pulling into Assomada on the island of Santiago
About 5 months ago we took a group of clients to Cape Verde on a Scoot West Africa trip. It was less of a scoot trip and more of a drinking hiking and drinking trip. That’s right, we are a very versatile travel outfit.
The timing was unfortunate. Cape Verde had a surge of COVID cases that almost led us to cancel the trip outright. But thankfully no one on the trip got COVID other than the foolish individual writing this post. We shall get to that later.
While Matt had been to Cape Verde several times, this was my first trip. Given my attachment to Guinea-Bissau, West Africa’s other Lusophone country, and my fond memories of Restaurant São Cristóvão in Lisbon, I had a feeling I was going to enjoy the place. It took one sip of a cold Strela Kriola at one of the many streetside bars on Praia’s main leafy pedestrian walkway to realize that my intuition was correct.
Due to the COVID outbreak, we limited our travel to Santiago, the largest island in the Archipelago, and Fogo, which has an active volcano and the highest altitude in Cape Verde. The plan was to stay outdoors and we succeeded, except for a brief lapse by one person (ahem). I am not going to do a play-by-play in this post but will instead focus on a few highlights that will keep me coming back to CV. It should be said that my highlights may be different than those of the average visitor to Cape Verde. For most, it’s all about the breathtaking hillside villages and the beaches that give the Caribbean a run for their money.
Spontaneous concerts at streetside bars – Streetside bars of course deserve their own bullet point but I think we all already know the merits of having a cold beverage in the middle of all the action. Many of these bars in Cape Verde have instruments hanging on the wall. It was rare to not see at least a guitar. I ended up playing one at the bar just steps from our hotel — and the only reason I was playing it was because one of the regulars, a music teacher who happened to be a great singer, was evidently banned from asking for it — and a guy from another table cruised over with a violin. He had brought his violin from his house to the bar. This was not unusual in Praia.
Bars that are actually someone’s house – This is all about intimate venues that are also open and non-exclusive. And Cape Verde has that figured out. It’s that whole Jane Jacobs front porch vs. backyard thing. The front porch is an open invitation. It is about community and collaboration. The backyard is hidden and gated. I learned the dark arts of the front porch on Hobart Street, back in DC and in many ways I have been pursuing them ever since.
Going to Luca’s place is like going to a tailgate. She’s got a grill and an ice box full of beer. The neighbors are there, but so is anyone passing by who wants to have a drink, some grilled chicken or just a chat. Of course, after a certain amount of beers and grogue, a guitar comes out.
l’ambiance.
Grogue and Espressos – Is the guy sitting next to you drinking a grogue (pronounced grogo) or an espresso? Probably both. Grogue is an aguardente, which basically just means it’s a hard liquor, that is made from sugarcane juice. Think cachaça or cana and you are in the ballpark. In any of the aforementioned streetside bars, you will see dudes sipping from coffee cups. Often, they are just having an espresso. But every now and then the server will come over and sneak in a healthy dose of CV’s firewater. You still have the discretion of the coffee cup, but now you are enjoying the view with some jet fuel in your veins.
Caipirinhas – Ok, last alcohol related bullet point. A well made caipirinha is a thing of beauty. If you are drinking one made by a guy under an umbrella on the beach in Tarrafal then you have satisfied Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and then some.
definitely not Oscar the Grouch
The lusophone thing – The history of Portugal’s former African colonies is brutal and violent. And the only reason Cape Verde has a human population at all is because of Portugal’s involvement in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. This cannot be forgotten. It’s also true that the lusophone countries, and Cape Verde in particular, have a lot to love – caipirinhas and grogue, the music, the chicharrón – in part because of Portugal’s legacy.
The beauty of a volcanic island chain – If you haven’t been to one of these, you have at least seen photos and you know what I’m talking about. And speaking of volcanoes, another highlight of this trip was hiking an active one.
we climbing that?
on the way up
on the way down
I was not particularly looking forward to climbing a volcano just a couple months removed from a collapsed lung (see previous post), but it turned out to be something I really enjoyed, both the hiking bit and the dramatic scenery. And as a visitor, the island of Fogo was so much more than just a hike up a volcano. I absolutely would not skip this island if you appreciated any of the previous bullet points. And! It’s also the birthplace of Kinzim, the artist whose “Ku Bo Te Fim” was the soundtrack of the trip:
The food – There is unsurprisingly a bounty of fresh seafood, but Cape Verdeans have also nailed down pork like few other places. Between Praia and Assomada, there is a grandma running a small sandwich shop out of her home. There are two menu options, a pork sandwich with chili or a pork sandwich without. It is a top 5 sandwich for me, and judging by the informal car park outside her house, many others agree.
next level sorcery going on in this kitchen
uma delícia
And if you’re not already planning your next trip to Cape Verde, I am just going to leave the late Cesária Évora here to seal the deal:
Now, every mountain has its valley and all that crap, and in this case I got COVID. At the beginning of the trip, we had clients arriving in Cape Verde at different times so Matt proceeded to Fogo with some of the clients and I waited for the others in Praia before rejoining him. I spent the afternoon enjoying aforementioned streetside bars with our local guide, Fidel. This seemed like a reasonable plan. There was a nightly curfew in effect so things couldn’t get out of hand. Actually, they could, and they did. The curfew shut down bar number whatever that we were at and Fidel suggested a place that he knew was still open.
I am not very disciplined in the best of times and with a belly full of grogue and Strela Kriola’s, I followed Fidel to what was more or less a speakeasy. Unfortunately, it was indoors, about five square meters, and seemingly filled with half the city, unmasked and yelling at each other. I clearly left my prefrontal cortex in the taxi, because instead of doing an immediate u-turn, we had a drink in this petri dish.
Exactly six days later, I tested positive for COVID (test on the 5th day). I didn’t have symptoms yet, but I did not feel correct. As soon as I got the positive test, I was isolated from the group and moved to an unfinished wing of the hotel where we were staying in Tarrafal. This would be my new home for 10 days. Matt stayed behind and brought me daily care packages and food deliveries.
I lost my taste and smell a couple days after the positive diagnosis, and I was constantly exhausted. The taste and smell starting coming back after five days and the fatigue gradually eased up over about two weeks. Thankfully, I was spared more severe symptoms. No fever, no cough, no difficulty breathing. It was about a month after I had received my first dose of AZ, and that first jab might have mitigated some of my symptoms.
What I was most worried about was getting someone else sick, and to our knowledge this did not happen, except for maybe our guide, Fidel, who was with me at the superspreader bar. He tested negative but he was sick for a couple of days. The other clients, Matt, and our driver, who we were with every day, were spared.
Bottom line, I was incredibly careless and lucky. I finished off my AZ vaccination not long after I returned to Mali and have since gotten two doses of a mRNA vaccine as well. In theory I am well protected, but I don’t know if anyone’s antibodies have a fighting chance after having a drink in a bar like the one I was in that night. Lesson learned.
I am not going to get in to the 10+ hour panic attack I had on the Praia-Dakar-Bamako trip back home. This is over 1500 words and I think it’s time to call it a day.
But before I go, let me mention that we have announced dates for this season and you should come join us on a scooter trip. It is a very COVID friendly trip — lots of time outdoors in rural areas. Even the transport is open-air 😉
And for those following the other venture I often mention here, if you are thinking about sending a Christmas card from Timbuktu, now is the time to do it. Especially if you are sending it to the United States. Louis DeJoy can do one.
Just want to say that I enjoy your posts very much and wish you would post more often. Such a wonderful glimpse into another country, culture, life…. thank you.