Chillige Tage in Tarrafal - Santiago

I had to go back to Praia and find a new Aluguer, which was quite easy, but the long wait until we finally started moving again robbed me of another hour of my precious travel time. The Aluguer was filled with about 25 people to the last seat, and yet after 55 minutes, a little boy appeared and was simply placed next to me on the bass roll. Then we finally started, the ride took 90 minutes over the wonderful mountain landscape all the way to the north of Santiago Island to "Tarrafal".

Now I would also describe this ride as very pleasant.

So I stood in Tarrafal and immediately noticed that life here also moves at a slower pace, stress was a foreign word. And I embraced that and took a leisurely stroll up to my guesthouse. There, they told me that the only one causing stress here is the neighbor's rooster. I laughed and left it at that.

However, I didn't laugh anymore the next morning while sipping my delicious coffee.

That damn rooster really managed to crow from 10 pm until 7 am without stopping, and of course, he was supported by the many other roosters in Tarrafal. And when they did finally shut up, you could hear the other annoying creatures, the mosquitoes, they also wanted to have their say. But as always, I had earplugs in my luggage.

Sierra Malagueta was supposed to be another great trip, so I drove 12 km back up to 1000 m in the mountains. Here, I put on my hiking shoes again and embarked on a great hiking trail. The panorama that occasionally appeared to the left and right was stunningly beautiful.

In the first hour, we continued steadily uphill along a small forest road. But at some point, we only followed a small path, and from here on, it was all downhill. I blinked and at some point, I saw a donkey coming towards me, behind it was a man with an old shotgun on his back. I was startled and immediately thought, okay, this is it, he's going to attack me now. He actually mentioned something about money...wished me a nice day, and we both went our separate ways. He went up and I continued downwards, and it took another good 3 hours.

Every now and then, I passed through small settlements. Some inhabited, others seemingly abandoned for a long time. Only the foundations testified to former civilizations.

The constant descent was also damn exhausting, so I was glad when I reached the destination of this hike, the place called "Hortelao", in the afternoon.

The next day, I walked (I had all the time in the world) to the town of "Ribeira da Prata", which is 7 km away. At the foot of the town is the black sandy and deserted "Silverbeach", unfortunately, the waves were too strong here too, so I decided against a hoped-for cooling off. Instead, I took an Aluguer back to Tarrafal.

On my last day here in Tarrafal, I found that the strong waves had subsided. So I spent the day at the beautiful white beach, knowing that a little sunburn was guaranteed in the evening. Culinary highlights here were the coconuts and the always delicious fresh catch of fish.