Easter, Hiking the Crater and a Cute Little Girl

Easter, Hiking the Crater and a Cute Little Girl
So Easter was last weekend and a few of us Santo Antao volunteers and even a couple from Fogo and Santiago got together for some grub and Frisbee tossing. Fun was had by all, even though I had to leave before the food was served so that I could catch the car back to my village. (I was however able to sample the home-made chips and bean dip and it was EXCELLENT!) Below is a picture of Michelle making something delicioso (delicious). Tough being away from your family for big holidays, but seeing the other volunteers and getting to speak some English for a change was nice. On the way home to Cha de Igreja, we came across a car accident. Nobody was seriously hurt, but they should be thanking their lucky strellas (stars) that they fell of this puny 3 meter cliff and not one of the 700 meter cliffs that are a little further along this road.
So, the day after Easter, Daron and the aforementioned Fogo and Santiago volunteers hiked out to Cha de Igreja from Ponto do Sol (a five hour hike that took them three) and I made them fried chicken and mac´n´cheese for dinner, and then next day we caught a car up to the top of the range that separates the (vastly different ecosystems of) the North and South halves of the island. From there you can look across the channel to Sao Vicente (that´s it behind me in the picture) or turn around and look down into crater of the formerly active volcano that created this island (also there is a hilarious sign explaining the crater’s formation that was apparently written by drunken teenagers with absolutely no vulcanological expertise). The crater is brown and dry right now, but during the “rainy season,” if you can call it that, they grow coffee down in there. Anyway, you hike down into the crater and back up through the back of it to look down onto the Ribeira (valley) of Paul. Pretty impressive view from up there, and a pretty steep path all the way to the bottom. When they have rain, this valley (and this view) is certainly one of the most beautiful in Cape Verde (which makes you wonder why they named the flat, featureless island of Boavista the way they did). So, my knees managed to make it down the switchbacks and carried me to the infamous house of the “German guy” (who´s actually Austrian). This guy makes some pretty spektakulo (spectacular) basil and tomato goat cheese, fresh bread, paunche and grog…well, the grog not so much. Anyway, we sampled all of it, and made some rowdy friends while we were there. Later we all caught a car back to Ribeira Grande to unwind. Next day, I was back to Cha de Igreja and managed to make it there in time to see the girls´ soccer game, where I met this little girl (Sissy is her name) who I thought was pretty darn cute. Pictures of all of this business (in inverse order unfortunately) below.