Independent republic Cape Verde , is considered African. The archipelago lies opposite the westernmost point of Africa (Cape Almadi and Cape Verde in Senegalese Dakar), approximately 1000 km from the continent. 10 large islands, of which 9 are inhabited, and 5 small uninhabited rock islands. The capital is the city of Praia, on the island Santiago .

Cape Verde Islands on the map:

Cape Verde(Cape Verde) on a map from a local bookstore. Now she occupies a worthy place in our wardroom

Cape Verde on a map of the archipelago. The names of the islands with the prefix San- may differ slightly in different sources and even among different islands, and all because there is no clear agreement on how to correctly translate them into Russian :)

Windward Islands (Ilhas de Barlavento): Santo Antau (San Antao), San Vicente , Santa Lucia (uninhabited). San Nicolau, Sal , Boa Vista.

Leeward (Ilhas de Sotavento): Santiago , Mayu, Fogo and Brava.

Language– Portuguese, Creole – a mixture of Portuguese and African dialects. “Cut” Portuguese. Blacks communicated with their oppressors in Creole. The majority of the population speaks it among themselves. Knowledge of Spanish will help mutual understanding between travelers and the local population :).

Sao Vicente Island. West Bank, view from the road

How to get to Cape Verde

By plane from Lisbon, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich. On a yacht, for example, like this:

Airlines:

• TAP (Transport Air Purtugesh)– Portuguese airline
• – Cape Verdian Airlines

The second one is cheaper, but the first one is better. Local airline ( TACV (Transport Air Cabo Verde) likes to cancel and reschedule flights for, say, 12 hours, without particularly bothering to notify passengers. Therefore, if you are planning a flight on 4-seat aircraft, 3 of them may be covered. According to the rules, when a flight is rescheduled and there is a long connection, the company must provide passengers with a hotel. In fact, the transfer is planned in such a way that neither mother nor father will care: you fly past the hotel, and from three in the morning you spend the night at the airport on a chair. Well, the plus is that you lose money, of course, by not catching the next planes of other airlines. They say that the TAR company is about to be closed, then everyone will fly on Portuguese airlines. They also say that they should launch another company soon, then the prices will become more acceptable. But they've been saying that for five years now.

Flight cost With Cape Verde Islands to Moscow ranges from 650 (if you are lucky with discount promotions) to 1500 euros. Mostly planes to Europe fly from Sal Islands , which still needs to be reached. Local plane ticket from Mindelo ( Sao Vicente ) before Sala costs 180 euros.

View of Mindelo. Sao Vicente from Monte Verde, the highest point of the island

Cape Verde. Money and prices

For “disposable” clothes and everything else in Chinese stores, which are everywhere here, prices are comparable to European ones.

High food prices (one and a half to two times higher than the Canary Islands), since almost everything is imported from or from continents.

Some prices in escudo

• Apples – 175 – local, simple. 260 – 280 – glossy, beautiful.
• Snickers – 75. Sugar (brown), kg – 44 – 70.
• Milk, 1 l (long-term storage only) – 60-80.
• Potatoes – 120. Bulgarian. Pepper – simple – 175. Beautiful – 300-400
• Coconut liqueur with local grog, 0.5 l – 500-600

History of the development of the Cape Verde Islands

Cape Verde discovered by the Portuguese around 1462. The lands turned out to be uninhabited, which seems surprising, but understandable: almost all the islands have no sources of fresh water. Europeans began to use the newly discovered lands as a transshipment base for transporting slaves from Africa to America. Here the slaves were waiting to be sent overseas, some were dying, some were sick. The sick were left on the islands. Their descendants, mixed with the descendants of Portuguese slave owners, form the backbone of the current population of the islands - the Creoles.

Cape Verde visited by us:

1. Sao Vicente Island

Mindelo- the northern capital, it is also a cultural capital, the most beautiful city of the archipelago, a city of poets, artists and musicians. Birthplace of Cesaria Evora. Colonial architecture in the historical center. Here is the country's largest port, in a large protected bay there is an anchorage and the only marina in the country. A hub for yachting, sailors and commercial fishermen for fishing tourists.

