Visiting Cape Verde

Hello everyone, here Eloise from L'Olonnois =)

I arrived on board last Friday and I will stay with Marie and Thomas until Guadeloupe so you may read a few posts from me during the coming weeks!

I arrived Friday night after a long long journey from Norway. Marie and Thomas welcomed me with a great dinner to make me feel like at home from the start and they succeeded! They have spend the few days before my arrival to prepare the boat for the crossing and we had plenty of time to visit around.

We started by a walk through the small local streets until the summit of a hill in Mindelo from where we had a great view of the bay “Porto Grande” where L'Olonnois is moored.

Sunday was dedicated to a visit of Santo Antao, the island next to Sao Vicente. The island is very dry on the coast, but the high mountains are often covered by humid clouds and they get very green (and wet...). We went there with the local ferry and explored a valley (riberia) on the northern side of the island. The mountains are very steep, some villages are attached on the ridges and the villagers have build some impressive terrace on which they cultivate many fruits and vegetables. People were very talkative, happy to speak a bit of French when they knew a few word and to hear our little Portuguese skills...

After such a long and exhausting hiking day, we decided that this Monday morning would be perfect without any morning alarm clock :) We took time to analyze the weather forecast and we might be able to leave in a couple of days! Therefore, the day was used to some various small tasks to get ready. We also tested the local habit of napping after lunch which we all appreciated! Tonight we will experiment the local night life, starting with a little restaurant recommended by our mooring-neighbors about which we will tell you more in the next post!