Cidade Velha

The Old City
 First some history.
After the island of Santiago was discovered in 1460, the port of Ribeira Grande was established and became an important port of call for travel to Africa and in the 16^th century became an important crossroads for international Portuguese trade. It was the first Colonial town to be built in the tropics. By 1466, it was chartered to allow slave trade. By the 1500’s defensive structures, the town hall and the first church were begun.
Being a successful and wealthy area, it was a great attraction for pirates. Sir Francis Drake sacked it in 1585. And in 1712, Jacques Cassard from France attacked and laid waste to the city. By this time, it was declining in prosperity and most of the commercial business moved to the current city of Praia. At that time the name was changed to Cidade Velha to distinguish it from another Ribeira Grande on Santiago.
It has been partially reconstructed and is still an important agricultural area.
(source: who.unesco.org/en/list/1310)

The Adventure
We found ourselves with a free day on our trip to Praia. We don’t know the holidays that well here and discovered that May 1 is the Day of the Laborer of Cape Verde and many other countries around the globe and every business was closed. We realized why we couldn’t get any appointments for that day!!
We spent the morning at Sister Cummings, the new mission nurse, with Dennis helping her on the computer as part of her assignment with the Perpetual Education Fund (she sends out text messages to the recipients thanking them for payments, reminding them about payments etc.). I was not involved, but enjoyed doing some indexing of the US 1940 census. So, I was kept happy and occupied.
We invited Sister Cummings to join us in discovering Cidade Velha which she gladly accepted. We found a hiace and took the 15 to 20 minute ride out of Praia.

Dennis told the hiace driver we wanted to see the fort and this is where the hiace dropped us off – out in the middle of nowhere. The only thing to do was follow the side road.
 
Yes!! There was a fort about 1/2 mile to the end of the road. No, I haven’t changed my hairstyle. It is just very windy!

Looking down from the fort to the valley far below. It was very green and lush, and obviously a farming area. This is a ribeira or river valley and it is grande.

Sister Broderick is ready to enter the fort! This is the only entrance on the land side and served as the gate to the city Ribeira Grande.

  The first thing you see is this large domed building. It is a large cistern, the dome covering a hole about 12 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. There is a channel that focuses the water to enter and fill up the hole during the rainy season.

Below, to the right of the cistern, are the ruins of the building that house the ammunition. While most of what you see is restored, the ramp in the back is actually from the original fort.  It was how they got the guns and ammunition on the upper ramparts. It still is pretty steep, but slave labor was used extensively through the early history of Cape Verde.

To the left is the prison!! Each of those holes is a cell. When the prisoner was put in them, they covered it with a wire mesh. There was no protection from the sun which was most of the year or the rain for the little time it rained. It was a good idea to be good.

 
The upper ramparts. These are guns original to the fort. Although the fort was built to protect against land attack, the guns are placed to defend in all directions.
The soldiers had a great view of the city below. And it is nice to have a third person to take a picture of us together! Thank you, Sister Cummings.
 
Rank counts! These are the ruins of the soldier’s barracks. You can tell who was important by the type of floor. The enlisted men had rough stone while you can see the commandant’s quarters had a nice tile floor.












Our tour guide saying goodbye as we leave the fort and begin to descend to the valley and city below. Only recently has Cape Verde began a serious effort to preserve historical sights such as this and hire docents and guides. The restoration throughout Cidade Velha is gratis Spain.

Getting closer to the City

The path down was a mostly paved with cobblestone, though at times it was just plain “rocky.” Going down the path. The city is getting closer.

Almost down to the level of the roof tops.

As we got down to the city streets, we came upon 3 street soccer games in a row. Can you see them all? The residents were taking full advantage of this holiday. Down in the city, we found the ruins of the Catholic Church. It had been finished only about 60 years when the French pirate destroyed it.



This is the main square down near the beach. The pillar could be called a monument. It is actually the pillory they used to tie the slaves to for punishment.

















