Caipirinha (another local drink)

Caipirinha

1 shot Cachaca (local Grogue)
1 lime
1 spoon sugar
crushed ice

Instructions

Cut some small pieces of lime for the glass, crush the rest of the lime with the sugar, strain and serve with Grogue lime pieces and ice, stir well.

This drink absolutely knocks your head off as Claire will explain in her entry later. I suppose you could replace the Grogue with other spirits such as Vodka or Tequila. They serve it during happy hour at the hotel Morabeza where we often frequent with the ex-pats. We have been there 2 nights and drank with Bill and Liz, they have sold up in England and have now been here for 6 weeks. They are trying to make a new life for themselves by offering property letting and maintenance on Sal. They are an unlikely but lovely couple and we enjoy their company. We will be seeing them again for happy hour at 6.30 for our last drink and I will try to get a photo of them. We were in there last night and had a curry at the Bombay on the way home; very British.

We have had a lazy day today for our last day like most people would do all week before our return home tomorrow. We caught up with Jacqueline at 9am in our reception for a de-brief where we basically said the truth; either we are not ready for Cape Verde yet or Cape Verde is not ready for us; not sure which. It has been very interesting and enjoyable but also very over priced and most staff are miserable and unhelpful. Not all of course, some are charming and bend over backwards but most do not and seem lazy and don’t want to be here (or maybe its us they don’t want to be here?). Following this I wrote the last entry and posted it with the one before in the usual place where everyone seems to know me now. Maximillion never stops trying to get me to buy something from his shop in the Oasis plaza. I have promised to buy something tomorrow. If you go into the internet place after 10.30 the locals start to come in and use the internet phones. I can’t tell you how annoying this is being positioned in-between two of these bellowing locals yelling their mumbo- Jumbo as if they are trying to impress someone. Best to get there early!

By the time I had put both blogs on it was time for lunch and we decided to go to the Funana’s for a light lunch so we could use their beach beds afterwards. I originally thought “Funanas” was a play on words being similar to Banana but with a fun at the front but no, silly me, it’s from the African dance the “Funana” where the girls put their hands in the air and wiggle on down. We settled for a burger each but it came without a bun and was one of those real cheap frozen burgers that Claire called dog meat. You can see how much she left. By the way, I know what you are thinking, that’s a fly on Claire’s nose; no its not, it’s where she got sunburned and scratched it off in the night whilst at Boa Vista causing it to scab over. Poor Claire has just not been able to shake off her cold all week; she’s been sniveling and sneezing the whole time. I would have thought that the sun would burn it off or these ceaseless winds would blow it away, but no. Also we were eaten alive at Boa Vista whilst we ate our dinner alfresco. Strangely we haven’t been bothered by them on Sal.

This relaxing period was short lived as Claire was convinced that there was a bumble bee hive nesting in the old wooden boat behind us. I was desperately trying to finish off the biography of Peter Cook by his first wife Wendy but it was not to be. Never mind, I will have a minimum of 7 hours in the airport or on the plane tomorrow; I will probably be glad of it. So it was off along the beach where Claire tried her hand at being a lifeguard and then on to find Harriet’s cigarettes. We had been told that they would cost about £18 a pack so not bad as that includes local tax. They only sell red or silver Marlboro here, nothing else is available. We managed to find them eventually in a local supermarket behind the main streets for a little less so we managed to save you some money Harriet! I also bought a couple of Red Bulls to help finish the vodka off but boy they are expensive here; more than the vodka!

The last picture is of the Neptunus, a glass bottomed boat where you can view the exotic fish that swim around the shores of Cape Verde until they are either over fished or driven away. I can’t see the turtles that nest here lasting much longer either with the amount of development going on very close to their nests. I think they will only survive in more remote beaches and islands. My next blog will be from England where I will probably sum up our experiencies and thoughts of the holiday so BFN or “Chow”. VOTE JORGE!!!!!!!