Palmeira at night
Dogs everywhere. One of the first impression that strikes you getting ashore at Palmeira is the large number of dogs. Literally every street corner has a couple of dogs. What’s different from other “development areas” we’ve been to is that these dogs are not aggressive, they don’t bark, most of them sleep during the day and they are in relatively good shape. Clearly the dog community is balanced and lives in harmony with the people living here.
From a tourist perspective, this small village doesn’t have much to offer. One basic restaurant, a couple of basic bars, and one or two mercados offering the very core supplies, dependent of when the last shipment of goods arrived. Fresh water is supplied at one or two Fontaneros, where people carry their water cans back and forth to their houses. Still, this village with about 500 people has its charm. Almost no begging, a few souvenir sales guys that can take a “no thank you” response, and in general very friendly, smiling faces. A major barrier though is language, all locals speak Creul – Portuguese with an African twist, most speak Portuguese and some French. As we manage English, German and some Spanish, we are in “deep water” when it comes to communication. But it adds to the adventure and in some cases a big laugh! This particular anchorage is deemed relatively safe, meaning normal security measures apply and we didn’t hear of any theft during our week here when we left our dinghy every day on the beach. Averages age is about 30 years and annual income on average is about 1800 USD.
Sunday evening we enjoyed the weekly “Palmeria Party”. At 7 pm it was time for the “elderly” meaning about our age to listen to live music (Morno the famous Cap Verde style of soul). At 11 pm the younger audience appeared with more disco music. For ½ Euro we had BBQ meat and for 1 Euro a beer. If you are brave you can have a “grog” for ½ Euro – sugar cane distilled rum with home made flavours like honey, lemon, orange etc. Very strong indeed!
We got home alright in the dark night!
S/Y Tina Princess 