Forgive Me Father For I Am In Awe

I am simply awestruck by Praia. I can't say that I had any real preconceived notions of how Cape Verde would look, but I did have some coworkers/friends who told me that it was dirty. I always try not to let the experience/ideas/opinions of others color my views but I'm sure they crept in like a thief in the night anyway. Take a looksey at the wonderful sights.

How Not to Order Dinner in Another Language

I've never considered myself very adventurous. In fact, I actually think that I can be a stick in the mud at times. Like I've always been wary of traveling to far away places with hard to identify foods. Come on we all know I live to eat. Then there's also the language barrier. Oy ve. Can you imagine thinking you ordered chicken and they bring out a goat's head or cow liver? I say all this to say that is almost exactly what happened to us in the restaurant. The lone Cape Verdean in the group wasn't with us for lunch so we had to make do on our own. 

Take a look at the menu and see if you can figure out what's what.

This is before we took a look at the menu

Pretty Pretty Praia

Praia was so pretty and clean. It was also surprisingly quiet. Most of the folks that live in Praia made an exodus to their respective islands (Cape Verde has 10 islands, but only 7 are inhabited). 

Futbol stadium (CV was qualified for a huge game)

West Africa? Well Don't Mind If I Do!

Hello (waves ecstatically),
I am back and settled in. From where you ask? From West Africa, specifically Senegal and I spent about 2.5 minutes in Praia, Cape Verde. I had an awesome time. Praia was beautiful, the people were nice, the food was yummy and I was cold. Hehehe. Sounds weird that the Bostonian who left the States at the end of December is complaining about the weather in West Africa, but I really was cold. The sweaters that you will see in upcoming posts are not for show my friends. I had many interesting experiences in Senegal. Some awesome and some not so awesome. My trip was not life changing in the least bit, nor did I expect it to be. I met many wonderful people that I hope to stay connected with. My taste buds are still singing the praises of Senegalese food. I have so many beautiful souvenirs to remind me of the culture, people and teranga (hospitality/generosity) of Senegal. Come join me on this adventurous trip from the coast of West Africa to the former capital of French West Africa.