Cape Verde after the Transatlantic

After such an exciting voyage in S.A. & A., the crew seemed to fall into a quiet rhythm as the feel for this cruise was much slower than the first. The 7 sea days across the Atlantic were nicely broken up after 5 by the Cape Verde Islands. Cape Verde brought to mind images of lush green jungles and rainforest, we were excited to see what this place no one had been to (from the crew or passengers) would hold. Cape Verde is it's own country, of the West Coast of Africa. The official language is portuguese, but it had the stronger flavour of Africa running through it's dusty hills.

When we arrived we saw what looked like a large rock with plenty of sand and dirt. Not green at all. I got off the ship fairly early and as windy as it was, it was very hot. I neglected to wear a hat or sunscreen, so I decided to lay low and take in a meal with Rob & Mike and then just poked around the town a bit. While walking we had various people honk at us and look at us strangely. We got used to it and as we were about to head back to the ship we were honked at, shouted at, and almost run over. It turned out it was just Jonnie & Todd (musicians from the ship) in a van with a driver. We were invited to join them and spent the afternoon galavanting through the hills in a rickety van on an even more rickety road. We drove to a beach area on the other side of Cape Verde that looks back towards the Atlantic and strolled along until I coaxed the boys to go for a swim. I had only pants & one shirt and I knew I would be the only one not able to get away with coming back to the ship looking like a drowned rat. We had a funny moment when the driver continued to ask me which of the 4 boys was my husband. When he finally understood that I was not married, nor dating any of them he tried to ask for my hand in marriage. It was a lovely day in Cape Verde, about the loveliest I could think of to have in such a desolate place.