First impressions of Mindelo

As promised Marcus and I walked to the beach. We had something to drink at a bar and then I went swimming while Marcus watched my stuff. Today is holiday (independence day) so everybody was at he beach partying. What you might notice looking at the photos is that the people are not lying at the beach but all standing up, mostly dancing (shaking their bodies). Due to a big hunger earlier in the last century there are mostly young people between 20 and 30 here, all with beautiful bodies - boys and girls. As a proof that we're really here, Marcus took a picture of me at the beach after swimming

You find a big contrast here. On the one hand they start to invest for tourism, there are some young rich people here. On the other hand you see many poor people. This difference can also be seen in the buldings. There is this new top modern building with interesting stair construction nex to an old style bar (see pictures), which is more a barrack.

In the marina we saw a boat which is completely burnt out. You'll also find it on one of the pictures. Some interesting boats. One boat with a construction for the sails like a windsurf board. A Trimaran, which has not been touched in a long time with plastic ( ?) owls in the front. Interesting. Our neighbours just left the pier to anchor right next to it in the bay. The funniest boat name is "Hokus Pokus".

Tonight we will go out for dinner, tomorrow we'll explore the town to get some things for the boat. And of course I need to go swimming again.

Ah, the harbour book and the Marco Polo travel guide were right: electricity, water and internet work sometimes.

For our friends Michaela and Horst and their cute grandson Konstantin in Las Palmas: there are ARMAS ferries here....One came in with us.

 

Arriving here was fun by the way. We passed some freighters and we waved hello. They gave us thumbs up cause I (a girl) was driving  and there were only two of us....There was a big (also military) parade going on for the independence day. Our harbour book said someone will come and lead us to the place where we should park. Well not today. So we looked for a spot and parked there. Our neighbours helped us with the lines. We have a boje in the front and are tied to the swimming pier in the back.

Michaela