Cova- We hiked from this crater to Paul.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Vacation and Carnival
Kathryn left yesterday after spending three weeks with me. I had a lot of fun with her and I hope she had a great time here.
After missing the boat to Praia on Monday because the only boat running was the 25 person fishing boat and they ran out of spots, I took the Wednesday boat and met Kathryn at the airport. We flew that afternoon to Sal and met Kyle at the Camara. Entering Sal was like entering another world. Our flight was all tourists and I don’t think I’ve seen that many white people in a long time. It was very surreal. We spent a couple hours in Espargos which is not as touristy (as Santa Maria) but the look and feel of the place still felt different. In the evening we went to Santa Maria to get Guiness and Strongbow and see this fantastical world that we hear Sal is known to be. It was pretty much a bunch of resorts that planted themselves in one town on the island and created their own little tourist world. I don’t know how good this is for Cape Verde but with this huge focus on bringing tourism, it seems right on plan. I felt a little uncomfortable being in this tourist zone, it didn’t feel like I was in Cape Verde anymore, but I am glad I got the opportunity to see it. We went back to Espargos for dinner and hung out with Kyle and some of his friends.
The next morning we flew out to Sao Vicente. There were definitely places I recognized from the time I was there in college but I didn’t remember the city being as organized as it was. Kat and I met up with Nadia and her boyfriend and walked around Mindelo. We went through their “sucapira” market which I did remember from the end of my trip in 2004. Kat and I sat down at a café for toasta- which would become Kat’s favorite food (ham and cheese toasted in a sandwich). I liked S. Vicente a lot more than Praia. After all the robbery stories that come from there, I actually felt safer than I do in Praia and the place is so much cleaner. The layout of the city is walkable which was nice on my wallet. We saw the school, English Unlimited, that Casey, Nick, and David started and it looks great. We went out to dinner with Casey and Nadia at this great schwarma/pizza place.
Friday we took the Catamaran to Santo Antao. I’ve never felt sick on a boat in Cape Verde until this one. It felt like we were jumping in and out of the water and since it is enclosed there was no fresh air coming in. The boat was awful and I will never take one again. I was so excited to finally get back to Santo Antao. It was less green than in 04 but it was still as impressive and beautiful. We took a car to Ribeira Grande, called Provacao by the locals, and met up with Rhonda before getting a car to Coculi, our destination for the evening. Coculi is beautiful, surrounded by mountains. Leanna and Laurie live near the new high school, where Laurie teaches, and the view from their balcony is spectacular. We hung out for a bit at there house and then walked to Daron’s to Joao Alfanso. The view was great and the walk was realy nice until you get to the big hill that leads to his house which is inside of the school. You pretty much walk up a mountain for about 20 mintues to get there. When we finally reached the top we met up with Daron and half of the kids in the school who were inquiring as to which of us is his pequena (girlfriend). I happily nominated Kathryn for the position. We joked around with the kids for a bit, although we had some trouble understanding each other’s Creole. The Creole from Santo Antao is very different from anywhere else on Cape Verde and if they spoke slow I could understand most of what they were saying and quite a few people understood me. So it wasn’t too bad until the rapid fire talking and all the bizots and chopping off words and using n to mean ka. Anyways, we headed back to Coculi before nightfall and were treated to a wonderful eggplant parmesan courtesy of the Coculi girls. After dinner we played Scrabble, the first out of what would become almost routine in our travels.
The next day we took a car up to Cova, a large crater filled with agriculture and began our descent to Paul. I was so happy to do this hike. The first part of the hike was all up hill going around the crater until we reached a point at the top where you overlook the crater on one side and the descent to Paul on the other. Looking down you see this snaky road amidst a forest of green. Absolutely beautiful. We made our way down and stopped at Alfred’s restaurant, this Austrian guy who makes his own grogues, ponches, cheese, and foods. We had the cheese platter which I’ve heard about from other volunteers and it was as good as they all say. After our snack we saw Paul by the ocean, where I was in 04 and took a car back to Provacao. That evening we made chicken enchiladas, played more Scrabble and planned out our next day’s adventure.
