Pestana Tropico Cape Verde Santiago Praia

... of black volcanic cobblestones making for an interesting if somewhat jarring and noisy journey. Sunday 18/01/09 at sea wind force 8-9 sea 5-6m Monday 19/01/09 At sea but a much better day today with the wind having dropped to force 4-5 and the sea much calmer, with temperatures of 27-29 °C. We cross the equator tomorrow so there'll be an interesting ceremony I've no doubt.

Landed we have on this desert island of Sal. At the arrival those persons having a valid visa can go through a passport control and out. But those that do not have a visa-stamp in their passports have to go to a small, hot room at the left corner of the arrival hall. One meets there two CV-officers. If you have paid for your visa via a travel agency your name should be on the excel list they have in the ...

It still windy! We haven't done much other than Kitesurf everyday. The water temperate is warm enough to wear boardshorts and rash vest, but the other nationalities think we are 'crazy british' for not wearing full wetsuits. I think perhaps they should try kitesurfing in British waters this time of year, and then they would understand. One day however we needed a rest so Antonio, our favourite taxi driver ...

... below instead of using the stairs¡K and the cherry on the cake was when he thought we would need a table so he unscrewed his bedroom door from the hinges and dangled that over the balcony too¡K. It was a funny night indeed and the fresh fish was very tasty. Today we went fishing again on the pier. At first it appeared to be another duff fishing outing as we got a hook stuck and the line broke, but that seemed to change fortunes as a ...

... and then appear again nearer 4 o clock to play in steel bands that fill the streets with music. After dark the bars open and the reggae music continues all night past midnight. On our first day we were itching to find the best kite beach. We were given directions to walk in a straight line in a NE direction....and then we found out its local name 'Shark beach'....!!! After 30 minutes walk over a lunar like landscape of sand dunes, salt pans and scrub land we ...

... well. I was lucky and did not have anyone in front of me to recline the seat. Otherwise it gets really cramped. I have no idea how some of our fellow passengers could have sat through that flight given the size limitations. As far as how full it was from Cape Town to Atlanta I counted about 5-10 empty seats out of about 100 in the back third of the plane. Some people just ...

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.

... This was in the time of aparttide, the bus stopped at the Black train station not the white one. No problem, just walk off in the dark to find my hotel. Next day it was off to the travel agent and book a night train to Capetown. The Blue train was $800, air conditioned 40 different wines on the menue.... The brown train compartment was $160, no air and pulled by steam engine part of the way and included morning coffee. Guess which I took?