João accompanied me very early in the morning down to Terra Branca to take a present to the daughter of one of the young ladies working at a former pension I had stayed at, whose location despite being just about fifteen minutes walk from the pension we were all staying at now might have been "problematic", had I gone alone at such an early hour.
We had the whole morning to "explore" Plateau as well as part of Achada de Santo Antonio, having walked down towards the tourist area of the beaches along the bay and up to Plateau again before preparing ourselves to watch the Carnival parade.
Quebra Canela beach (left) and Prainha (right)
Gamboa beach
We stopped at "Quintal da Musica" to have "catchupa" (another typical Cape Verdian plate) for lunch and then not knowing what to expect walked down towards Sucupira and Avenida Lisboa, where the parade was supposed to start by around two ...
It started, as most things in Africa, "slightly later" than the announced hour but we had a great time just watching the colour ... movement ... creativity ... (from condoms used as decorative pieces calling the attention to diseases like HIV to vibrant colours ... and or barely any clothes) ...
It was very hot and though we felt sorry for some of those who were like ourselves in the sun awaiting for the Carnival parade to start ... nobody seemed to be concerned about either the delay or the extreme heat ...
By the time we had to get to the pension so as to head to the Airport the Carnival parade was still going on ...
With a few minor setbacks ... we managed to leave Praia on our way to Lisbon by midnight ... after what could be considered a four day hard working holiday type of adventure ...
No comments:
Post a Comment