Marina Mindelo

View of Marina Mindelo

Anchor– depth 5 meters, sand. Marina is completely European in appearance and design. The only one on the islands.

• Card shower for guests, closed pontoon.
• There is a bar with food on the pontoon. Toilet is free.
• Parking a dinghy at the cafe - 4 euros per day, we agreed on 10 per week. You can bargain to pay less.
• Parking in the marina is 27 (29) euros per day for a size of 40 feet. The cost depends on the length of stay.
• Water – 2 escudos per liter. Twice as expensive as people in the city
• Fuel – diesel is cheaper at the marina than at the gas station.

Marina owner– German, his wife is an Australian of Latvian origin. She lived in Berlin, met her husband there 14 years ago, and went here to develop a business and live.

Internet in the marina and in the marina bar. We catch from a yacht antenna. But when we started downloading movies, the Mariners quickly caught on and began changing the password twice a day... :)

Fishermen take their catch to the market in Mindelo

1. Sao Antao Island

The most beautiful, green island of the archipelago. High folded mountains with pine forests, gardens and even springs. This is the breadbasket of the archipelago.

Fogs in the Sao Antao mountains at the end of the dry season. After the rainy season (in September), the mountains acquire a richer velvet green color.

Car rental- in Porto Novo. There is an international company “Pegasus”, 400 meters from the port along the coast to the north.

• Large pickup – 65 euros per day.
• Plus gasoline.
• If you drive more than 100 km per day, you get a bribe for every extra km.

In the northeast of the island is one of the most beautiful villages in the world, Fontainhas. To get there you need to drive 6 kilometers along a dirt road from the town of Paul along the ocean and into the mountains. Not high, but rocky, if you look down at the ocean from the cabin - it makes you close your eyes :). Tourist websites and brochures write that Fontainhas is located high in the mountains. Lies. Just drive to it - along a dirt road hanging over the ocean. Like this:

The path to the village of Fontainhas along a dirt road

Houses and terraced slopes of Fontainhas

In the town Paul there is an establishment “Black Mamba”, he is being held by the Italian Liana. Outdoor tables are hidden in the shade of climbing passion fruit, which the hostess immediately picks to prepare a carafe of fresh juice with ice. Grog is also diluted with the same juice - a local alcoholic drink extracted from cane and drunk due to the lack of fresh water on the islands :).

The owner Liana is a stately, fit woman of about 40, hard-working and neat. If you are not here for the first time and come to her during a siesta, Liana can offer you to prepare food from what is at hand, send you upstairs, and she will do fitness on the ground floor while listening to music. Liana has two children, the youngest is a Creole, the eldest, apparently, is still from Italy. Unfortunately, there are no photos of Liana’s establishment due to a dead battery in the camera.

House in Paul, San Antao Island

Our Russian friends from Mindelo also praise the establishment of the Italian F (Ernando? Francesco??) - he lives in a very comfortably decorated home and houses and feeds tourists. It’s better to ask the locals about its location; we never got there.

Tarrafal

The southern tip of the island of San Antao (the names Tarrafal are also on other Cape Verde Islands ), fishing village.

• The drive along the coast is tiring and long - along a dusty rocky dirt road through a lunar landscape for an hour and a half.
• It’s easier to come on a yacht – approx. 20 miles from Mindelo. Anchorage. Great depths. Beach. Beautiful from the sea and green even in the dry season.
• Here, in the cozy “place” of the Spaniard Tomas, they serve ice grog with passion fruit juice. Or just juice. Cold and tasty. Here are the numbers. The establishment speaks Portuguese and Spanish, and Tomas probably also speaks English. The owners themselves live in the house, which they rent out to guests.

U Tomas, Tarrafal, San Antao

Entrance to the restaurant-resort “Marina and Tarrafal” by the Spaniard Tomas, Tarrafal, San Antao

View of Tarrafal from the ocean as you approach the anchorage. San Antao

The streets would be beautiful if they were looked after.

