Officially Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, is named the Republic of Cabo Verde. But everyone calls it Cape Verde. It is a small country; an archipelago with a population of about 500,000. First colonized by Portugal, it won its independence in July of 1975. 

All did not go well at first. After securing independence from Portugal, Cape Verde became a one-party state, dominated by Marxists. However in 1990 the one-party state was abolished and a multiparty democracy took its place. Since then, Cape Verde has had a stable functioning democracy and its economy has improved markedly. 

There is a large diaspora of Cape Verde natives, many of whom live in the US and Portugal. Both the US and Portugal maintain strong ties to Cape Verde. The people who moved to the US did so way back when to work in the whaling industry. They had developed the necessary skills to succeed in that industry. And Portugal has welcomed Cape Verde natives. 

Interestingly enough, even though it is a West African nation and a member of the African Union, the people of Cape Verde (if our guides are to be believed) consider themselves to be more like Europeans that Africans. They may have a point. The islands of Cape Verde seemed to be a lot more developed and much cleaner than the countries of the mainland. 

We visited 2 cities on 2 different islands in Cape Verde: Praia, on the island of Santiago, and Mindelo on the island of São Vincente. Praia, with its beaches is the largest city and capital of Cape Verde. Mindelo is a cultural hub, known for its architecture and traditional music. 

On our visit to Praia we went to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the fort of St Phillip (Forte Real de São Filipe). The fort was originally built in order to thwart pirate attacks. 

We also got to see a rooster up close and personal and we peered down at one of the cities beaches. 

When we went to Mindelo, we drove up to the summit of one of their mountains, where it was extremely windy and chilly. The guides kept insisting that we shouldn’t stand too close to the edge of the road because of the high winds. A little less than comforting.

Not to mention that the roads were nothing to write home about. 

As we drove along, hoping the bus didn’t get too close to the edge and go over, we saw some isolated houses built alongside the mountains.

All it takes is looking at those (few) houses and the coastline below to realize how far away you are. 

Anyway, we are off for the Canaries (Europe!) and will report in soon. 

JFB