while, for example, Santiago's diversity today originates mostly in slave trade. I don't know if these facts are able to still influence the atmosphere of a city, but to me Mindelo seems to be much more open towards people from other countries than Praia. Certainly the expats living in Mindelo make part of the difference, but then again there must also be many of them in Praia, the capital, with all the diplomatic and governemental institutions...

Talking about cultural melting pot, it would be a sin to write about Mindelo and not mentioning her: Cesária Évora. If you've never heard the name: don't google her. But next time you feel tired of living in a rainy, grey place kept hostage by European autumn or winter, lay down on your bed or in your armchair, click on this video and listen to Cesária Évora for 90 minutes. You might want to pack your bags and go somewhere warm afterwards, but your heart will be full of Cape Verdean sun for a while. Promise!

Mindelo shows the signs of decades of English colonial life - but the portuguese influence is clearly visible as well. Starting our tour at the fish market, we noticed it right away: the building that tries to look very portuguese.

If you've never been to Lisbon, you might not realise which building this one is meant to look like, the Torre de Belém. The one in Mindelo is also called Torre de Bélem, the portuguese built it because they didn't want the city to look too English. Nice try, but the tower in Mindelo really can't be compared to the one in Lisbon, which is one of the most fascinating buildings I have ever visited.

Walking along the seashore in Mindelo, we saw two monuments we wanted to know more about. Thankfully, our guidebook was well informed. 

Both of them want people to remember the story of Gago Coutinho. He was an aviatic pioneer from Portugal and the first to cross the South Atlantic Ocean by air, from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro (together with Sacadura Cabral in 1922). But why are there two monuments for this in Mindelo? Their plane didn't have enough fuel capacity to do the whole trip in one leg, so several stops were required. The one in Mindelo, however, was not intended from the start, but caused by technical problems. Thinking about how easily we cross the Atlantic in airplanes today, it is incredible that this adventure happened less than 100 years ago. They had to do emergency stopovers on small islands somewhere in the ocean and once they had to be rescued by a freighter because they had been forced to land on water in the middle of nowhere. They couldn't finish their journey with the airplane they started with, in fact they needed three of them! You can read a summary of this fascinating story here. And, even more interesting (I think) - here you can find some photos from when the two adventurers were welcomed in Mindelo.

It is not surprising that the beautiful colours of the sea often bring Mindelo's visitors back to the shore, but there are other interesting places to discover. For example Praça Amílcar Cabral (more about him in my last post), a square full of history but still very lively today. There you can find the museum of traditional arts, which we visited out of curiosity. It was really worth it. The building itself is stunning, and the exhibition shows a lot about Cape Verdes history and traditions. I like the Pano d'obra and was very, very tempted to buy one, but then again the women of Cape Verde wear it around their hips - and this would not be suitable for everyday life in Europe, I'm afraid. You can find more about the museum here (in French, but look at the pictures!).

Mindelo's indoor market is the most beautiful I have seen in Cape Verde, the building itself is worth seeing, and in there you can find a huge choice of fruit and vegetables as well as everything else you need to cook fresh dishes - including meat and fish. We bought piri piri chilies as a present for our friends and family members who like to cook, and the encounter with the market-woman who sold them was really funny and a good example for how communication works if people are open-minded and friendly, even if they don't understand each others' language. I asked the woman about the price for one of the little bags with piri piri and she showed me with her fingers, saying the number in portuguese (which is more or less as much as I understand, numbers up to ten, hello and good bye =) - and I told her I want to have three. When I wanted to give her the money, she didn't have the coins to give me the change, and just when I wanted to tell her it was okay, she gave me another bag of chilies and put my money in her pocket, laughing. It was a good deal - I only paid half the price for one of the chili bags - but the situation itself was really interesting and touching.
Later we stepped up to the second floor of the building. From up there, you have the nicest view on the market life, I could've watched for hours.

One of the last stops of our tour around Mindelo was the old school building Jorge Barbosa / Gil Eames. It is a fascinating place, run-down, but still it's clear that the school has a long story. Amílcar Cabral was a pupil there, and many other cape verdeans as well. You can find old photos of the building here.

We really enjoyed Mindelo, it felt a bit like breathing freely again after the slightly tense atmosphere we experienced in some places on Santiago. And we were excited to depart for the last island we wanted to visit: Santo Antão.

