Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

Wednesday, March 23

                            

We were being pulled to the dock by our lines when we looked out our verandah window at 6:30.  The “Crossing” was very relaxing with much time spent with our noses in our books, but it was good to see land again after 4 sea days  Cape Verde (green) is much more brown than green.  The islands (10 large and inhabited, hundreds of tiny rocks) lie about 350 miles off the coast of Africa and are volcanic in origin.  Hence the brown color.  The specific island of Sao Vicente was “discovered” by the Portuguese in 1455 and is currently inhabited by very friendly people descended from so many different nationalities that this typifies a true “melting pot” of civilization.  The tour information lists ancestors as “enslaved Africans, Portuguese settlers, Spanish and Italian seamen, Portuguese Jews, Dutch, French, British, Arabs, Middle East Jews, Chinese, Americans, Brazilians”…you get the picture.  And the people are very attractive and friendly as if they absorbed the best of all the these ancestors.  Even their language is a bit unique and is a sort of “pidgin” combination of English and an African slave dialect known as Crioulo (Creole).  Ariup is hurry up.  Ovatine is overtime. 

We had a leisurely breakfast and left for town about 9:30.  A short shuttle ride took us to the center of that part of the town most interesting to tourists.  We enjoyed sitting for a few minutes in the large (for this town) Catholic Church and comparing it to those we’ve seen all over the world.  This was a poor, but well-loved Church.  The differences and similarities are always new and sometimes surprising.  This one had Stations of the Cross hung so high on the walls that it was very hard to distinguish them from each other.

            

We also stopped in at the indoor Mercado Municipal (city market) containing the usual variety of colorful local fruits, vegetables, spices and homemade craft items.  This market was unusual in that it had a balcony from which we could look down on all the venders and their wares.  We had seen this layout only once before…in Guatemala. We also wandered through several open air markets, the park outside the Presidential Palace, and several monuments to local heroes. In addition to the pink Presidential Palace, the neighborhoods were vibrant with cerise, cobalt blue and lemon yellow buildings. 

                               

   

Fishing is the major lifeblood of this island.  Rumor has it that they have 366 recipes to prepare cod – even leap year is covered. The boats are painted in the African style of using bright colors.

  

Everything on the island is expensive since all items must be shipped in – sounds like Maui to us.  The availability of salt from this area is also very important as salt was the most important item to keep food from spoiling.  The importance of salt is reflected in the custom of placing the most important people at the table in a position “above the salt”.

Just prior to sail-away we enjoyed a folklore show on the Lido deck.  A small troupe of local singers, musicians, and exquisite dancers entertained us for about an hour – very lively music and beautiful dancing.     

                               

Another wonderful pianist for our evening show in the ships showroom…and  another lost hour of sleep.  We are now seven hours ahead of U.S. CDT.