Back from an amazing holiday in the Cape Verde Islands. We went to Boa Vista, the most easterly of the islands - which are situated off the west coast of Senegal.
The island itself is a mixture of third world and 21st century. The Cape Verdeans live in basic houses with unfinished roofs (nobody finishes a building as then they would have to pay tax), with stone floors, minimal furniture and flat-screen TVs and sky dishes!
There is no running water as the island ran out of water years ago and there are still areas where the locals go to fetch water for washing etc. There is a nursery school (up to age 6), a junior school (6-12 years) and a teens building with library, internet etc.
They have a philosophy of 'no stress' which is kind of nice and kind of an excuse for when things dont go to plan.
On the edge of this barren land hotels are springing up at a tremendous rate as anyone can build as long as it is not on the beach itself. At the moment there are long stretches of clean white sand and pounding waves.
The roads are mostly still cobbled and you actually have to go off road to visit a lot of places. In the middle of the island is a desert which has blown over from the Sahara. There is a new road which has been built from the airport to half-way to one of the new hotels. The locals agreed to finish the road which the hotel had funded - and then built another road on the other side of the island instead - no stress!
Dont go there if you like hiring a car - there is nowhere to go. Dont go there expecting lots of touristy shops - the souvenir shops in the towns are all the same and sell the same stuff imported from Africa (there are even three enterprising locals who sell their wares in the desert). Dont go to snorkel or to surf (the waves are too fierce and the fish are not particularly colourful).
Do go there if you want to see the island before it gets too commercialised. Do go there if you want complete rest and relaxation. Do go there if you want beautiful beaches and warm sea.
I can honestly say that there were only 3 things that made me grumpy the whole time we were there - the mosquitoes, the desalinated water used in the ice-cubes and the people who wasted food (usually the people who could have done with eating less in the first place).
No stress.
3 comments:
My parnets visited the Islands around three years ago when development had just started. They were advised to take some pencils and paper with them....not to write leteters home, but to donate to the school children. Ofv they went with a number of packets of pencils and a number of notebooks, total cost of around £8.00. They could not beileve how grateful the school was for such a gift. If every holiday maker did that the education of children there could be improved so much. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it there. My parents loved it too.
Sorry I should have saied 'my parents'
I wish I had thought before I went. We did that in Cuba. There was a man who took plasticine and gave it to a little girl - ten minutes later she had made a house out of it and she sold it back to him for 10 euros! Such enterprise!
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