Cape Verde April 2014 - Part III: Santiago - Tarrafal, Serra Malagueta and back to Praia

// To the first post on Cape Verde //
// To the second post on Cape Verde //

Tarrafal

After an adventurous day driving across the whole island, we arrived in Tarrafal. Finding a hotel was not easy at all although Tarrafal is the only real spot for tourists in Santiago. But Easter is one of the really busy weekends, rich people from Praia come and spend some days on the beach - partying. This meant that we were really happy to find a hotel room at all, and we didn't care much that it was windowless (!!). No match for our balcony with a view back in Rui Vaz, but then again - we'd spend most of the time outside the room anyway. That evening though, going to the beach was somewhat out of the question, the noisy party crowd really ruined this for us. But we walked around the town for a while, looking for a place for dinner. We ended up at Maracuja (where we ate one more time during our stay in Tarrafal, the choice of restaurants is not huge and we really, really liked it there!) - I had a fantastic piece of tuna, equally great crêpe for dessert, and the atmosphere was very nice. After a good night's sleep despite the AC (windowless room strikes back), we were up for a bit of discovering Tarrafal. We went to the market to buy papayas and talked to some of the merchants who often come from mainland Africa and speak French. I also bought jewellery made of cocoa nuts, horn and mother of pearl, and met a little girl who sat under a table and rubbed my bare leg (she was curious about its colour) - we had a really nice morning.

Tarrafal

Street art in Tarrafal.

In the afternoon we went to visit the Concentration Camp just outside Tarrafal. It was built by the portuguese dictator Salazar back in the thirties to keep political prisoners behind bars - and far away from Portugal, most of them being opponents to his regime. The camp was closed in 1954, but re-opened in 1961 to imprison activists who worked against the colonial rule in Cape Verde, Angola and Guinea (today Guinea-Bissau). It's a sad, depressing place, and at the same time a symbol for the history of this country - owing Europe its very existence, but also having a long and depressing history as a colony and place for slave trade.

Concentration Camp in Tarrafal.

The pebble beach close to the Concentration Camp.

Talking about the fight against colonialism in Cape Verde, one name needs to be written down (standing for all the others who fought at his side): Amílcar Cabral. Born in Guinea-Bissau to Cape Verdean parents, he later went to Portugal for education. As a student in Lisbon, he founded movements agains the dictatorship as well as portuguese colonialism, and when he returned to Africa in the 1950s, he became one of the leaders of the independence movements in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Angola. The war for independence made it necessary for Cabral to become a guerilla leader, besides he was a writer an political thinker. Amílcar Cabral was murdered in 1973 and didn't see the independence he fought for. Cape Verde finally became independent in 1975.

The mural shows Amílcar Cabral and a quote by him, it says (more or less): "I swore to myself that I have to give my life, all my energy, all my courage, all my ability I may have as a man, until the day I die in the service of my people, Guinea and Cape Verde. Serving the cause of humanity, to give my contribution, to the extent possible, for the life of man become best in the world. This is it, my work."

Tarrafal served as starting point for two day trips, on one of them we visited the Poilon. The Poilon is a huge and very, very old kapok tree, some say it's the oldest tree in Cape Verde. To get there, we parked our car besides a little church on top of the valley, and for some reason I can't seem to understand anymore, we decided not to change our shoes and not to take extra water. Maybe one of our guidebooks said it was an easy walk. So we visited the Poilon wearing Sneakers and only carrying two small water bottles instead of the full camelbaks we had in the car. There's not exactly a signposted way to the Poilon, you have to find your path down into the valley on your own or asking locals (which we did, twice, more or less successfully). The descent took us through a very poor village. This was the first time in Cape Verde we really met people living in such difficult circumstances. We felt completely out of place when we ended up in one of the huts' backyards, asking a woman for the way to the Poilon. She showed us through another backyard and towards the end of the village, where a dirt road led to the Poilon. Small children ran after us, yelling "money, money!". Arriving at the Poilon felt like a huge relief: this incredible tree has seen so much and still stands in its valley, towering above all the other trees, peaceful and mighty. We needed a break, ate something and took some photos before climbing up towards the village again. That it would have been better to wear trekking shoes became clear right when we started the descent, and now we realized that we didn't bring enough water. So the way back to our car was really exhausting. We met a group of women and children from the poor village, wearing their nicest clothes and shoes, we guessed they were on their way to the church, after all it was Easter week. When we arrived in the churchyard, we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of people, waiting for the service. We were by far the whitest people, we must have looked weary, were soaked with sweat and certainly didn't wear clothes fit for church. Oh well. We crossed the yard as quickly as possible, arrived back at the car and were really happy about the water we had there. Surely not one of our best moments. But the Poilon was definitely worth it.

...find the Poilon...

...yes, it's huge.

The other day trip brought us to Serra Malagueta national park. It is situated on a plateau, offering great views and many possibilities for hiking. We really enjoyed our day there.

On our last evening in Tarrafal, we enjoyed the (finally!) less crowded beach, went swimming and later for dinner in a really great italian restaurant, the "Alto Mira". The pizza was fantastic, the atmosphere in the romantic courtyard totally took us by surprise. A beautiful place for a last evening on a confusing but also fascinating island...

