Cape Verde April 2014 - Part V: Santo Antão

//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)//
//To the fourth post about Cape Verde (Mindelo)// 

After enjoying a few very nice days in Mindelo, we took the ferry to Santo Antão. This small island is often said to be the hikers's paradise of Cape Verde, and so it was clear from the beginning that we would visit it. The ride took about one hour with the new speed ferry, it's a big boat where the passengers sit in a room that looks a bit like a cinema, row after row of plushy padded chairs, you're not allowed to be outside, so no enjoying the fresh, salty air. We were very happy to arrive in Porto Novo - but this didn't have much to do with the sea being quite agitated. The worst thing about this ferry were the TV screens in front of the huge passenger room, showing really bad music videos, including sound, of course. There was no escape. I normally don't get seasick, and I'm more or less sure my nausea when arriving in Porto Novo wasn't entirely caused by the waves.
Santo Antão is small, and we had decided to stay in Ponta do Sol for three days - it's on the opposite coast from Porto Novo. We didn't want to rent a car there because the guidebook said that it was not a problem to get around with Aluguers. One of them brought us along the coast to Ponta do Sol. The views from the route are breathtaking, the road runs along beaches and on top of cliffs, crossing through the valley of Paúl, where the dry and scraggy red stone which dominates much of Santo Antão's east and southeast part, is suddenly replaced by jungle-like forests and little streams. Ponta do Sol is on the northern tip of the island, the northernmost point of Cape Verde.

I have written about the colonisation of the southern Cape Verdean islands (Sotavento) earlier, where the geographical location turned out to be an advantage in the slave trade. The northern islands (Barlavento) were far from the slave traders' routes and mostly served for growing and exporting agricultural products. This is the reason why the creole culture in the northern islands has different roots, the influence of the first generations of african slaves which was very strong especially in Santiago is missing here. Instead, families from Portugal were brought here by Santo Antão's owners to work as farmers, starting in the 17th century. Later immigrants came out of very diverse reasons, they were exiles, soldiers, refugees, castaways and sailors from European countries and from North America. Interestingly, a lively jewish community developed on Santo Antão, there are still jewish cemeteries to see today and there's a village called Sinagoga.
The economic growth on Santo Antão came to a sudden halt when the island was privatised and given to a trade company in 1757 and the farmers were forced to cultivate grapes and produce wine for the slave trade stations. Only a few years later, landslides destroyed the vineyards. In the following years, half of the population died of hunger and a royal decree ordered the company give the island back to the count and his family who'd owned it before.
Until today, Santo Antão is one of the poorest islands in Cape Verde, despite the fertile soil and the climate. Most of the farmers don't own their land, they rent it from landlords who sometimes don't even live on the island. They produce sugar cane which is used for "grogue", the famous Cape Verdean rum. Sugar cane does not need continuous care, so the farmers only have work for parts of the year and many of them can't make a living for their families - they of course have to pay the rent fees all year round. Maybe some of them would grow food plants, but this is a huge problem on Santo Antão. The reason is a millipede, first found in Cape Verde in the 1970, which feeds on the roots of almost all food plants - but not on sugar cane.

We hadn't booked a room in advance in Ponta do Sol because this had turned out to be difficult as most of the smaller hotels mentioned in our guidebook don't have a website or we were not able to book online. So we took a walk through the town to find a nice hotel. When we saw the entrance to "Kasa Tambla", we immediately knew we'd like the place. But then they told us there were no free rooms - only the suite. It was more expensive, but the receptionist offered to show it to us, and when we stood on the terrace, admiring the view over the the sea towards the cliffs, we didn't need any more reasons to stay. It's an incredibly beautiful, calm place where we spent hours of talking about our experiences in Cape Verde, writing postcards and enjoying dinner - or just sitting there waiting for the sun to go down.

On our first day in Ponta do Sol we did a really nice hike to Fontainhas. This is the last village along the cliffs still accessible by car, and of course the Aluguers bring you there if you like. But walking is much nicer - stunning views, the sea deep below, looking back towards Ponta do Sol from different angles, then seeing Fontainhas from far away, the houses seem to be glued to the rock. It has been a fantastic day, out in the sun.

In the evening we went to the harbour, which is called "Boca de pistola", the "pistol muzzle". The name stems from the harbour's dangerousness for the fishermen and their small boats. It's a natural harbour surrounded by a stone wall. In the evening there was not much action though, people met at the harbour, and we had dinner in a nice little restaurant before exploring the old landing strip. One of the most interesting things about Ponta do Sol is the former airport. It opened in 1983 and closed only a few years later. The runway is still there, though, and the people use it as outdoor gym.

