São Tomé and Principe, São Tomé island - Day 4 - January 2004

"My" driver turned out to be a rather talkative and humorous man, though the first impression I got was that he seemed quite a shy looking character. I feel I was privileged in having met him, not only because we spent two consecutive days together, which might have been dull, had he been different, but also because he told me a lot of oral transmitted "stories" I may not have had access to through books.

The image of women washing along the inner courses of the Yô river with their children wrapped around their backs strongly reminded me of Angola and an unexpected feeling of sadness took over me ... though I had left three years ago I still missed it.

The next stop was Santana, the capital district of one of the most populated areas in São Tomé - Canta Galo (The Cock crows). According to popular tradition the name of the district originates from an old legend, in which due to the constant cackling and crowing of the numerous cockrels which lived in São Tomé people who disliked the noise threatened them with war if they were not to choose somewhere else to live. They therefore went around the island and every islet until after a year they found the perfect spot. - this district, where its inhabitants never complained about the noise.


Though it was an agricultural area with quite a few plantations I didn't feel too much of a difference in regards to other areas I had previously visited.

Santana church built in the old colonial architecture style is said to be a replica of an old 1640 Portuguese church.

Agua Izé was one of the "roças" we visited, said to have belonged to the first Baron (Barão João Maria de Sousa Almeida) responsible for the farming activity established here in 1822. He is said to have introduced and later expanded the plantation of cocoa on the island which ended up occupying 60% of its area and having ultimately led the archipelago to become the world's greatest producer.

 

We stopped at Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth) whose name derives from a natural phenomenon caused by the waves making their way into a cave with an upper part in the form of a hole, from which the water sometimes forces its way up.

Entering the Caué district we came across the beach of the seven waves,where a slave ship is said to have sunk in the 15th century, having thus led to the establishment of the Angolar kingdom  led by king Amador, who for many years (until 1596) resisted the Portuguese settlers when he was finally captured and hanged.

 

Named after the Angolan slaves who settled in the area where the ship was wrecked, São João de Angolares is a rather unique settlement, where most of the slave descendants still speak Angolar (Ngola) a kimbundu dialect of Bantu origin, which is naturally very different from the creole spoken on the island.

We visited "Roça" São João de Angolares, which has been refurbished by a well known Santomean sculptor, best known for the Portuguese has having had a TV programme on the traditional cuisine of São Tomé island - João Carlos Silva.

Having been turned into an eco-touristic hotel with quite a few ongoing activities connected to Art I had the opportunity of also visiting its Art gallery and buy a few artistic pieces made by some local artists I spoke to.

We then headed towards Ribeira Afonso, where I stood for a while watching a group of small children "body" surfing on some rather creative thin wooden beams ... that reached an incredible speed (I wish I had had a filming camera with me).

The surrounding atmosphere was dark coloured and grayish ... had it not been the cries of joy from the children on the beach ... though I must confess there was also some indescribable peacefulness ... to which the white cross stuck on the beach added a respectful "mourning" side ...

I couldn't help stopping at Ribeira Peixe to appreciate the wooden village houses and talk to a few people who seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see their eyes "scrutinizing" every move as I made it into the "heart" of the village followed by my "loyal" driver, who could not understand what exactly I was interested in ...

On the way back we stopped at a few amazingly beautiful and unequalled luxuriously vegetated spots, which strongly resembled many of the photos I had seen of Amazonia ...

Walking through one of those I set my eyes on a "piroga" which had been partly carved ...
I must say I was particularly impressed, because although I had seen some fishermen sailing on some of those I hadn't exactly been made aware of the way they were built.

Driving towards the capital I managed to see Pico Cão Grande, a volcanic pinnacle rising up from the immense mass of tropical vegetation.

What a day it was ... a day of breathtaking views ... and endless stories, some certainly true and others creatively crafted by "my" driver, the one I would be looking forward to meeting the following day for a further extended "exploration", as he decided Porto Alegre (which we had been fairly close to) should be visited some other day (more precisely the next day).