We got up at 7 so we could watch the sail in to our next destination - St Vincent, one of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of west Africa. In the early morning light the island looked quite eerie - it is not developed in many parts so all we could see were dark mountains in different shapes and sizes and rock formations out at sea. A few minutes further though we started to see the lights of Mindelo, the main town where the ship would be docking. It was rather misty, and incredibly windy, but I went up on deck (in my pyjamas!) to get a photo of the sun rising behind one of the hills, before going back to the room to get ready as the ship came into port.
After breakfast we went ashore and met the coach for our morning tour - Mindelo Highlights and Local Life. This was a 3 hour tour with a mix of minibus transport and walking, but because we got out early onto the first coach we ended up getting a 3 1/2 hour tour - and we needed it, because our guide could certainly talk! We'd been told by the very annoyingly negative port presenter on the ship that guides here were often volunteers with quite limited English, and told not to expect much, but this guy was incredible. He was a local English teacher and translator (he was very proud that he had recently done some interpreting in court in an important drug dealing case!) and did guiding as a sideline. He was incredibly knowledgeable and talked at greet length about the history, economy, geography, and social make up of the islands.
The tour didn't take us over a great distance (in fact at one point we were convinced the driver was going round in circles to make the place seem bigger!), but we saw a lot in the area we did cover. We started in the main square which was full of statues of famous people in the history of the island, fountains, plants, and even a bandstand (the square had been built by the British), and a beautiful building which turned out to just be a bar! Apparently the square is the meeting point for all the local young people when they go out for the night, and he said they spend the first hour or so 'making grog' - which it turns out simply means walking round the square numerous times talking! (The actual liquor 'grog' is made by animals pulling a machine round and round to mix the ingredients, hence the name!). There were numerous brightly coloured buildings around the square with lovely balconies.
We then went to the cultural centre, which is a display case for local arts and crafts. We went on a short drive past lots more colourful buildings to the African market, which had lots of stalls selling everything from food to clothes to jewellery to CD players and other electrical items! Our guide took us round the displays of ceramic tiles which are each painted to tell a story in the history of the island. My favourite one showed the mountain which is known as 'Washington's head' as it looks like George Washington's face looking up at the sky!
Another short drive took us along the beach front, past the replica Lisbon Belem Tower, and the dogs beach (!), to the bustling fruit and vegetable market. The produce is mainly imported from another local island, as St Vincent does not have enough fertile land or water to grow its own food. There is also a popular fish market nearby but thankfully the tour didn't go there (can you imagine the smell?!)
We walked from here to another pretty square where we visited a quaint church and stood and sniffed for a while at the gorgeous smells coming out of the local bakery! We also watched with fascination the group of tradesmen who were repairing and making shoes by hand on a corner of the square, and another group who were gambling and playing cards! [JL: old men playing cards in Cape Verde and another group of "old men playing chequers" on the other side of the planet... (Nic will understand)...]
The minibus then took us to the last stop of the tour - another cultural centre where we watched a traditional Capoeira dance show, and got to try some local juices and home made alcohols - they were interesting to say the least...! There was also a souvenir shop with items made by local craftspeople.
The bus was then to return to the ship, but we chose to stay in the town and walk back. We had another wander round some of the places we had driven past, bought a brioche from the yummy smelling bakery, bought some bananas from the fruit market (as they look like the really sweet tiny ones I have loved so much in other tropical places I've been to) took some more photos and then saw a shop which looked rather like Wilkinson (ie it sells everything, and very cheaply). I crossed my fingers and went inside... After 10 minutes of searching I found it!!!! An orange juice squeezer! For the bargain price of 1€20!! I actually squealed with excitement! :-)
On this happy note we set off back to the ship, walking along the sea front and admiring the range of sailing boats in the harbour and colourful fishing boats on the beach.
Back on board I wrote a couple of postcards (email me if you want one and pick your preferred country!), then had another lovely afternoon tea. After that we headed to the Crows Nest for sailaway. I thought I was going to get a beautiful sunset photo behind the Washington's head mountain, but the ship started moving too early, and then the mist obscured the sunset. Never mind, there will be plenty more places to try!
We went for dinner where I was presented with a plate chock a block full of Quorn again - when we queried it I was told that the chef said once they have opened a packet they have to use it within 3 days so he was trying to use it up! I think I'm going to have to have more omelettes that planned!
Tonight's show was a comedian called John Martin who had JL rolling on the floor in fits of laughter! I would have preferred some singing and dancing but I guess you can't have it all!
I finished the evening by buying one of the formal photos which we had taken the other night as they were offering 20% off if you bought it today (making it just a bit of a rip off rather than a complete rip off!).
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