September 10, 2001

It's been over a week since I did my official site visit, so the details aren't as fresh in my mind. I should have written Part II a while ago.

Barry and Angie are Peace Corps volunteers who are finishing their service this month after two years here. They are some of the nicest people I have met so far because they are so easy going and interesting to talk to. Barry talks about some of the projects he did in such a passive way that it's only over a few weeks that you realize he's done a ton of work here -- he's too humble. He created a website for Oasis, the organization I'll be working with, he got funds for my $80,000 community center, a cistern, and a school kitchen. He works with theatre groups, environmental groups, and women’s groups. He spear fishes everyday to catch the fish he eats for dinner, and thus has taught 4 kids in the town to spear fish, too. The kids make around $20. a day selling what they catch, which is a lot considering house maids here, which almost everyone has, get paid only $60-90 a month to work 6 days a week, 8 hours a day.

Dawn, Kevin, Sally, and I were so inspired by Barry's spear fishing because it's so neat to be able to catch your own food off the local beach. He's a pro though. He uses a wetsuit shirt, some imported Hawaiian spears, and a weight belt to sink. He knows how to catch around 20 different fish because some sleep in caves and are easy, others hide in holes or near rocks. Only two men in our town know how to catch octupus, which is considered very hard because they hide in holes. Apparently, they leave a trail of rocks near the hole that they use to hide themselves at certain times, so you just follow the stones to their hole.

The other two volunteers living in Calheta are Pat and Patrick. Pat is middle-aged, has a thick Texas accent, and hates a lot of aspects of Cape Verde. Like the children begging for money to purposefully annoy her, like the way people carry the chickens by their wings (painful for the birds), like the inefficiency of public transport, like the hissing or catcalls, etc. She's a community development volunteer and has a secondary project doing dental care, which is another topic for later. Patrick is also a community development volunteer who is extending for a third year in Calheta, which is a very good thing for us new volunteers because he'll have some contacts to share. He works in urban planning, but also does many secondary projects with the scout troops in my river valley, Ribeira Principal. He has a very thick southern accent, too, and appears to be very gullible. He told us true stories of how the men in Calheta have sex with donkeys and other animals, which he discovered recently and has been intrigued about why. He is such a character though, and always made us laugh.

Barry and Angie's house, which is where Dawn and Sally will live in 2 weeks, is 100 feet from the ocean with no houses to block their view. However, there's a cement factory! The Austrians came and built this factory for the Cape Verdeans years ago, and it's on prime beachfront property. The only hotel in the town is right (diagonally) across the street from their house, and it's very nice for only $25 a night. They both plan on having lots of guests because they have so many accomodations. There's even a guest room that Kevin and I will use when we stay there on weekends to get away from our villages. We joke about having poker nights and cookouts. There is only one restaurant in town, which serves two choices for lunch each day, no dinner. People don't have money to eat out, thus the lack of cafes and restaurants. The newest thing in town is this small supermarket that has a refrigerated meat and cheese case...woohoo!!! You can't imagine how luxurious the USA looks from here. When you all are at the grocery store in the frozen food section, think of me, ok!

The main attraction in Calheta is the small fishing beach and the Shell Station. For entertainment, we walked 15 min. outside the town to this nice Shell Gas Station that has air conditioning and sells yummy European ice creams. That will be their weekend fun from now on. In fact, today, I went with my Portuguese professor shopping because the others in my class were away on vacation for the weekend with their host family. So, we stopped at this gas station here in Praia and I wondered what we were doing parked there. We go inside, and she buys a liter of juice. This maid in the gas station brings us some glasses, and we drink the juice there at this solitary table with the air conditioning blasting. It struck me as funny to see men drinking beer there, and that Cape Verdeans associate gas stations as little, luxury restaurants. Nobody has air conditioning here, and it's been over 100 every day. Lately, it pours every afternoon. That's when you can't go to the beach because the feces from the beaches and rock cliffs gets washed down into the ocean and you can get really sick. There's also a ton of trash that goes there.

Trash. There are very few trash containers here, so people make random piles of community trash. Some neighborhoods burn it all once a week. Others wait for the trash pick up, which is rare. Goats, cows, dogs, and kids go through every pile of trash a few times a day. Nothing is overlooked. You frequently see kids in the trash that you know are middle class -- only God knows why. I will have to bury and/or burn my own trash once I move to my village. No trash pick up. Dawn and I keep saying that Cape Verde needs a recycling program BADLY. Every family uses liters and liters of bottle water each day, and then the bottles get trashed or burned. Plastic is toxic, and so reusable. "We could make fleece!" I say, jokingly to Dawn. "I've seen it in the States made from recycled plastic. As if they need fleece here! Hah!"

Dawn and I have thought of a ton of ideas for income generation for projects. We thought maybe we'd make the first picture book of Cape Verde, travel around taking photos, and then pick the best ones for a book. All of the proceeds would go towards health, education, and microenterprise initiatives. Tourists and Cape Verdeans alike would really like a book to have of the beauties they have here. Dawn wanted to do a book of just people carrying funky objects on their heads.....one container of yogurt, a whole tuna fish, a turtle, a huge tank of water, etc... People carry everything on their heads, even if it's just a few carrots they don't want to carry in their hands.

Sewing. I've begun to sew. We have a sewing group, comprised of volunteers, and we are all making things for our new houses. I am making curtains, and want to make a crazy quilt of scrap fabric with embroidery of Cape Verdeans scenes. They sell fabric remnants here by the kilo, so it ends up cheap. There is one volunteer who is so talented and makes everything...skirts, dresses, bags, table cloths, etc. Sewing group is also for talking on Sundays and to just complain or rave about our lives here. Everyone is guesstimating who will be the next to leave, since nobody has left in weeks. They said they thought I would leave when I saw my rural site, but they are wrong. I'll only leave if I get really sick or don't feel safe for some reason. It would be rare that I'd ever give up such an opportunity.

My hour is almost up, but I'll tell some funny stories in the next email. Stories of sugar cane, fortresses, and teeth. What a combo!