We then started to climb into the countryside, now realising that the bumpy cobbled roads of the town centre spread throughout the island. There were many areas cleared for cultivation with farms complete with free range roosters and donkeys alongside.
Plenty of fresh air and views over Mindelo
View of the interior of the island from Monte Verde, largely uninhabited
Kevin & Tim at Monte Verde
Kevin & Jo overlooking Mindelo
The buildings were mostly block or concrete and widely spread out as we moved towards Monte Verde the island highest point at 750m. The land is fairly green with a light mossy cover and bushes over a reddish rock. It was rather refreshing on the back of an open pickup but the views made up for it as we climbed the side of the hill and looked down over Mindelo. Our guide stopped the truck for photos a couple of times as we moved round the side of the hill to then look over the east side of the island out to Santa Lucia and the other islets beyond. There were several fields of maise but also some native flowering plants which attracted several very large and colourful butterflies.
Looking East over the islands of Santa Lucia, Branco and Raso
Next we moved on to a small village called Salamansa where we got off the pickup to have a wander round. We came across a local guy building an open wooden fishing boat, plus about 10 others standing around to supervise. This village was considerably poorer looking, not benefiting from the tourist money coming in. The villagers were very friendly and waved to as we wandered through, especially the small children. There were a few bars mostly named after Portuguese football clubs. The crowd of women at the central well and others impressively walking around with large buckets full balanced on their heads, suggested that there was not running water to the houses there.
Boat Building in Salamansa - under supervision
Public meeting at the well
We moved on to the resort town of Baia das Gatas which is centred around a lagoon and beach sheltered by a reef and breakwater, to provide a large shallow swimming pool of lovely clear water whilst seeing the large breakers just the other side. Tim and I decided to go from a dip as Kevin enjoyed a bit of rock pooling. There were a few other French tourists in swimming too, but other than that the place was fairly deserted. We went to a restaurant Archote 2 for lunch but were the only diners. However, we had a very nice grouper each with rice and salad. I chatted to our guide in a strange mix of Spanish and French, which he seemed to understand. Like many Cape Verdeans he has many relatives around the world, some in Boston (where many emigrated on whaling ships in years gone by), but also Luxembourg, Holland and Sweden.
Tim on the beach at Baia das Gatas
Finally we called at Laginha beach just north of Mindelo for a drink at the renowned Caravela beach bar. We watched a group of locals playing football on the beach as we relaxed after a long day’s sightseeing. We got back just in time for my scheduled Skype chat with my sister Donna to wish her a happy birthday.
We met Tim for debrief at Club Nautico later, where we met an old sailing friend of his called Sarah and Lutz’s daughter Joanna who are working for On Deck and had arrived in Mindelo as the forward party for a group of yachts arriving the next day. On Deck are a UK company who sell crew places on a fleet of 65ft Farr racing yachts in legs on their route from England to Barbados via Madeira and the Cape Verdes. Sarah had been arranging for music and drinks in Club Nautico the following day as they’d be arriving earlier than planned the following morning, having left Madeira the previous Sunday. We grabbed a pizza from the little trailer next door to Club Nautico for a very reasonable 400 Escudos each (£2.35) which were excellent before returning back to the boat.
Locals fishing on the town waterfront
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