Sal
It's already a week gone by since we got back from the beautiful island of Sal, I don't think I've ever been anywhere quite like it. The barren lunar landscape gives way to endless stretches of powder white beaches and the cleanest, most azure sea you can imagine. The hot days are fanned by a constant comfortable breeze which makes ideal conditions for all kinds of surfing. In fact the waves can be quite rough, one more than one occasion I was treated to a washing machine effect of being tumbled around like a rag doll and emerging flabbergasted, minus various bits and pieces of bikini.
We often ventured out of the confines of the hotel which was very luxurious and also very big, wandering down to the colourful town of Santa Maria, where we met some interesting and friendly people. The motto in Cape Verde islands is "no stress" and it didn't take us long to get accustomed to the slow pace of life.
We decided to go on a tour of the island one day, we had to go in a convoy of white jeeps like the UN, there is only one main tarred road on the whole island and most of the time we had to drive on dirt tracks or sand, depending on your driver this has the potential to be quite harrowing, but still very enjoyable. Anyway, we saw three really amazing things, the first two didn't even really exist, sounds strange, but it is true.
First, we went to see something called the Blue Eye, it lies in a vast underwater cave, to see it you have to hang over a sheer precipice of rock and the water seems scarily far away, you are so high up, not an easy thing to do when you suffer from vertigo. It was so worth it though , you realise that you are standing over a hole in the roof of the cave and where the sunlight streams through, it reflects back off the water and creates the illusion of a giant blue sparkling crystal in the water, it is so beautiful, it literally takes your breath away.
Still buzzing from the experience, we drove through some very lunar type landscapes, you could say that we were in a kind of mini desert. All of a sudden the drivers screeched to a dusty halt in the middle of nowhere, we looked in the direction from where we had just come and before our eyes was a mirage, it was so astounding. In the distance, it looked like a vast lake heading out towards the sea, I couldn't stop staring at it, never in my life did I ever think I would see a mirage.
The final stop of the day however was the piece de resistance, it is an old salt mine located at the bottom of an ancient volcano crater. A salt lake has formed there, so rich in minerals that the water has turned a pinky brown colour and is actually very warm. It is so salty that you can't stop yourself floating, in other words it is like the Dead Sea. It is also said to have strong healing and rejuvenation powers and it did have an effect on both of us in different ways, and another funny thing was that everyone who bathed in the water came out laughing and smiling, so it definitely had the feel good factor. Afterwards we suffered the discomfort of leaving all the salt to dry on our skin for as long as possible. It was so itchy, but our skin was so soft afterwards.
The rest of our time was spent relaxing and we had many walks along the infinite beaches where there was not another person in sight....
We often ventured out of the confines of the hotel which was very luxurious and also very big, wandering down to the colourful town of Santa Maria, where we met some interesting and friendly people. The motto in Cape Verde islands is "no stress" and it didn't take us long to get accustomed to the slow pace of life.
We decided to go on a tour of the island one day, we had to go in a convoy of white jeeps like the UN, there is only one main tarred road on the whole island and most of the time we had to drive on dirt tracks or sand, depending on your driver this has the potential to be quite harrowing, but still very enjoyable. Anyway, we saw three really amazing things, the first two didn't even really exist, sounds strange, but it is true.
First, we went to see something called the Blue Eye, it lies in a vast underwater cave, to see it you have to hang over a sheer precipice of rock and the water seems scarily far away, you are so high up, not an easy thing to do when you suffer from vertigo. It was so worth it though , you realise that you are standing over a hole in the roof of the cave and where the sunlight streams through, it reflects back off the water and creates the illusion of a giant blue sparkling crystal in the water, it is so beautiful, it literally takes your breath away.
Still buzzing from the experience, we drove through some very lunar type landscapes, you could say that we were in a kind of mini desert. All of a sudden the drivers screeched to a dusty halt in the middle of nowhere, we looked in the direction from where we had just come and before our eyes was a mirage, it was so astounding. In the distance, it looked like a vast lake heading out towards the sea, I couldn't stop staring at it, never in my life did I ever think I would see a mirage.
The final stop of the day however was the piece de resistance, it is an old salt mine located at the bottom of an ancient volcano crater. A salt lake has formed there, so rich in minerals that the water has turned a pinky brown colour and is actually very warm. It is so salty that you can't stop yourself floating, in other words it is like the Dead Sea. It is also said to have strong healing and rejuvenation powers and it did have an effect on both of us in different ways, and another funny thing was that everyone who bathed in the water came out laughing and smiling, so it definitely had the feel good factor. Afterwards we suffered the discomfort of leaving all the salt to dry on our skin for as long as possible. It was so itchy, but our skin was so soft afterwards.
The rest of our time was spent relaxing and we had many walks along the infinite beaches where there was not another person in sight....
posted by susi at 10:54 am
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