The winds had been VERY strong the night before and, the large mango tree in the square was blown down early that morning, taking with it several smaller trees. Fortunately, it was too early for people to be about so no one was hurt. And the tree fell away from the residences and the restaurant that is to the right of the tree. The residents were busy cutting up portions of the tree for future use. They don’t waste anything here! We heard from someone that a few treasures were discovered in the exposed roots.









Sister Cumming’s tour book said to be sure and find Banana Street. In our wanderings to find the convent, we came across Banana Street. It does have that European village charm with thatched roofs and stone walls painted white.
We continued our search for the convent. We finally found the upward path knowing it was the right way as the ticket taker was standing guard! (The ticket for the fort included the convent.) When we got to the place, we had to walk right through a “revival” meeting. We had heard the singing in our search.

This is the convent's chapel that has been restored

I would have like to have seen the original building. The arched windows were quite artistic. Unfortunately, this convent was also a victim of the French pirates. Even so, all the terraced planting areas were being cultivated and there was a feeling of peace and quiet. The children not wishing to listen to the preacher, were playing in the various ruined rooms. It was a good place!

The future is ripe with promise!! The many mango trees were loaded with green fruit. It tells us that mango season will be here soon! The wind had knocked off hundreds of mangos, but there were still tons on the trees. Can’t wait!
Back at the beach where the fishermen were relaxing next to another fallen tree. We were tired and it was time to find a hiace to take us back to Praia. It had been a good afternoon!

First Stake Created in Cape Verde

On Sunday, April 29, 2012, the first LDS Stake was created in Cape Verde. Elders Erich W. Kopischke and José A. Teixeira of the Quorums of the Seventy and European Area Presidency presided and read the letter from the First Presidency creating the stake. Members present raised their right hands to sustain the proposal and play their part in the creation of the first stake.

All three former members of the Praia District Presidency were sustained as the new Stake Presidency. Members of the new Stake wholeheartedly sustained their presidency and accepted the challenge from the visiting authorities to rise to the new level of church service and benefits.

The Conference session to organize the stake was held a few blocks away from the chapel in Achada Santo António in the large national auditorium.

 

 

 

Members gather from all over the island to participate in this historic day.

Buses and Hiace vans brought members from Assomada and Tarrafal, 2 to 3 hours away. But they would not want to miss the opportunity to sustain their stake leaders and to receive council from their Area Presidency. We and a few others had come from distant islands to witness the creation of the stake. One former mission president had flown in from Utah to attend. Of course we all had legitimate business to transact to justify our presence.

A district choir had prepared for months for this event. They had their choir robes, something that is very popular in the islands. They were well rehearsed and looked great in their national colors.

 

The new Stake President reviews meeting plans with the presiding authority prior to the meeting.

The mission president and his wife sat on the stand along with the two General Authorities and Sister Teixeira.

They all enjoyed the choir’s performance during the conference.

This event was of interest to the general public. The Cape Verde TV station ran a short new item on the conference which can be accessed here: TV Coverage

The American missionaries were a little too obvious on the front row. We enjoyed the very inspiring messages from the visiting authorities and Sister Teixeira. They addressed some of the opportunities the members will now have belonging to a stake. Building and strengthening families will be especially important.

Following the conference the members mix and enjoyed the euphoria from the messages and the impact of the event. There were many missionaries present, some ready to return home but blessed to witness this big step.

Here are shots of the stake president and his wife outside the auditorium as well as his first counselor with his family:

Fogo

(I apologize for double publishing. Somehow I "unpublished" it and so needed to post it again! I am still trying to figure out blogs! jab)
Fogo means “fire” in Portuguese and this island’s fire comes from the majestic volcano that forms the center of the island. It is an active volcano, with the last eruption in 1995!

At the end of our marathon trip to Germany and Praia, we spent 6 days in Fogo, looking for water projects, checking out possibilities for a future wheelchair project and  finalizing a project for the Special Education program. In doing so, we traveled completely around the island.



