Living Cape Verdean

It has been a little over two weeks since we arrived in Sta. Maria, Sal in our nine-day Atlantic voyage from Gran Canaria. There are no significant changes in the island since ten months ago when we first set our foot in Sal. The same town centre, African shops selling handicrafts and paintings, restaurants and cafes, the reggae music in the evenings and most of all the great turquoise ocean in all its panoramic beauty dotted by sailboats and fishermen boats gently rocking with the waves.

Our boat, Y/S Sheilah is anchored nearby within sight from our beach flat's balcony. It is neighbour to three Catamarans owned by Germans, Dutch and one without any flag. Ours have the Swedish flag but we will register it here and it will have the C.V. flag as well. Our crewmember Steven lives in the boat. Occasionally he comes to shore with the surfboard or the dinghy, or swims to shore.

Getting things functioning in this island has taught us the meaning of "No stress". People don't want to get stressed. They like an unhurried life at their own tempo. When I went to the bank to change some Euro into smaller denomination, they didnt have the cash. Then I went to CV Telecom to inquire about an internet connection. I was told we had to be a company in order to get a connection. It seems that they don't trust residential tourists who come and go, meaning-they own residential flats but are not full-time residents.

There are no mailboxes to drop letters. You have to go to the post office and give your letters to a postal employee. I asked how we could get our mails because there are no postmen delivering them. I was told they are sent to the reception of the Porto Antigo administration. Then the streets don't have names. Our favourite pub is called Tam Tam, owned by an Irish. So we call the street Tam Tam street. On the same street one finds two internet cafes charging 1Eur for 30 minutes.

At sundown, we can see from our balcony the local surfers - one with a dog on his board, swinging high and low with the waves. The local pier is the liveliest part of Sta Maria because it is the landing place for all fish catches where they are cleaned before they are sold or delivered to restaurants. From this pier, the divers and tourists take the yellow submarine and then transfer to the bigger motorsailers. There is a favourite diving place where a Russian ship was deliberately sunk for the divers' delight.

I suppose that a major reason for the "No stress" quality of the Cape Verdean people is that they never had to fight any wars of liberation. They were a colony of Portugal just like Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome but they got their independence without bloodshed in 1975. They promote tourism especially in Sal where a booming property development is happening but there seem to be no hurry in simplifying its investment rules.

It is a country of nine populated islands. Each island has its own landscape, vegetation and local industries. There is a population of half-a-million Cape Verdeans living in these islands and as many live overseas, mainly in the USA. Living in Sta. Maria, Sal means allowing time to settle in you without the limitations of space and self-expectations. Like the sellers of African arts and paintings, who don't press you for a buy, you don't press yourself for daily accomplishments in a country where you don't see or hear much of politics and politicians. There's that freedom to do nothing and nothing means no shame or disgrace.#