According to one travel guide " (...) there is no particular reason for stopping the night at Calheta de São Miguel" and irrespective of the fact that at least it is referred to, whilst most travel guides on Cape Verde don't even mention it, it is in no way a "positive" and encouraging remark regarding this Municipality located along the Northeastern coast of Santiago island.
There may not be much to see, as the city spreads irregularly to both sides of a cobblestone road, with the Church, standing out as the centre ... a permanent reminder of the catholic values over any others.
Calhetona bay is not an ideal place to bathe, though most weekends its dark and sometimes unclean sandy beach is crowded.
If you walk up from it towards your left you'll get to the fairly recent white and mustard colour building - Escola Velhinho Rodrigues, where children study through to secondary school.
Around it you can see lifeless buildings barely standing on their feet, loose animals running around or being fed by local children ... people washing their clothes and having them put out to dry ... children playing with their self-made vehicles ... vehicles of all sizes (as in accordance with the size of their "dreams") ...
As you walk down towards the fishing harbour you come across quite a few street vendors selling their "goods", which are as varied as raw meat, vegetables of all sorts (grown in the small vegetable gardens of the local inhabitants, though most are sold door to door) and even corn and other local" specialities" cooked out in the street and sold by the piece ...
The fishing harbour looks nicer from a distance and though it may be understandable that because of the multiple activities going around it it may not always be possible to keep the area clean, the reality is that it is often too dirty to be appreciated the way it could be otherwise ...
By late afternoon it is common to see the farmers and shepperds heading back "home" and amidst a feeling of joy at the sight of all the "movement" I once more realise with a certain degree of sadness and even apprehension that life around here is very hard particularly on the children, who either have to work side by side with the adults from an early age or look after the younger siblings ... out in the streets all day ...
My unconditional love for Calheta is intimately connected to its young population ... I owe it to the children of this community who have made me feel for it ... in as much as I have the strong feeling I'll be coming back year after year to play with them ... to allow them to develop their creativity when they use the colouring pencils and all the different materials I bring with me for them to "express" themselves with ... to read them the story books they have never heard of nor seen ... and above all to let them be "children" in their own right ...
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