Here is the airport at Fogo. It is a very small airport with 1 or 2 flights daily. And if the flight gets delayed for any reason and it gets dark, the flight is canceled as there are no landing lights on the runway. You can only fly in or out during the day.





We were picked up at the airport by the branch president from Mosteiros and his taxi-driver friend, who is also a member of the church. We took the only road along the cost to Mosteiros, which sits on the opposite side of the island from São Filipe and the airport.

Here is the GoogleEarth map of Fogo and Brava. We basically took the road that circles the island of Fogo.

Looking down the mountain to Mosteiros

Mosteiros is the 2nd largest city on the island. And “largest” is a relative term as the island’s population is small compared to Praia or Mindelo. The city is very long and narrow, hugging the coastline with the towering mountains looming above it.

We met with the city and water company in Mosteiros (Água Brava) and discovered they need help to bring water to zona alta (high zone) up the mountain you see in the photo above. They are installing pump stations and reservoirs to get the water to this zone, but needed help with the actual connections of the houses to the water lines.
To show us the place, we climbed into their truck and traveled up the very steep, winding road. Most people don’t have cars, so if they need to go to the city to work or for whatever reason, they walk. That includes church leaders to visit the members in zona alta. The missionaries try to have several people to visit to make the climb.


 Mosteiros is an agricultural area with the main crops being  mangos, bananas, and coffee. To the right is a mango tree and you can see, if you look very carefully the small mangos beginning to form. Yum, I can’t wait for mango season to begin again!!

Here is the bush of the famous Fogo coffee. We didn’t really want to tell them we had no idea that Fogo was famous for coffee and no, we didn’t have any while we were there. The harvest was in full swing and many of the roof tops of the houses had piles of coffee beans drying. It is all a hand process – no big business here.

Below is the church building of the branch in Mosteiros. They had been using a smaller building near by and moved recently into this building. They are hoping to have their own church-built building in the coming years.

 


After our day of touring Mosteiros, we left Saturday morning for Cova Figueira, continuing our tour around the island. Cova Figueira (fig tree cave) is the 3rd largest (and probably only other) ‘city’ on the island.

The road on this side almost did Sister Broderick in. It is cut into the side of the volcano and they didn’t leave any room for shoulders on the road. And the normal wall that they put on roads like this was non-existent. This is a pretty mild section. Much of the road was sheer cliffs. There was no room for error. With closed eyes much of the way, she endured this 35-40 minute drive!! The taxi driver was very cautious and drove slowly. But to avoid bad spots in the road, he had to get a little closer to the edge than Sister Broderick liked!! If you had your eyes open, though, the scenery was dramatic!
 
After arriving at Cova Figueira, we dropped our luggage in our hotel room and continued our travel to visit the Volcano!

Welcome to the

Natural Park

of Fogo

Below is a picture of the volcano. You can see the dark ribbons of lava flow from the 1995 eruption. I had to include this picture because it proves Elder Broderick was there!

Here is a similar picture. This time the picture includes the back end of our taxi, one of 10 from Mosteiros. We discovered that the taxis from Mosteiros are red. Every city’s taxis have their own color. São Vicente is white, Santo Antao is blue, Praia is cream, São Filipe is yellow. It does help you know when to put your arm out to signal a taxi.


 
 

Here is a lava flow up close.

It was pretty turbulent!

Below is the village at the foot of the volcano. Yes, this is a dangerous place to be. After the 1995 eruption, much of the buildings were destroyed. But they returned and rebuilt.

The surprise of the valley floor was discovering it was an important agricultural area! We wandered through the various “fields”

We found beautiful flowering pomegranate trees. Some of the apple trees had fruit, but they were pretty tart





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A vineyard! For famous Fogo wine. It looks very different from the vineyards of Napa Valley. Each plant grows by itself. If they need to support the vines, they use props under the branches. Few vines were that large.

Here we are in the middle of the farm. You can see some of the small apple trees – or really bushes. The plants live on the rain or dew that falls. We were surprised at how good they looked. Though some did look a bit thirsty.