Read more about Tarrafal on the island. San Antao, the features of anchorage and disembarkation from a yacht ashore are written in the material .

1. Santa Lucia Island (uninhabited)

   

   The Land Before Time - on the uninhabited island of Santa Lucia

Giant sea turtles lay their eggs here. The island was once inhabited by people. Our notes about this wonderful island are in the group on FB (soon they will be transferred to the website)

Cape Verde. Medicine

State healthcare for the local population is almost free; for this you need to pay for something like an insurance policy. Certificates stating that you are low-income will help you get treatment even more free :).

Mindelo has a municipal hospital and at least one good, but expensive private clinic, “MediCentro”. It is located near the marina next to the police station. The girl at the reception even speaks Russian. An initial appointment with a doctor costs 6,000 escudos (5.5 thousand rubles). A Russian urologist works at the clinic. (If necessary, we can provide the contact in a personal message). On Sao Vicente there is a good European laboratory “Labo Jove” (I think so), where they do high-quality tests.

The old Mindelo Hospital is 200 years old. There are hospital buildings and a clinic (consultation center). Inside the building there are open galleries with entrances to offices, trees, and again a closed corridor with office doors. Everyone has been sitting in line on benches since eight in the morning. At nine, the office doors are wide open, but not a single doctor is visible. Then the people perk up and run to one common door, either for coupons or for test results. And again he sits doomedly in front of empty offices. No one takes a turn, everyone just waits. Ostensibly…

Shops and markets in Mindelo

Fish market on the shore opposite the anchorage. From the marina exit - 3 minutes to the right. Just behind the beautiful governor's tower (a copy of some famous tower.)

In the morning there is a lot of tuna at the market; in the cutting department the carcasses are cut up and taken to the traders. A kilo costs between 400 and 500 escudos. Cut into steaks. There is plenty of other seafood - dried, salted and fresh. They speak only Creole (Portuguese). Fish cleaning – 50 escudos

Central city market– in a beautiful colonial building. Everything is clean. Moderate selection of everything vegetable, + wine and grog, preserves, hard local cheese, dried herbs.

On the road from the fish market near the market square (where the booths are painted with pictures from Mindelo's past) there are also vegetable and fruit shops and markets. . The square itself is a souvenir and clothing area.

The street near the main temple on one side is completely occupied by Chinese shops with Chinese people at the counter. They don't speak English either. There are a lot of inexpensive and disposable things, like everywhere else. 20 years ago, with the arrival of the Chinese in the Cape Verde Islands, all the locals began to be dressed and, finally, put on shoes.

About the people in Cape Verde - ours and the locals - will be here >> (material in the process of creation :))

Other entries from the Cape Verde Islands:

Cape Verde. Photos:

The beach in Mindelo (Sao Vicente island) is made of shell rock. lime, mixing with the turquoise of the ocean, forms a fantastic color of water. Just outside the port, north along the shore from the marina

Bar in Mindelo Marina in the evening, o. Sao Vicente.

Street in the center of Mindelo

street in the center of Mindelo

Rich neighborhood in Mindelo

Panorama of Mindelo, the cultural capital of the archipelago. View of the marina and anchorage

Surf on the uninhabited island of Santa Lucia. The masts of the Lady Mary at anchor are visible through the waves.

View from the anchorage of Santa Lucia Island to Sao Vicente Island at sunset

San Vicente (resort of Cuba)

San Vicente(San Vicente), balneo-climatic resort of Cuba (province of Pinar del Rio), to the north-east. from the city of Viñales. Summer is hot (average temperature in July 27 °C), winter is very warm (average temperature in January 22 °C); precipitation over 2 thousand mm in year. Sulfide mineral waters, hydrocarbonate waters with mineralization up to 1 g/l.