Sunday we brought Daron with us again and decided to hike from Ponta do Sol to Cha de Igreja. Ponta do Sol is a pretty town along the ocean. We stopped by Mike’s and caught up with him before making our five hour journey to Caley’s. The walk was all up hill and down hill, never flat, as you wind up and down mountains along the coast of the island. We went through a bunch of small towns chatting with people and taking photos as we made our trek. Again, very beautiful and quite a wake up call for my out of shape, living at sea level body. When we made it to Cha de Igreja in the evening we hung out with Caley, made dinner, and passed out.
Monday we headed back in the 6 am car to Porto Novo where we took the regular boat back to S. Vicente. Kathryn and I relaxed and did laundry at Nadia’s while she was in class and spent the afternoon Chinese loja hopping. We had a great dinner at some fancy restaurant where they served real calamari and steak. It was pretty sweet. After dinner we met up with the other Americans and saw music in the street. I think there were more people in that one street than live on all of Maio. Crazy.
The next day we took the plane back to Praia and checked on boat tickets to Fogo. We had just missed a boat and there wouldn’t be one until the end of the week so we opted for the plane option. That still left us a few nights in Santiago so we left Praia and spent the evening in Assomada with Courtney, Nick and Brian. I finally got to introduce Kathryn to the infamous caparinhas at the Brazilian restaurant. The next day we went to Boca Doce- I felt like I was back at PST where Callie and I frequented for their coffee and pastries. It was market day so we walked around the market, got Kathryn some malageta peppers and checked out the random bedong clothing. We lunched with Nick and Brian and then head out to Sao Domingos to visit my host family.
We hung out with Emily while we waited for my family to get back from work and when we got back to the house no one was there so we went to the next best place, Ka’s kiosk. We were informed that my mom had gone to Praia but she would be back soon so we hung out with Ka and Lu and Luis while we waited for the family’s return. Once everyone was back Freddy, Luis, Kathryn and I played with blocks while Anita marinated fish to grill for dinner. We pulled out glow sticks, a present from Kathryn and decorated the boys in them and headed back to the kiosk to grill dinner. After dinner we hung out with Alex, one of the trainers from PST and some of his friends.
The next day we flew out to Fogo and met up with half of the volunteers at Lauren’s house. We hung out for the morning, saw S. Filipe, and headed out to Sarah’s in Cova Figueira. We made lasagna for dinner, played Scrabble and saw some of her friends. The next day we decided to be lazy and laid around and Scrabbled while Sarah was at work. In the evening we visited more of her friends, played with a baseball, and braided hair.
Saturday, Kathryn, Lauren and I headed to Cha das Caldeiras and met up with Mel, Sam, Jacob, and his friend Jeff. We walked around a bit and Mel showed us their recycled art project. We hung out at the Cooperativa for a bit and listened to live music and pretty much just hung out with everyone in the evening.
We woke up Sunday with climbing the volcano in mind and Kathryn, Mel and I headed out around 11. We deviated from the path for most of the climb which led to me pretty much thinking I was going to fall off the volcano. But we made it, Mel was a very good guide and did not let me die, thanks Mel, and when we reached the bottom, almost at the trail, I fell on a rock and received my battle wounds. Way to go Jules. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, drinking lots of water, and we made a fabulous dinner complete with apple pie.
Monday we flew back to Praia and stayed with Emily for the night before getting our boat back to Maio on Tuesday morning. The boat ride wasn’t too bad and we were invited by the boat people to come sit with them up where they steer. We saw all the cool machines and stuff and they explained how they worked. Even cooler- we saw dolphins!
It was so nice to get back to Maio after all the traveling and see my people again. Kathryn proceeded to be sick for the next two days but by Thursday she was ready to go again.
Saturday Kathryn and I led Nhos Brinka and the kids were really excited to have their program back. We taught them a game called four corners and then kickball. Towards the end of the game they seemed to really understand it. Afterwards we took them to the Polivalente where we tried to organize 5 on 5 soccer but it was a little caotic. Eventually my friend showed up and he was really good with handling the kids and playing referee for the soccer games. That afternoon a bunch of people came over for Carnival prep. We made a bunch of pom poms out of plastic bags, wrist decorations out of toilet paper rolls and green paper and made things to go on people’s heads.
