Collecting Moments

We used the island of Sal as our gateway to Cabo Verde. The welcome was dusty, windy and extremely dry. So was the goodbye. Of our 30 days in the country, we spent the first two and the last four on this flat desert island. During that time there was hardly a moment of silence, only the wailing and howling that accompanied our every step. And sand, lots of sand, swirling around, flying over and getting into every possible crevice. It reminded us of hamsin in Israel that paints the sun white and the sky yellow. Espargos Our EasyJet flight from Lisbon landed at Amilcar Cabral Airport at about 5:30 pm on March 25th. First of all, we had to sort out the essentials: local cash and mobile data. The former was easily obtained by paying a commission of 285 escudos at the ATM. For the latter, we bought an ALOU 5 GB plan for 30 days for 700 escudos (plus 100 for a SIM card). Given that the airport is only 3 kilometers from Espargos, walking to our accommodation seemed like a viable option...

We arrived in Mindelo on February 27th, a few days before the carnival frenzy would hit the city. Since hitchhiking in Cabo Verde was still a bit of a mystery to us, we decided to take a taxi from the Cesária Évora airport, which cost 1200 escudos. The studio, actually a garage converted into an apartment, that we rented for our entire stay was located in the quiet residential area of Madeiralzinho. The first thing the landlady told us after handing over the keys was, “Be careful, there's a lot of movement now”. “It's carnival time”, she added. Over the next few days we would find out what she meant. The city was chaotic and crowded in anticipation of the festivities. The main streets were lined with ticketed stands for spectators willing to pay between 1000 and 2000 escudos for an evening show. On the opposite side, all kinds of seating - plastic chairs, wooden stools, boxes, benches - sprouted up, reserved and negotiated through street fixers, adding a layer of unofficial co...

This hike on Santo Antão is much less traveled and more strenuous than popular routes like Cova Crater to Paúl or the coastal path from Ponta do Sol to Cruzinha. Starting from Ribeira Grande and trekking all the way to Sinagoga requires stamina and determination. Fortunately, as you'll see, we've avoided the toughest part, but nonetheless the hike was still quite demanding. Distance 8 km (gpx) . Elevation gain 235 m, Elevation loss 605 m Our guesthouse, perched on a hillside in Cavouco Cosco in the Ribeira da Torre valley, seemed like an ideal starting point for a trek to Pinhão. Our offline map indicated a dotted line that snaked up the mountain across the riverbed and eventually joined the marked path from Pinhão to Sinagoga. The day before our hike, I asked a local worker (in Portuguese) if that trail actually existed. From his answer (in Creolo) I figured that it was a barely visible path, known only to villagers, and that it was easy to get lost. He suggested taking a n...