Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Our port stop in Mindelo, Ilha de Sao Vicente was originally scheduled for April 18 but was moved to an overnight stay on April 15, 2014. Since we had more time than was necessary in Cape Verde, we decided to hire a taxi on the first day, and acquaint ourselves with the volcanic nature of the island. The roads were newly paved and in good condition. One thing noticeable right away was the arid landscape
and absence of trees .
`What is brown in Portuguese, Bert asked me.
``This place should not be called Cape
Verde, but Cape Brown instead,” he continued.
For several minutes, there was no
traffic and motorists. Once in a while we would see a small house on a hill, a windmill and a small vegetable garden. It looked like a
scene from a Western movie . Our taxi was the only one going on a
panoramic drive on winding roads passing volcanic valleys, dramatic
coastlines and fishermen's villages. Reaching the highest point on
the island up Monte Verde, we saw a glimpse of our ship in the
panoramic landscape below. There was nothing else to see but open
skies and white clouds and a very desolate and dry volcanic landscape.
“That island across the water, that is St. Antao, my island. Thats where I come from,” our taxi driver
Jose, said.
“But I left because there are no jobs there, and no money. My parents still live there,” he continued.
Jose spoke a bit of English and explained that he speaks Portuguese, the official language and a bit of French . He wanted to push on showing us around, so we could give him extra from the agreed US$70 for the four of us, for three hours.
Our next stop was the Praia Grande
beach where the view from the coastal drive was magnificent. From
there we passed by a few gritty villages. Houses were painted bright
purple, pink, sometimes green. A few houses were in mid construction
but already occupied as evidenced by clotheslines on the top floor
minus roof. Bigger houses have hospitality walls (broken glass embedded and with razor wires). Men and women were sitting under
trees while children were running around playing. Dust and dirt
around. A few stores and a bar. There was no gasoline station and I
wondered if our taxi had enough gas to take us back to the city .
What happens if our taxi were to run out of gasoline.
Back in the city, we had lunch and looked for an Internet cafe afterwards, but we didn't find one. We then went to the handicraft market where there really was nothing
special to buy or see. There was a lot of cheap trinkets made in China, and a few hand carvings from Africa.
The next day, there was really nothing to do or see in Mindelo and we could not understand why we had to stay overnight until 5:00 pm. the next day. So we went to the Mindelo Marina and bought a few mugs of beer so we could get access to wifi.
Overall, it was a lousy overnight stay and although people were friendly, there is really nothing of excitement or anything interesting after you've seen the volcanic landscape and the beach area. A half days stay would be
more than plenty!