San Vicente

San Vicente(Sã o Vicente), a city in the south-east. Brazil, in the state of Sao Paulo, on the island of Sao Vicente, near the city of Santos. 116 thousand inhabitants (1970). J. -d. station. Agricultural Center area (mainly bananas). Food enterprises, production of tannins, glass.

Sangay

Sangay(Sangay), an active volcano in Ecuador, on the eastern slope of the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes (Cordillera Real), at 2° S. w. Height 5230 m. It has been in operation since 1728, emitting vapors and ash that covers the surrounding area. On the top of the S. there is eternal snow.

Sangar

Sangar, urban-type settlement, center of the Kobyaisky district of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Pier on the right bank of the Lena, at 337 km northwest of Yakutsk. Coal mining; building materials plant, fish factory.

Sangar Strait

Sangar Strait, between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. Cm. Tsugaru.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1969-1978.

Cape San Vincente (Cabo de São Vicente) is the most southwestern point of Europe and is a very interesting place. Sheer cliffs rising from the ocean, strong winds and waves crashing against the rocks somewhere below - here you really get the feeling of being somewhere on the edge of the earth. And the working lighthouse, as a reminder of the era of glorious sailors and discoverers of new lands, adds romance to this place. At all times, the cape was considered the sacred habitat of the gods, which is confirmed by archaeological finds from the Neolithic, Roman Empire and Phoenician eras. Christians named the cape in honor of the patron saint of seafarers, Saint Vincent of Saragossa.

The cape is located about 6 kilometers from the small town of Sagres, and the road to it passes through deserted terrain on the Atlantic coast.

Cape San Vincente is very similar to another equally famous place, Cape Roca - the westernmost point of Europe (we will visit it in a week), but unlike the latter, it is still less crowded here, although, of course, tourists come here in the evening to look at famous sunset.

The lighthouse is considered the most powerful in Europe, and the light from it is visible at a distance of 60 kilometers, because ships going around the cape must maintain a decent distance for safety reasons. The building houses a small maritime museum, and while Yulia and the children were exploring it, I walked along the rocks looking for the best points for photos.

Rocks reaching a height of 70 meters stretch to the north, and a little further away a stone island sticks out of the water, resembling either a shoe or the head of a dragon.

The vegetation in the surrounding area is quite sparse - mostly small bushes, but the flowers on the slopes of the rocks look very picturesque against the backdrop of the raging waves.

And below the waves, slowly running onto the rocks, crash with a roar, turning into water dust and sea foam. Looking at this spectacle, you can’t help but think how weak and helpless a person is in the face of the elements - it’s scary to even imagine being in these waves.

The nearby cliff to the east of the lighthouse offers the best view. Martin is wearing a matching t-shirt with the words "sea wolf" =)

We really wanted to wait for sunset here, but by this time we still had no certainty about where to spend the night, and the prospect of looking for a place to stay in the dark was somehow not encouraging. Therefore, we drove towards Sagres, but could not help but stop along the way near the Belish beach (Praia do Beliche) in a cozy bay surrounded by rocks. From these rocks you can get a better view of Sagres, hanging over the ocean.

It's scary to look down.

And here is the beach itself and one and a half diggers on it, and while we went down there and reached the far part of it, we were left there completely alone. It would be nice to pitch a tent here, but you don’t know to what level the water rises during high tide, and collapses are possible near the rocks, as indicated by warning signs.

After the Marinha beach, where we had been the day before, it was difficult to surprise us, but still Belish impressed us, and we stayed here almost until sunset, walking along the shore, running through the waves, swimming in the clearest water and enjoying freedom and solitude.

And only when the beach was finally plunged into the shadow of the surrounding rocks, we went to Sagres in search of an overnight stay. It was another wonderful day of a wonderful trip.

The ocean is wonderful in calm weather

From the shore of Sao Vicente, the neighboring island of Santo Antan is very clearly visible. It is so close that the illusion arises that the blue strait between the islands can be crossed by swimming. Moreover, the rock topped with the old customs building at the exit from the San Vicente roadstead seems to invite the swimmer to rest along the way.

