Out of Africa: Sao Vicente, Cape Verde–November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! It was a warm and balmy day here on Sao Vicente Island off the west coast of Africa, 86 degrees and sunny. Cape Verde is an archipelago and island country in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands. Sao Vicente, where we are moored, is one of the islands. For a point of reference, it’s about 85 square miles and has a population of around 76,000 people. 92% of the island population lives in Mindelo on the Porto Grande Bay, a caldera (a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses) that was filled by the ocean.

According to David, our tour director for today, Portugal originally colonized the Cape Verde Islands in 1462. For many years Cape Verde was a Portuguese colony, then an overseas province, but in 1975 the country gained its independence. The official language and much of the architecture is Portuguese, but they mostly speak Cape Verdean Creole, a combination of African languages with some European languages thrown in.

The largest problem in Sao Vicente is lack of rainfall. In Mindelo they only get about 5 inches of rain in a year, so it is extremely dry. They have to desalinize water from the ocean for drinking and household usage. It’s a beautiful country, yet so isolated. All travel is by ferry or by plane. Only about 15% of the population own cars, so they travel around the island on mini-buses and taxis.

Our tour today was a mini-bus ride to the top of Monte Verde, the highest point on the island, then to the beach and around the other side of the island. Mostly tame stuff except for the the ride up and back down the mountain, which was more than a little hairy. At the top of the mountain, David offered us a shot of Grogue, which is a strong cane juice rum made only in the Cape Verde Archipelago. I guess he was trying to calm our nerves after the mini-bus ride. I looked it up and the word grogue is derived from the English word grog.

Our fellow travelers outdid themselves today by asking David what must have been his top five stupid questions of all time: 1. Do you generate your own electricity on the island? 2. How deep is the water in the bay? 3. Do you have to import things to the island? 4. Is this road only one way? (see the steep cobblestone road in the top middle picture) 5. Is there a toilet here? (at a stop on the way down on the side of the steep mountain with no buildings in sight). And as a topper, when we got back to the ship and everyone was hot and sweaty after being on a un-air conditioned bus with tiny hard seats for 3 hours, a lady stopped David from letting us off by asking what the Cape Verde flag symbolizes. Really, lady, you haven’t met Mr. Google? Who cares? And bless David’s heart, he gave us a cursory lesson on the flag, even though no one else but the one lady was listening.