Mindelo, São Vicente, Republic of Cape Verde - November 4

This morning we docked at Mindelo on São Vicente Island, one of ten islands comprising the Cape Verde Archipelago.  It’s located in the central Atlantic about 350 miles off the coast of Africa.  The islands are volcanic in origin.  We know the name Cape Verde mainly because during hurricane season we hear meteorologists talking about the “Cape Verde” hurricanes which form as weather systems move off the African continent and form over these islands then head west.

The islands were uninhabited until they were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15^th century as they moved down the coast of Africa on their way round the Cape of Good Hope and to India.  The islands became an important part of the African slave trade and were frequent targets for pirates and privateers because of their prosperity.  Sir Francis Drake operating under the authority of the British crown twice sacked the town of Ribeira Grande, the capital at the time.  As the slave trade waned and then ended, the islands’ prosperity declined.  The country achieved independence in 1975 and now has a very stable democracy.  The population of the total group is about 500,000 with São Vincent having about 80,000.  As economic hard times hit, many Cape Verdeans emigrated to Europe, North America and other African countries.  At present the number of Cape Verdeans living abroad exceeds those living on the  archipelago.  The money those people send home form a large part of the economy.  The rest of the economy is primarily based on tourism and now, after a recent trade agreement with China, on allowing liberal fishing rights to the Chinese in return for assistance.

Well, we began our tour in the town of Mindelo with stops at a little museum, the fish market, a produce market, and an African crafts market.  In the fish market ice was in short supply!  Tuna is apparently abundant in the waters around the islands and there was no shortage of huge tuna loins. 

They will clean your fish for you outside the market

Some of those tuna loins

Next we stopped at a workshop where they made handmade guitars and mandolins.  They were quite beautiful.  The typical Cape Verdean instrument looks like a guitar but is much smaller and thus much higher pitched.  Next we visited a shop which sells both finished guitars and also music CDs.  We bought one by the singer Cesaria Evora. She was Cape Verde’s most famous singer and was evidently known around the world having won some Grammys.  She sang a type of song called “morna,” which is sort of like the Portuguese fados.

The guitar man

After a nice lunch in a hotel in the town we took off in our rickety vans to a fishing village on the northern shore of the island near Baia das Gatos,  or Catfish Bay as our guide Ivan called it.  We took a walk through the village and it was very primitive to say the least.  While there was electricity, the homes were in not great repair and some had corrugated tin additions.  We stopped in the village school and it was a very moving experience.  The children were all dressed in uniform and when we came into the classroom the teacher had them all recite a lesson in Portuguese for us.  They were attentive and very respectful of their teacher.  By the way, the country has a literacy rate of about 85 percent.

When we left the fishing village we next went around the bay to what must be a vacation village for more affluent Cape Verdeans.  The houses looked mostly unoccupied but were in much better condition.  In fact some of them looked downright luxurious.  We stopped at a little bar along a very nice beach for coffee or a beer.  Along the way to both places we passed some of the Cape Verdean army doing some kind of training exercises.  All young people, both men and women, must spend a couple of years in the army.  We asked Ivan who their potential enemy would be that required them to have such an army.  He said that they have none.  I suspect that the biggest reason is to provide employment at least for a couple of years and also to possibly provide some job skills.  Cape Verde has a high unemployment rate – around 26 %.

Someone's house in the fishing village

Another view of the fishing village

The very impressive school!

The Cape Verdean army doing some kind of training

After our visit to the coast we headed back across this rocky island. We stopped at a view point from which we could see the Catfish Bay, Mindelo and our ship and the other parts of the island.  Interesting to us was that the island is not a lush tropical place.  It actually gets little rain at all.  Instead it picks up moisture from the clouds.  It also gets in that moisture a lot of Saharan dust which blows off the African continent.  Some of the other islands in the group are evidently more lush, but São Vicente wasn’t one of them.  It has steep, rocky hills which have been cultivated with primarily corn.  Working those fields has to be difficult for the people tending to them.

A view from the top of the island

We arrived back to our ship around 5 PM and sailed shortly after.  As we did, it was getting dark and I found it interesting that we saw not many lights at all.  People evidently are sparing with their use of electricity.  Some of their power is generated by wind.  We saw small windfarms.  Their water supply is also primarily from desalinization.  It was an interesting place to visit, but I surely wouldn’t want to live there.