Perola Hotel Cape Verde Santiago Praia

... and fabulous breaking waves would make this a windsurfers/boarders paradise. Having watched the Carnival Tan Tan band we saw the Mindelo Carnival Kings & Queens in their colourful costumes and the local fishermen with their boats before winding our way back to the ship. From a distant the roads look like any normal tarmac surface but in fact the roads are all ...

... Then you can get you visa. If your name for some reason is not on the list (which it isn't, in most cases...) then you'd have to pay for it 25 euro to get in. The whole procedure takes around an hour or more. You have to be patient. The travel agency secured a bus-transfer for us - luckily. The hotel was a no-5-star pousada, but enough for us, since we did not intend to spend a lot of time there.

... spicey chilli sauce for the fish, in fact he gave us a whole bottle to take home. Yummy. On another trip with Antonio we drove over a sand dune and got his pick-up truck well and truly sunk in the sand. It took us about 30 mins to dig under the wheels and make a road of rocks and pebbles. All Antonio could say was 'two weeks ago there was no sand here....' Tomorrow I think we will be kitesurfing some more...

... guys, Klause and El Loco. El Loco, 35, is a funny guy from Hamburg who is the master of ingenuity and invention! For example a local friend of ours goes spear fishing pretty everyday and one day caught too many and so we started preparing for a big bbq. El loco found a wheel hub for the coals to sit in¡K.. he then decided that because he lived on the second floor of the house that he would dangle chairs and cutlery over his balcony to ...

... catch of fish. Once the fish is brought off the boats, (this can take up to an hour, after a few games of cards), the fish is divided up so their familys and restaurants have enougth and the rest is sold to tourist, depending on how big their catch is depends on the price you pay. For example 1kg of tuna or blue marlin is 3 euros for a tourist. We have learnt it is more cost effective to buy a whole tuna fish for 10 euros. After this the locals have small ...

... you are talking about 21 hours straight on the plane without being allowed to get off. The plane was an Airbus 340-600. I think they only started using them about 2 or 3 months ago. The seats are probably the most narrow we have ever sat on and the reports that you almost need to walk slightly sideways in the aisles is partially true. The leg room in economy is pretty tight ...

We were given two options - stay on the plane or go to the terminal - during refueling. I chose the terminal because that meant getting up and walking. Of course, I didn't think that there would be nothing other than a large room there. So it was standing around for 1-1/2 hours while they refueled the plane.

Well it's -38 deg C when I boarded the first plane. the 727's heater froze over night, they pass around blankets and off we go. eventually by Minniapolis the plane defrosts. New York was around freezing and I had a couple hours to wait so it was walk around JFK. The South African Air 747 took off in the evening. A fuel stop in Cape Verde allowed us a streach and a visit with the three legged dog. Landed in Jo'bergurg and took the bus into ...