The agricultural areas were crisscrossed with lava “rivers”. Here is one that shows the sinuous lava flow.
 
Our final view of the mountain on our way out. You can see the small cone without much of a head. This was the place of the 1995 eruption.



Back in Cova Figueira, you can see the volcano towering over the city. Oft times it is shrouded in clouds. It is much cooler in this city than São Filipe. During the hot summer that would be nice, but on this trip, it was really quite cold. My sweater got a lot of use!!

On the main street through Cova Figueira, Sister Broderick is standing outside our Hotel

The lunch room. They offered breakfast every morning and we could eat lunch and dinner there as well. We got individualized service as we were the sole visitors! This is the cook, waitress and housekeeper. She did everything and served up a tasty serra steak!!!




We could look out the windows of the hotel down the hill to the church. It is a very nice chapel with a great view of the ocean!


One of our projects was to supply sewing machines to 2 of the branches on Fogo, one of which went to Cova Figueira. Here at the church, Sister Broderick is teaching the sister the ins and outs of using the machine. Several of the sisters are experienced sewers – but on foot-powered types. The new electric sewing machine was a new thing!


Some cultural scenes!

Cape Verdeans use their resources as efficiently as they can. Many receive barrels from friends and family in the US and other countries with goods they need. But what to do with all the barrels which are one-use-only for shipping. Well, this innovative family cut the barrel up, flattened the sides and tiled the roof on their house. The top pieces are the lids folded over.

This was one scene we were VERY pleased to see. This is a bride and groom, standing up in the back of a pick-up truck going to their very small group wedding. Large weddings are expensive so small is beautiful to the pocket book. Marriage is not seen as culturally important, so even though it is not a safe way to ride in a truck, it is a wonderful symbol of what should happen!!

Water is a very precious commodity in Cape Verde. It is expensive to use the city water for agricultural. So, what other choice is there?? Many families on Fogo build big concrete boxes that catch the rain during 2-3 month rainy season and using an efficient drip system, water their gardens for the rest of the year. This garden is still getting started, but we saw some lovely, lush gardens. I wondered how they could be so green until we learned the secret!

Below is a new secondary school in Cova Figueira. Although much smaller, it reminded me of Charlotte Wood Middle School in Danville, CA.

We enjoyed our stay in Cova Figueira. We were able to watch the Saturday sessions of General Conference live with the rest of the Church. We set up our computer in the lunch room at the Hotel and enjoyed Conference  immensely.  However, the internet was down on Sunday and we watched the sessions later that week.

We are back in São Filipe for a couple of days to wrap up a project for the relatively new Special Education program there. Here is the Special Education office and classroom. Fortunately, they will be moving to another school that has a lot more space – and security for the equipment we will be purchasing.

Here is one of the 2 Church chapels in São Filipe. The Church is growing on Fogo.








In São Filipe, we stayed with Elder & Sister Benedict. They arrived in Cape Verde last January and discovered that a Cape Verde Mission keeps one VERY busy. He is a counselor in the mission presidency. Their official mission call is with Seminaries and Institutes and they are teaching among other classes the “Preparing for Success” class that begins the Perpetual Education Fund loan process.

She is a wonderful artist and is working with several budding Cape Verdean artists to encourage them to share the legacy of Fogo and Cape Verde. They are a wonderful couple and missionaries. Elder Benedict just wishes he could ride boats and ferries with less sea sickness. They visit their neighboring island of Brava more than he likes to support the branch there. It, like Santo Antão, is only accessible by ferry boat.

The São Filipe municipal market.It also has a small corner for a “fish market” where you can buy fresh fish. Sister Broderick took Sister Benedict to buy fish and introduced them to serra. They were extremely grateful to add fish to their chicken, rice and bean diet.

And so we look down on the black sand beaches of Fogo and say good-buy – for now. We will be back soon as we just learned that we can develop a water project there beginning now! We are very excited with this opportunity!!