The strait, however, has one insidious feature. Either a constant powerful draft blows in the narrow gap formed by the rocky hills of San Vicente and Santo Antana, or some kind of ocean current makes its way between them. In general, for one reason or another, in any clear weather there is always a strong wave driving along the strait.

As soon as the double-decker ferry passes the picturesque rock with the customs office, the wave shakes it thoroughly for the first time and does not let go for the next hour, while the ship zigzags through the strait that seems so idyllic from afar. When the ship changes tack and exposes its side to the wave, it lists in the most terrifying way. A torrent of water washes over passengers on the upper deck, bags and trunks are rushed aboard with the clear intention of drowning in the sea, glassware breaks, and seasick people experience the worst moments of their lives.

Those tourists who do not have problems with pitching scan the surface of the strait with their eyes. The waters around the islands are said to be full of sharks. No one wants to miss the terrible and delightful moment when a toothy creature sticks out its muzzle or back. Sharks cruelly deceive human expectations. It seems that monsters exist only somewhere in the depths, and even in the dramatic stories of local guides. Flying fish jump on the surface, some manage to see a dolphin (I didn’t see one) - that’s all. However, crossing the strait between Sao Vicente and Santo Antan is an unforgettable experience.

You can only get there by plane

Traveling by ferry, in general, is atypical for guests of the Republic of Cape Verde (which is where the episode described above took place at the end of last month). The ten islands that make up this country are scattered quite far from each other and form something resembling an irregular circle in the Atlantic Ocean.

Cape Verde means "Cape Verde" in Portuguese. Therefore, in Russian, the small republic used to be called the Cape Verde Islands (sometimes they are called the same now).

Cape Verde is the closest point to the archipelago on the mainland, in Africa. It is approximately 600 kilometers to the east.

Moving approximately north, after one and a half thousand kilometers you find the Canary Islands. From there it’s still the same distance to Europe.

To the west - six thousand kilometers to America. In a southerly direction - a little less than two thousand to the imaginary equator line. But there is no land on that side until Antarctica itself. And that one is so far away that there is, one might say, nowhere to go from Cape Verde to the south.

The islands themselves are separated from each other by 100-150 kilometers of wavy ocean surface. Due to the geographical features of Cape Verde, foreign visitors usually arrive in the country by plane and move around its national territory in the same way. Small (but modern) planes of the national airline TACV carry them from island to island in an hour.

There are, however, two large ocean ferries: Sotaventu (Leeward) and Barlaventu (Windward). They go around the archipelago in a circle: the first - clockwise, and the second - counter-clockwise. But these are long hours and even days of sailing. This is not what the average holidaymaker would enjoy in Cape Verde.

What might he like there? A lot of simple but pleasant things. Sea. Clean and amazingly warm almost all year round. Beaches with the finest sand, going hundreds of meters deep into the island, and on the right and left - in some places beyond the horizon. For exotic lovers there are beaches with black, volcanic sand. It looks like cigarette ash, but in fact it is as pristinely pure as ordinary quartz.

Cooking. The highlight of the national menu is a variety of marine life, from tuna to octopus and bottom-dwelling arthropods. All these God's creatures have one thing in common: in the local climate they reach exceptionally large sizes and are served in the same portions. For livestock farming, nature has created conditions in Cape Verde that are not as favorable (to put it mildly) as for fishing. But the meat in the island restaurants is served as if it’s mostly Gargantuas who go there, and not average human beings. I got burned by this on the first day: I ordered two dishes for lunch (well, you know, as we are used to: first, second, salad). In Cape Verde, every dish is lunch. Gourmets who want a variety of taste sensations ask for one portion of this and one portion of that per person, and then mix the resulting mixture on separate plates. By the way, taking into account this local style, food for a large company is often served not on plates, but on dishes, from which everyone helps themselves as much as they see fit. For side dishes, island cuisine has provided both what is familiar to Europeans and what is closer to African tastes. The neighboring vegetable market stalls sell, say, cassava sticks and all the ingredients needed for Russian borscht, except, of course, sour cream.

