Last Day on Land!

Yesterday, we took a trip to the south part of the island, with a group of friends, to spend the day at the beach and take a hike to a lighthouse, and stretch our legs for the last time in a long while.

Lily and Maggie in the truck ride :) 

We planned to take a bus, but as we were waiting for the bus, a pickup truck with benches in the back offered to drive us all straight there for 1000 “Escudos” (12$). Cheaper, and a bit more adventure, so naturally, we all jumped in. :) 

This was the pick-up we squeezed 20 people in!

The beach was absolutely gorgeous, and there was NO-ONE there! It was clean sand with a little surf, and a rock wall the kids played on, and we had a great day. The town we’ve been at for the last week and a half, Mindelo, always seems to be covered with clouds, but on the south side, it was sunny and not quite as windy as Mindelo.

The beach!!

The hike to the lighthouse was really cool, walking along a sheer cliff, and looking out over the ocean. The lighthouse was unused, and had some vandalism, but it was neat to see the building and the views were incredible.

On the hike up to the Lighthouse

By late afternoon, we hiked from the beach about a mile to the ‘town’ nearby and tried to arrange a taxi back to Mindelo. With our group is Juliano, a guy travelling around from Brazil. He’s crewing on Begonia, our friends Sebastian and Carla’s boat, and speaks Portuguese, so he usually gets stuck being everyone’s translator, but seems happy to do it.

Back in Mindelo, with a lot of sandy, hungry, tired, & sunbaked kids, pizza was definitely in order! So, after several trips back to the kitchen to order more pizzas, everyone was full, very tired, and happy. A great day!