Sunday I took Kathryn to the sand dunes in Morrinho and we had a blast. We both got some sun, I did a little reading, and we played with my puppy. When we came back we heard that there would be a dance that evening but when we showed up at 11 the place was dead.
Monday we spend the morning running errands in Vila- paying bills, making photocopies, etc. We got Kathryn on her boat and it was sad having to say goodbye after a wonderful three weeks with her. Once I got back to Calheta in the afternoon I helped with more Carnival prep. We glued blue and white fabric over shoes that would be worn by the dancers on Tuesday. In the evening I went to the house where the sewing was being done and saw the outfits and helped figure out where to put embellishments on our queen’s dress. The entire group had practice at 10 so I was in the street watching along with some friends.
The next morning I slept in and helped get everyone dressed for Carnival. Our theme was the forest, ocean and culture- things that make up Calheta. We had one part of the group dressed as “trees” in green and brown, followed by a float with plants that were being watered with a huge watering can, a guy who was really milking a goat on the float, and women pounding corn and cooking. Then followed the ocean sequence with the group wearing all blue with the pom poms in their hands and then a group in all white. Following them was our second float which carried our queen who was dressed as a mermaid. This float had two huge dolphins and lots of shells. Following them was the drum line and then our third float with a large conductors stand with Djon pretending to conduct an orchestra and below him a boat with a movable sail, a guy looking out with binoculars, a fisherman who would pull up a fish and then hack at it with a knife and a guy trying to get a motor to start in the back of the boat. Walking alongside the float were men dressed as sailors. It was great. Our group made it to Vila around 5 and the parade started. There were small individual groups and then the large groups from different zones. This year only Calheta and Morro participated. Morro’s theme was Peace and they had a float with a giant world that actually spun and another with a giant dove. They were pretty impressive but Calheta received the better marks from the judges and we won for the first time ever! When we got back to Calheta there was shouting in the streets and everyone was celebrating our win.
After missing the boat to Praia on Monday because the only boat running was the 25 person fishing boat and they ran out of spots, I took the Wednesday boat and met Kathryn at the airport. We flew that afternoon to Sal and met Kyle at the Camara. Entering Sal was like entering another world. Our flight was all tourists and I don’t think I’ve seen that many white people in a long time. It was very surreal. We spent a couple hours in Espargos which is not as touristy (as Santa Maria) but the look and feel of the place still felt different. In the evening we went to Santa Maria to get Guiness and Strongbow and see this fantastical world that we hear Sal is known to be. It was pretty much a bunch of resorts that planted themselves in one town on the island and created their own little tourist world. I don’t know how good this is for Cape Verde but with this huge focus on bringing tourism, it seems right on plan. I felt a little uncomfortable being in this tourist zone, it didn’t feel like I was in Cape Verde anymore, but I am glad I got the opportunity to see it. We went back to Espargos for dinner and hung out with Kyle and some of his friends.
The next morning we flew out to Sao Vicente. There were definitely places I recognized from the time I was there in college but I didn’t remember the city being as organized as it was. Kat and I met up with Nadia and her boyfriend and walked around Mindelo. We went through their “sucapira” market which I did remember from the end of my trip in 2004. Kat and I sat down at a café for toasta- which would become Kat’s favorite food (ham and cheese toasted in a sandwich). I liked S. Vicente a lot more than Praia. After all the robbery stories that come from there, I actually felt safer than I do in Praia and the place is so much cleaner. The layout of the city is walkable which was nice on my wallet. We saw the school, English Unlimited, that Casey, Nick, and David started and it looks great. We went out to dinner with Casey and Nadia at this great schwarma/pizza place.