The tourist is also very impressed that there are few tourists like him on the archipelago. Although the number of foreign vacationers is slowly growing and reached something like 30 thousand last year (out of 400 thousand of its own population), the small country still remains aloof from what is called the “mass tourism industry.” Signs of this industry are already present. Modern hotels have been built, some of them claiming to be 4-star. Hotels have various traditional facilities and services: swimming pools, discos, car, motorcycle and bicycle rentals, excursions by land and sea, scuba diving courses. But there are no negative consequences of the tourism industry yet. No trash on the beaches. There is no crowding on the streets or in public catering establishments. The people engaged in serving guests have not yet been spoiled by the flow of easy tourist income. By the way, Cape Verde really wants to become a fashionable resort. So if you don’t really like the attitude towards tourists in Hurghada or Antalya, you should go to Cape Verde now before it’s too late. Everything that Egyptian and Turkish resorts can offer is already available on the archipelago, but what does not decorate them is not yet there.

The people of Cape Verde make the most pleasant impression on tourists. Although the country is inhabited mainly by dark-skinned and very dark-skinned people, culturally the islands represent a fairly harmonious symbiosis of Europe and Africa. There is no currying favor with Europeans here, but there is no “black racism” either. Here they understand European languages ​​(including Russian, as discussed below), but among themselves they speak Creole - a dialect developed on the basis of Portuguese and the languages ​​of West Africa, but equally different from either the first or the latter. Cape Verdeans expect foreigners to comply with generally accepted rules of decency and, if necessary, they know how to guide an overbearing guest on the true path, but they themselves cheat much less often than in Moscow, do not steal, do not rob pedestrians on the night streets, do not quarrel over trifles, but rather try conduct business in a spirit of mutual understanding. When it comes to human interaction, Cape Verde is a wonderful place. On the one hand, there is a sea of ​​exoticism, on the other, there is no “clash of cultures” for a foreigner here.

Lunar landscape

Now about what threatens him here. The impressionable are slightly threatened by stories about sharks. When during the day they show you the dried jaws of these creatures with six rows of teeth in a souvenir shop, and in the evening they serve you a tuna carcass the size of a calf in the hotel restaurant, then during the morning swim, about twenty meters from the shore, it dawns on some: “Oh, damn! if the creature is the same size, and with those teeth..." After a couple of baths, the fear usually goes away. Statistics on shark attacks on people near the coast in Cape Verde, according to some sources, are completely absent; according to others, there is only one tragic case, and not quite near the coast.

Unwary visitors from the North to the archipelago are in danger of quickly and severely getting burned. This is more serious than sharks. The sun burns there like an arc furnace. But on small islands in the middle of the ocean, a strong, fresh wind constantly blows. And this creates a deceptive impression of, if not coolness, then tolerable heat. Meanwhile, exposed areas of skin quickly become brick-red even from simply walking down the street. Europeans should not lie on the beaches of Cape Verde for hours.

And everyone who arrives on the islands for the first time is threatened with the impression that he has found himself on the Moon. It must be said frankly that Cape Verde is a classic desert. Of the ten islands, only one can be called green (or rather, half of one). On the northern side of Santo Antana (the same one where we so courageously sailed at the beginning of the article), rain can occur at any time of the year. Therefore, there are streams, pine forests, sugar cane plantations - in general, landscapes that do not amaze with their gloomy grandeur. The southern half of Santo Antana is the same as all the other Cape Verde Islands.

The archipelago owes its birth to volcanoes that poked their heads out of the ocean millions of years ago. One of the volcanoes is still smoking on the island of Fogo (that’s why the island is called “fogo” - “fire”). The rest went out. But they determined the appearance of Cape Verde once and for all. Wherever in the archipelago you stand with your back to the sea, you will see more or less the same thing before your eyes. A sandy or rocky plain (where there is one), and behind it (in some places right in front of your nose) there are mountains of lava that go steeply into the cloudy layers of the atmosphere. The flag of the Republic of Cape Verde is white, blue and red, almost like in Russia. In fact, the country's characteristic colors are red, brown and black.