Our last day on Santiago was dedicated to driving back to Praia, this time taking the road along the east coast of the island. "Road" is a flexible concept in Cape Verde, as you might have guessed. The road from Praia to Assomada and Tarrafal is mostly paved, as is the coast road. For all the other streets on Santiago, you'll find everything from cobblestones (more or less well-kept) to dirt roads (more or less covered in potholes). When we visited the northernmost point of Santiago, Ponta Moreia, even our 4x4 car struggled, although this might just have been my amateur perspective, Monsieur (aka "the driver") seemed to have enjoyed it a lot. Much to our surprise, we actually encountered an Aluguer mini bus out there, a group of fishermen had rented it for a weekend trip. I have no idea how they managed to drive the Aluguer there without ending up stuck in a pothole.

Ponta Moreia

On the road.

These experiences led to us asking ourselves about the history of paved roads and tarmac - in Europe. How long have our roads been tarmaced? Wikipedia says tarmac has been patented in 1901, but actually, roads have been paved with tar in Baghdad as far back as the 8th century AD. Well, the Cape Verdean version of pavement most often requires a skilled driver and a sturdy car. The coast road back to Praia, however, is of the more comfortable sort. We really enjoyed this journey, it took us through jungle-like valleys and to incredibly beautiful beaches, until we arrived back in the capital in time to bring back the car.

East coast Santiago

Pedra Badejo

We had enough time to visit the plateau once more, and I noted another Cape Verde question for later research: what is the reason why so many chinese people live on Santiago? Almost everywhere we took a break to drink or eat something, the small grocery stores were owned by chinese families, and, as our hosts in Praia told us, the parliament building and even the presidential palace have been built by the chinese. I know that China is investing in many african countries, but so far I thought this is about natural resources. Cape Verde, however, doesn't have any of those, the islands are small and really not very interesting in terms of economical profit. So: what is it that brings the chinese people there? I found the answer in this article, more about the business relations between the two countries can be found here. Turns out it all started with politics - China didn't want Cape Verde to recognize Taiwan as an independent country, and so it set about "convincing" them... hard to say if the benefits are bigger than the (moral) difficulties originating from this double edged relationship.

And here's the last picture I took in Praia before leaving for the airport - it was a really beautiful afternoon, and the city is one of the most interesting places I've been to so far, although at the same time one of the most challenging.

Cape Verde April 2014 - Part II: Road trip Santiago

//Here's the first post about Cape Verde//
We left Praia with our rented car and drove along the cost towards Cidade Velha. Cape Verde has (as far as science knows today) not been inhabited before the Europeans came, and when they came, they landed in Ribeira Grande (renamed Cidade Velha, "old town" in the 18th century) on Santiago island. When the Portuguese "discovered" Santiago around 1460, they claimed it for their crown and made Ribeira Grande the first European colonial town in the tropics. They started to explore the archipelago, and Ribeira Grande became a centre for international trade. The Europeans on their way to the southern african colonies, the Caribbeans and Brazil stopped there to load fresh water and food - and slaves. They were brought from Africa and taken to the Americas. Ribeira Grande soon became a multicultural place, the first developed Creole culture. Today, Cidade Velha is part of UNESCO's world heritage - and well worth a visit. My inner historian remembered university courses, I was really excited to see this important - but at the same time very sad - place. We started with a visit of the village, the famous Banana Road, the Pelourinho (a pillory which served to punish slaves) and had lunch right by the sea. Afterwards we visited Forte Real de São Filipe which thrones on a cliff above Cidade Velha. There's a small but nice visitors' centre, and after watching a short (and very interesting!) film about the conservation measures, which were done in collaboration with the locals, we enjoyed a guided tour through the fort. Our guide not only told us about the history of the town, pirate attacks and the story behind the white corner stones of the Fort (they have been brought aboard the ships from Portugal and when the ships left Ribeira Grande, the weight of the stones was replaced by slaves they brought over the Atlantic ocean). He also showed us mango trees and explained that there were local products for sale down in the town. We hadn't seen any signs indicating such offers, and when we told him, he said we should have knocked on the doors of the houses and asked the people about it. Oh well. Not exactly what you would do in Switzerland. But then again, why not? It would have been a chance to buy something nice and at the same time support the local people.