Friday we took the Catamaran to Santo Antao. I’ve never felt sick on a boat in Cape Verde until this one. It felt like we were jumping in and out of the water and since it is enclosed there was no fresh air coming in. The boat was awful and I will never take one again. I was so excited to finally get back to Santo Antao. It was less green than in 04 but it was still as impressive and beautiful. We took a car to Ribeira Grande, called Provacao by the locals, and met up with Rhonda before getting a car to Coculi, our destination for the evening. Coculi is beautiful, surrounded by mountains. Leanna and Laurie live near the new high school, where Laurie teaches, and the view from their balcony is spectacular. We hung out for a bit at there house and then walked to Daron’s to Joao Alfanso. The view was great and the walk was realy nice until you get to the big hill that leads to his house which is inside of the school. You pretty much walk up a mountain for about 20 mintues to get there. When we finally reached the top we met up with Daron and half of the kids in the school who were inquiring as to which of us is his pequena (girlfriend). I happily nominated Kathryn for the position. We joked around with the kids for a bit, although we had some trouble understanding each other’s Creole. The Creole from Santo Antao is very different from anywhere else on Cape Verde and if they spoke slow I could understand most of what they were saying and quite a few people understood me. So it wasn’t too bad until the rapid fire talking and all the bizots and chopping off words and using n to mean ka. Anyways, we headed back to Coculi before nightfall and were treated to a wonderful eggplant parmesan courtesy of the Coculi girls. After dinner we played Scrabble, the first out of what would become almost routine in our travels.
The next day we took a car up to Cova, a large crater filled with agriculture and began our descent to Paul. I was so happy to do this hike. The first part of the hike was all up hill going around the crater until we reached a point at the top where you overlook the crater on one side and the descent to Paul on the other. Looking down you see this snaky road amidst a forest of green. Absolutely beautiful. We made our way down and stopped at Alfred’s restaurant, this Austrian guy who makes his own grogues, ponches, cheese, and foods. We had the cheese platter which I’ve heard about from other volunteers and it was as good as they all say. After our snack we saw Paul by the ocean, where I was in 04 and took a car back to Provacao. That evening we made chicken enchiladas, played more Scrabble and planned out our next day’s adventure.
Sunday we brought Daron with us again and decided to hike from Ponta do Sol to Cha de Igreja. Ponta do Sol is a pretty town along the ocean. We stopped by Mike’s and caught up with him before making our five hour journey to Caley’s. The walk was all up hill and down hill, never flat, as you wind up and down mountains along the coast of the island. We went through a bunch of small towns chatting with people and taking photos as we made our trek. Again, very beautiful and quite a wake up call for my out of shape, living at sea level body. When we made it to Cha de Igreja in the evening we hung out with Caley, made dinner, and passed out.
Monday we headed back in the 6 am car to Porto Novo where we took the regular boat back to S. Vicente. Kathryn and I relaxed and did laundry at Nadia’s while she was in class and spent the afternoon Chinese loja hopping. We had a great dinner at some fancy restaurant where they served real calamari and steak. It was pretty sweet. After dinner we met up with the other Americans and saw music in the street. I think there were more people in that one street than live on all of Maio. Crazy.
The next day we took the plane back to Praia and checked on boat tickets to Fogo. We had just missed a boat and there wouldn’t be one until the end of the week so we opted for the plane option. That still left us a few nights in Santiago so we left Praia and spent the evening in Assomada with Courtney, Nick and Brian. I finally got to introduce Kathryn to the infamous caparinhas at the Brazilian restaurant. The next day we went to Boca Doce- I felt like I was back at PST where Callie and I frequented for their coffee and pastries. It was market day so we walked around the market, got Kathryn some malageta peppers and checked out the random bedong clothing. We lunched with Nick and Brian and then head out to Sao Domingos to visit my host family.
We hung out with Emily while we waited for my family to get back from work and when we got back to the house no one was there so we went to the next best place, Ka’s kiosk. We were informed that my mom had gone to Praia but she would be back soon so we hung out with Ka and Lu and Luis while we waited for the family’s return. Once everyone was back Freddy, Luis, Kathryn and I played with blocks while Anita marinated fish to grill for dinner. We pulled out glow sticks, a present from Kathryn and decorated the boys in them and headed back to the kiosk to grill dinner. After dinner we hung out with Alex, one of the trainers from PST and some of his friends.
