Thanksgivingish

I’m writing from the Parque Natural office in São Felipe, which I guess is technically my…office? Everything’s well. I’m in town for the night, since I got a free ride and kind of need to charge electrical things.

Last weekend was sweet, as some volunteers on Fogo got together in Cova Figueira for Thanksgiving and the conselho (county…ish) festival for Santa Catarina. There are two or three conselhos on Fogo, and Chã das Caldeiras happens to be in it.

Although we couldn’t arrange a turkey, we got two cabritos (baby goats), which were quite cute, but also quite delicious. We also had apple pie, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin (squash) pie. I personally gorged myself, but it was a nice change from the rice and beans I normally eat. That said, my rice and beans recipe is getting better every time, as well as my bread.

The main feature of the festival was live music, which started around 11 pm (depending on if the generator was working) and go ‘til at least 5 am (my bed time is 9:30 normally). It was fun to get together with everyone, do some dancing, and experience the culture. I’m just as good at dancing in Cape Verde as I am in the US (not great).

I got back on Monday, having been gone since Friday. Sadly, my village’s oldest resident, at 104, died Sunday so I shared the truck up with mourners dressed in black, teary-eyed and somber. In CV there are seven days of mourning, with women crying hauntingly. I haven’t made a visit to the deceased’s home but I’ll do it tomorrow or Sunday.

On Tuesday my boss from the Parque came with someone from Praia who’s helping collect info about tourist stuff in Chã, like hostels, restaurants, cars, etc. I’ve been showing him around interviewing and taking pictures. I think several ideas for projects have emerged, and there’s potential to help further with this project. It seems accounting isn’t done, so as much as I disliked ACC 271 and 272, I might have to pass on a few things. Next week we’re going to climb the volcano and hike the border of the volcano crater, a two day trek.

I haven’t been running the last two weeks because I kicked a rock and cut my big toe nicely playing soccer barefooted with neighbor kids. They seemed impressed with the cut and the blood, which is cool as they’re way more cut up since they rarely wear shoes doing farming chores. The Peace Corps doctor was in the village this week and it doesn’t seem infected! The post-cut advice I received was, “André bu ten ki bisti zapato ora ki bu sta joga futebol” (Andrew you have to wear shoes when you’re playing soccer). Quite helpful advice indeed, though I think I learned that lesson on my own.

After I left the Parque office I played Scrabble with Johnny and made rice and beans for lunch. Then I surfed the old inter-web and some shopping at Super Rodrigo, which of course was outstanding as always. Johnny and I did some Tae Bo with one of his buddies and his class in a school courtyard overlooking the Atlantic. It felt a million miles from Chã and not a whole lot like Peace Corps, but a good workout nonetheless.

All right that’s it for now; thanks for reading.