Cape Verde

Yesterday, we had a brief fuel stop in Cape Verde, a group of islands
off the coast of Sengal and Gambia. It was literally a brief stop--
We arrived around 8:00 am that morning and set sail again at 10:00 pm
that night. Even though we were there less than 12 hours, people
seemed to really appreciate having a port day to break up the 15-day
sail from South Africa to Spain. The island was a Portuguese colony,
so I was able to practice my "obrigada's and said a few extra ones
for Karen, Bri, and Mariam, as you all know my deep love for that
word. A few of our students are from Brazil, so they were really
excited to speak their native language again.

The climate was arid and dry, and the land itself was different from
other places we have visited thus far. My favorite image from our
day is that of a bright colorful clothesline hanging in contrast
against the brown dusty mountainous terrain. Dana, Amanda, Sarah,
Ron and I decided to go for a hike across Monte Verde, which appeared
to be an extinct volcano. The hike itself was a little challenging
because there was so much loose rock, but it was still fun--Good
exercise and amazing views of the mountains and ocean. We were the
only ones hiking the mountain, too. We got the impression that
hiking wasn't typical there, which explains the cab driver's
confusion when we asked him to take us to the base of the mountain
instead of the top. Actually, there were some goats on the mountain,
too, but they weren't hiking. Once we reached the sea side, we
stopped for a nice little nap by the water before finishing the day
with a delicious seafood meal at the Foya Grill in a nearby fishing
village.