These colors change only once a year. Seasonal rains arrive at the end of August. There is a lot (even more than usual) of wind, thunder, lightning and similar dramatic effects. The desert responds to them with all its life-affirming power. Grass suddenly emerges from the bare stone. Until October, it feeds on the energy of hurricanes, and then dries up completely, only to emerge again from nothing the next year.

If the sight of a scorched desert does not make a beneficial impression on you, you urgently need to turn 180 degrees. There is a sea, the colors play there all year round. But a walk into the volcanic mountains is also worth taking. A car ride gives the most acute effect. You will receive it without any effort, no matter where or for what business you have to go to Cape Verde.

Although the capital of the republic is called Praia (that is, "beach"), the city's beaches, by local high standards, are nothing special. The best are located on the opposite end of the island of Santiago (on which the capital is located). The highway from Praia to the white and black sands of Tarrafal leads northwest. At the same time, it leads first beyond the clouds, and then turns into a gigantic “roller coaster”, which returns the car back to sea level.

On the way from the southern to the northern part of Santo Antana there is a place called Delgadinho ("the thin one"). Oncoming cars give way to each other there. Because the highway is just the width of a heavy truck, and there are no ditches. Instead, there are almost perfectly smooth cliffs on both the right and left. 1 km high. In not very clear weather, the view from this stone spine is spoiled by clouds. They dangle somewhere between the soles of your feet and the valley floor.

Roads in Cape Verde are not paved with asphalt, like ours, but cut through lava and paved with paving stones made from the same lava. Laying out terraces of lava blocks where necessary. However, side guards are somehow not considered very necessary. When turning corners, the soul of an unprepared passenger sinks into his heels. But local, and not only local, drivers maneuver there completely calmly. For example, Vladimir Alekseevich Tsvetkov, Charge d'Affaires of Russia in Cape Verde... When he took me to see the old Portuguese fortress near Praia, I felt uneasy, but he felt okay.

The Russians have already arrived

Cape Verde is a small country. Sometimes it seems that everyone knows everyone there by name, surname, and by name. PROMEX - the local government body for promoting foreign tourism and investment - hosted a small reception in Praia in honor of visiting Russian tour operators and journalists. Local television filmed the event and broadcast a report that same evening. A couple of hours after the transfer, I was walking through the center of the already asleep capital. A certain young mulatto asked me for a cigarette. "You are Russian?" - he asked. "How do you know?" "And you were just shown on TV." In the following days, I became convinced that a lot of people got to know me through the program on different islands.

But for Russians, the feeling of “they know me” there is all the more acute because the Russian presence and authority of Russia is very strong in the state of the Cape Verde Island, which is absolutely unknown to our average person.

True, our presence in the Atlantic archipelago is not the same as in Poland, where local men disdainfully buy small-scale quantities of smuggled vodka from Belarusian shuttle traders in order to fuel table conversations about “those Russians” (meaning the same shuttle traders). And it’s not like in Berlin, Vienna and Prague, where the bogeyman of the Russian mafia has become such a commonplace that tourists from Russia themselves shy away from each other on the streets.

The presence of Russia in Cape Verde is when you don’t want to swear in the street, because in the most unexpected places the most unexpected dark-skinned people speak kindly to you in good Russian. Graduates of universities in the USSR and CIS are regularly found on all the islands. Architect, engineer, artist, businessman.

Vladimir Alekseevich and I walked past the General Staff building. Ancient cannons are lined up along it. "Can I take a picture?" - I asked the guard. He shook his head and convincingly stroked the Kalashnikov on his stomach. I went off to photograph some other views. Vladimir Alekseevich, meanwhile, explained to the soldier that he was Russia’s charge d’affaires, but this was a Russian journalist. The conversation attracted the attention of the guard commander. He approached, delved into the problem, and instantly revised his subordinate’s decision in a way that was favorable to me: the guns could be photographed. “After all, I studied in Odessa,” the officer added.