Tourism as a concept has not yet won over Cape Verde. I often felt like a walking Dollar sign when people looked at me, but there were only very few places where you could actually spend your money on souvenirs (let alone postcards, at least on Santiago). On one hand I wish for Cape Verde that they find a way to attract some more tourists and develop sustainable concepts to do so. On the other hand it's very clear to see that this is not the country's most important task right now. When driving through the amazing landscapes, too often we noticed that there's plastic waste everywhere. Nobody cares to collect and recycle it, it would surely take a long time to clean up. Cape Verde does not produce any plastic - this is all imported, and because only in the bigger towns there's something like coordinated garbage disposal, the waste ends up polluting the environment.Tourists coming to see the wonders of nature on these incredibly beautiful islands would probably prefer it to be clean and tidy - but this is clearly asked too much right now.

After having visited Cidade Velha, we started our tour of Santiago. There are two main roads on the island, one goes across the plateau, the other one along the eastern coast. Our plan was to visit the plateau and then drive back to Praia in one day on the coast road.
Our first destination was Rui Vaz in the Pico de Antonia national park. The mountain resort there is called "Quinta da Montanha" and if you ever happen to be in Rui Vaz you should at least spend one night there - the view from the balcony in the morning is simply breathtaking.

The Quinta's owner speaks English and is happy to give his guests informations about where to go hiking. We didn't try our luck with the Pico de Antonia itself because we didn't feel up to it (it's an actual mountain and we didn't bring our alpine equipment after all), but we did quite a bit of walking in the region anyway. The stunning views into the valleys around the plateau are worth every minute of walking in the burning tropical sun.

Rui Vaz is a small village where most houses don't have electricity and the people get their water at the central reservoir (carrying the huge buckets on their heads - or bringing their donkeys to help). For the first time it became really clear to us that Cape Verde, seen from our european perspective, is a poor country. On our first walk in Rui Vaz we met three girls from the village, they collected tiny wild tomatoes (delicious!). We didn't have a common language but they liked that we could take a picture of their neighbour's cow all across the valley with our big zoom lens. I couldn't believe how easily they walked the narrow and steep paths with their flip-flops or even barefoot (we of course wore our trekking shoes).
One day we visited the botanical gardens in São Jorge dos Orgãos, a really nice place. We took a lot of nice photos there and enjoyed to see the tropical flowers. Apparently there was a giant (dead) spider in the toilet, I'm glad I didn't see it. When it comes to animals, the worst you can meet in Cape Verde is actually a centipede, but more about this later. The Passarinha (see picture) is Cape Verde's national bird. Much nicer than spiders or centipedes!

So, saying goodbye to beautiful Rui Vaz, we continued our tour towards Assomada. We wanted to arrive in Tarrafal in the evening, but first we took the chance to see a bit more of the island. Monsieur wanted to visit a dam that was still under construction. You would think it's quite easy to find something that big, but unfortunately street signs are not one of Cape Verde's assets. In any case we drove through a run-down village, people watched us, probably thought we were completely crazy tourists. At least the car didn't have any trouble with the road (that became worse with every mile). Well, long story short, we ended up on a hill, at the end of the road, but in the backyard of an old farmhouse. I don't want to deny that I was quite annoyed with Monsieur who had wanted to see this dam so badly he didn't turn around when I was sure we would never find it. So I chose to wait in the car while he went to see if there was somebody who could show us the way (yesss. The way to the dam). He came back with a wrinkled old lady in tow, followed by a younger woman with a baby girl on her arm and two little boys. The boys were fascinated by the car, the baby girl had probably never seen white people before, and the old woman was incredibly friendly, talking to us in crioulo, fully aware that we didn't understand her. This was one of the warmest, kindest encounters we had in Cape Verde. Unfortunately, we were completely lost and the woman couldn't help us, so we had to drive back through the village where the people - now obviously irritated - stared at us again.
The worst encounter happened only a few hours later when we decided to go to Ribeira da Barca, a small village on the west coast of Santiago. The dirt road wanted us to drive slowly, which gave a group of six or seven young men the chance to stand in our way and finally force us to stop. I'm sure their only goal was to provoke, maybe to scare us, from their perspective we must look like incredibly rich people, driving around in an off-road car. In any case - this time they were successful in scaring tourists. The problem with our car was that the central locking didn't work. So while one of them probably only wanted to try his luck, he managed to open my door. Of course Monsieur reacted like everybody else would - he accelerated and drove away fast. I could close the door again, and so we sat in our car, hearts pounding. Phew. This was the only time someone actually overstepped the line and invaded my personal space. Although this had been a very unpleasant experience, we decided to drive on to Ribeira da Barca, hoping for a quiet evening. But we didn't take into account that it was Good Friday. On Cape Verde, the Easter weekend is for partying. The beautiful beach of Ribeira da Barca was crowded with hundreds of people dancing to music from trucks. We were not really in the mood to stay and celebrate, and there were some dubious guys wanting us to leave our car for them to watch it... We declined and drove back to the main road and onwards to Tarrafal.