back in good old mindelo now after cruising the northern islands for the second time just with new guests. getting to know all the hot spots to go on all the islands and even meeting a few friends too....alot are small childern who love candy and counting games with me and of course...touching my weird blond hair. one minute i have two kids with me and the next i have a parade of 10 all wanting to escort me around the town.
my holidays were unqiue for me to say the least...xmas day was spent on a deserted beach snorkelling and exploring tidal pools, then we headed to soa antiao which is closest thing to heaven ive ever seen...last time i was there i only got to snorkell to the beach and back, this time the first mate and i got to hike to the top of the village which is situated on a mountain and has a stream running through it, this makes the village gorgeous because most places are really dry on all the islands but this place has banana plants and palm trees all the way up the valley and in between there are colorful homes and that day was laundry day so everyone had there rainbow of clothes hang drying in the sunlight. there were donkeys and goats and not much else. after we returned to the bottom of the town at the beach the fishing boat of the weeks supplies for the whole village showed up so about 100 people were down on the beach carrying away various goods on there heads. a different world i tell you. the people are so cool too. as soon as they see you they are curious but shy but as soon as you wave and say "BON DIA!" you have made yourself a new friend. on that island i also got to do more snorkelling but this time on my first reef not a sandy area...i saw the most amazing fish...escpecailly a huge parrot fish that was like a swimmiing rainbow.
new years was spent serving a huge dinner, drinking gorg (local hooch) and pounche (from menora =yummy), setting off flares (that only lite the container dock here on fire once.. that we know of!) and dancing on the deck til midnight. around 1:30 am the captain and some crew and i went on land to explore the huge street party...which was quite good. my fellow canadains will be proud to hear that i was up for our new years ...which was 4am here...i did us proud.
{first published by Sea Siren Tales ~ The Drifting Chronicles on Thursday, 1 January 2009 at 00:35}
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