The presence of Vladimir Alekseevich Tsvetkov on the African archipelago is understandable: Russian diplomats are almost everywhere. But compatriots from the category of “unofficial persons” also meet with a frequency that is unusual for the tiny scale of the country. I was introduced to the cheerful port town of Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente during the day by employees of the Cape Verdean tourism organization, and at night by two contract doctors working there: a Russian and a Ukrainian. Night excursions were much more educational. In the lyceum of the small (but important by local standards) village of Ribeira Grande, two Russian teachers were discovered. The whole village knows them, so they treated us like family. On the island of Sal, where the national international airport is located and Aeroflot transit flights land, the Russian airline built its own hotel, thanks to which our country last year became third in terms of foreign investment in the tourism industry of Cape Verde (after Italy and Portugal). In absolute numbers, the leader is ahead of us by less than 20 percent.

Music of long roads

As poor in greenery as Cape Verde is, it is rich in music. Like the Creole language, this music grew up at the junction of Lusitania and Africa, but is completely independent in relation to its parents. The Portuguese catch their national notes in it, people from West Africa - their tunes, citizens of East African countries - theirs. If desired, one can even note the similarity with Russian folk songs. But overall, these are the melodies of the Cape Verde Islands, and nothing more.

In Ribeira Grande (where local teenagers are taught by Russian teachers), new acquaintances invited us to a noite caboverdiana - “Caboverian night”, specially organized on the occasion of our arrival. This event was not in the program prepared by PROMEX, and least of all it looked like a tourist attraction. People just gathered to drink, sing and chat. Experts later explained that traditionally such gatherings should last all night until the morning, preferably the night from Friday to Saturday or from Saturday to Sunday. As the Ambassador of Cape Verde to Russia, Julio Morais, put it: “We need to witness how the sun is born.” Our musical evening fell in the middle of the work week, so it died down around two in the morning. But it was still great.

They can sing whatever they want on “Cape Verdian nights,” but they must sing “mornas.” The morna is performed with a guitar and a couple of typically local string instruments. It would be great to have a violin too.

The queen of this genre (and therefore the queen of all island music, the Cape Verdean Pugacheva) is considered to be Cesaria Evora. Among the CDs she recorded is Nha noite caboverdiana ("Caboverian Night"). One of the Russian listeners said that Evora's songs reminded him of the sensations of a driver behind the wheel on a long night highway. There is movement, but there is stillness. You are on your own, but merged with the world around you.

There is a connection between the sea and the road. The genre appeared in the middle of the last century, when the mass emigration of Cape Verdeans overseas, which continues to this day, began: to America, Europe, and Africa. Morna is essentially a sad song. A wife's song about a husband who left and God knows if he will return. But it is sung calmly, without strain, one might say, optimistically. This is at the same time a message to your loved one. By the way, Evora herself has also been working somewhere in Europe for a long time.

When your loved one is nearby, let others sing, and you should dance with him (to the song). Funana is sung and danced on such occasions. “Move your hips and the wind will carry you away,” Mr. Morais quoted an apt Cape Verdean proverb. I don’t know what the dancers of this style experience. But he lights the viewer like a match. Absolute harmony between reason and emotions in such cases is highly desirable. In the disco of the Djad`Sal hotel on the island of Sal, a funana performance was given regarding the massive arrival of Western European tourists. Not quite real, but concert numbers. A certain German sat there like a statue, not far from me. The young artists danced a little more slow dancing for the soul with their boys and went their separate ways. The tourists also slowly dispersed. Just before the disco closed, I looked there again. The German (four o'clock!) was still sitting in the same position, staring at a point visible to him alone, where the funana had long since burned away. Then caring compatriots took the victim out of the disco and took him to rest.

There is also a style that is not really intended for tourist eyes. Coladera. This is music, dance, and a whole folk festival at once. If you're lucky, take part.