The next day we flew out to Fogo and met up with half of the volunteers at Lauren’s house. We hung out for the morning, saw S. Filipe, and headed out to Sarah’s in Cova Figueira. We made lasagna for dinner, played Scrabble and saw some of her friends. The next day we decided to be lazy and laid around and Scrabbled while Sarah was at work. In the evening we visited more of her friends, played with a baseball, and braided hair.
Saturday, Kathryn, Lauren and I headed to Cha das Caldeiras and met up with Mel, Sam, Jacob, and his friend Jeff. We walked around a bit and Mel showed us their recycled art project. We hung out at the Cooperativa for a bit and listened to live music and pretty much just hung out with everyone in the evening.
We woke up Sunday with climbing the volcano in mind and Kathryn, Mel and I headed out around 11. We deviated from the path for most of the climb which led to me pretty much thinking I was going to fall off the volcano. But we made it, Mel was a very good guide and did not let me die, thanks Mel, and when we reached the bottom, almost at the trail, I fell on a rock and received my battle wounds. Way to go Jules. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, drinking lots of water, and we made a fabulous dinner complete with apple pie.
Monday we flew back to Praia and stayed with Emily for the night before getting our boat back to Maio on Tuesday morning. The boat ride wasn’t too bad and we were invited by the boat people to come sit with them up where they steer. We saw all the cool machines and stuff and they explained how they worked. Even cooler- we saw dolphins!
It was so nice to get back to Maio after all the traveling and see my people again. Kathryn proceeded to be sick for the next two days but by Thursday she was ready to go again.
Saturday Kathryn and I led Nhos Brinka and the kids were really excited to have their program back. We taught them a game called four corners and then kickball. Towards the end of the game they seemed to really understand it. Afterwards we took them to the Polivalente where we tried to organize 5 on 5 soccer but it was a little caotic. Eventually my friend showed up and he was really good with handling the kids and playing referee for the soccer games. That afternoon a bunch of people came over for Carnival prep. We made a bunch of pom poms out of plastic bags, wrist decorations out of toilet paper rolls and green paper and made things to go on people’s heads.
Sunday I took Kathryn to the sand dunes in Morrinho and we had a blast. We both got some sun, I did a little reading, and we played with my puppy. When we came back we heard that there would be a dance that evening but when we showed up at 11 the place was dead.
Monday we spend the morning running errands in Vila- paying bills, making photocopies, etc. We got Kathryn on her boat and it was sad having to say goodbye after a wonderful three weeks with her. Once I got back to Calheta in the afternoon I helped with more Carnival prep. We glued blue and white fabric over shoes that would be worn by the dancers on Tuesday. In the evening I went to the house where the sewing was being done and saw the outfits and helped figure out where to put embellishments on our queen’s dress. The entire group had practice at 10 so I was in the street watching along with some friends.
The next morning I slept in and helped get everyone dressed for Carnival. Our theme was the forest, ocean and culture- things that make up Calheta. We had one part of the group dressed as “trees” in green and brown, followed by a float with plants that were being watered with a huge watering can, a guy who was really milking a goat on the float, and women pounding corn and cooking. Then followed the ocean sequence with the group wearing all blue with the pom poms in their hands and then a group in all white. Following them was our second float which carried our queen who was dressed as a mermaid. This float had two huge dolphins and lots of shells. Following them was the drum line and then our third float with a large conductors stand with Djon pretending to conduct an orchestra and below him a boat with a movable sail, a guy looking out with binoculars, a fisherman who would pull up a fish and then hack at it with a knife and a guy trying to get a motor to start in the back of the boat. Walking alongside the float were men dressed as sailors. It was great. Our group made it to Vila around 5 and the parade started. There were small individual groups and then the large groups from different zones. This year only Calheta and Morro participated. Morro’s theme was Peace and they had a float with a giant world that actually spun and another with a giant dove. They were pretty impressive but Calheta received the better marks from the judges and we won for the first time ever! When we got back to Calheta there was shouting in the streets and everyone was celebrating our win.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)