The next day it took us about an hour to get to Vila das Pombas, the starting point for hikes in the Paúl valley. One of the Aluguer drivers offered to bring us there but as not many people want to go there from Ponta do Sol, so she didn't want to wait and told us we'd have to pay the taxi price. In the end we took another Aluguer to Ribeira Grande and from there took one to Vila das Pombas. We never used an Aluguer as taxi, and we never rented one (including driver) for a day, often they ask higher prices from tourists than they would from Cape Verdean people for taxi service (Cape Verdeans rather wait until the Aluguer is full than pay the taxi price). So while you could think that you help the driver when paying higher prices and having the Aluguer for yourself, in most cases this is not necessary (because you can get almost everywhere with Aluguers if you have enough time) and it eventually leads to higher prices for locals, too. There are normal taxis (not in the small villages though) - Aluguers aren't taxis. When you use the Aluguers like the locals do you support their public transport system and thus the drivers, too.

Our hike in the Paúl valley was really nice. The valley is green as a jungle, they even grow tomatoes there - and almost all other kinds of fruit and vegetables. Our path led steeply upwards, and we saw fascinating plants along the way, amazing flowers and trees. We also met a centipede, one of the very few poisonous animals in Cape Verde - we should probably feel honoured, our guidebook said they are rarely seen alive. Well, they are not exactly the most beautiful animals I've seen. But... interesting.

We passed by a big reservoir, probably used for watering the nearby bananas, children were swimming and playing in the water and when we walked towards them started to yell "money, money" at us. This always made me sad, but fortunately, most of the kids (at least the younger ones) don't get angry when you don't give them anything.

A while later we found out that we had misinterpreted our map and were much farther from our destination - a village high above the valley - than we'd thought. We'd probably need two more hours to get there, and then about five hours back to Vila das Pombas. We definitely didn't have enough water for such a long hike anymore. A young man caught up with us and we tried to ask him if there was a restaurant or a shop in the village where we could buy more water, but we didn't find a common language and after the "conversation" we didn't want to risk anything. The tap water in Cape Verde is not drinkable, we always filtered it. So we decided to stop and turn back. A pity, as we really enjoyed the hike, but in a tropical climate you certainly don't want to risk running out of water when doing outdoor sports.
Back in Vila das Pombas, I drank the best Coke of my life. Honestly, it never tasted better.

On our last morning in Ponta do Sol we went down to the harbour to watch the fishermen coming back. The port entrance is narrow and the waves quite high, so the fishermens' skills maneuvring the boats are remarkable. As soon as a boat is safely inside the harbour, the men help each others bringing it ashore. Next, they unload their catch and bring the fish to the stone table with the scales, where the women weigh them before they are sold. I really liked watching and taking photographs - surely one of the highlights of this trip.

We said goodbye to Ponta do Sol and took an Aluguer back to Porto Novo, where the ferry back to Mindelo waited for us. This time we took the older one, no bad music videos - and we could spend the ride outside on deck (together with a lot of tourists). We had not even left the harbour when a staff member came and distributed barf bags (before I continue telling this story: barf bag is a word I didn't know in English and when asking the dictionary - the German word is "Kotztüte", by the way - I also found a link to this fantastic website with an international collection of barf bags...) - we thought they'd probably seen their fair share of seasick tourists and don't want to take any risks. As I said, I normally don't get seasick, and I am very proud that I survived this boat trip without feeling nauseous, too. But it's been a challenge. The sea was very agitated this time and the ferry seemed to capsize every moment (that's how it felt and looked, anyway). It was impossible to stand without holding on to something, and even sitting down I had to grab the rail behind me every now and then to prevent slipping from my seat. The photos below are taken about ten seconds apart.

We spent another night at Hotel Gaudi in Mindelo (in the same room, so - one more time we took a shower sitting down in the tub to increase water pressure...) - before we began our long journey home. One hour flight to Sal, three hours waiting on the airport until the flight to Lisbon took off, landing in Lisbon before seven in the morning. I barely slept during the flight and was dead tired when we finally landed. The airline had postponed our flight back to Geneva and we'd tried to get on an earlier one, but it would've cost half a fortune, so we deciced against it in the end. I absolutely didn't feel like waiting for another seven hours, but we didn't have a choice. My mood was really bad by then, but fortunately, Monsieur is disaster-proof and had a very, very good idea: he went to the information counter and asked for a hotel offering room for only a few hours. And we were lucky: the TRYP hotel was brand new, offering rooms for half a day - and just across the street. I had the best shower in my life so far and we slept for four hours before going back to the airport, having lunch and - finally - boarding our plane to Geneva.

I will surely never forget this first time outside of Europe. Some situations keep coming to my mind from time to time, good experiences and moments like tasting new food and laughing with an Aluguer full of different people, from businessman to market woman, about the driver who in the middle of the road just got out of the Aluguer to pee behind a stone wall on the roadside. I still have the images of the incredible beaches in my mind, the sound of the waves. But I also remember the children yelling "money, money" at us and the teenagers blocking our way and trying to open the car doors to provoke us. I can understand why they did it, but still - the feeling of vulnerability and panic will stick with me.
Above all I will remember the stunning, beautiful nature of Cape Verde, and all the kind people we met, guiding us, helping us, talking to us, asking us questions about our country and discussing our histories. We have not yet seen all the islands, there's surely enough to see to come back one day. I hope we will have the chance to.