Well we made it to Mindelo at 8am on Thursday 2nd Nov after sailing for six nights. We don't know where the the time went but it really wasn't as bad as you would imagine. When at sea everything just takes longer to do as you're also constantly trying to balance. There was also a lot of rally chat over the VHF radio which was reassuring even when you had no visual sight of another boat.

We're really getting to know everyone else on the other boats and having great fun (usually with a G&T in hand) despite all the language difficulties. The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians all understand each other but also speak perfect English. The Germans too are good at English but we try to speak a little French for the French and Italian boats.

The Cape Verde's are a collection of 10 islands although not all are inhabited. We are in Mindelo on the island of Saõ Vincent. Mindelo has a large marina and the tourists are mainly the yachties that sail here for a stop before crossing the Atlantic. Sal and Boavista are the two islands where tourists fly in for a package holiday.
It wasn't far from the marina that we met the street boys and the so called guides. They are polite and take no offence if you say no thank you. However a small group of us did seek the help of one of these guys to show us around the markets etc and was happy with 200 escudos which is about 2€. He was actually a good guy and looked after us well. The cultural difference and obvious lack of wealth makes you feel a bit uncomfortable but is something we have to get used to. Mindelo is safe enough to walk about in the day, and at night the restaurant are centred around the marina.

The rally organisers arranged a bus trip to visit a hostel (SOS children's home) where currently 12 street boys live, the youngest being just six years old but the majority were teenagers. The charity homes children that are left to fend for themselves, usually begging or stealing to survive. They give them an education and train them in work skills. Before we left Tenerife the rally collected money which was used to buy shoes, bedding, T-shirts and toiletries which was bagged and then handed individually to the children. A trumpet was also purchased.
The charity also works with 20 other street children and their families, giving mothers work skills too as if just one member works it makes a tremendous difference to the whole family.

The islands have always been poor, mainly due to lack of rainfall. With the arrival of the Portuguese mid 15th century came clearance of trees for agricultural and overgrazing by goats. This upset the whole ecology and by the 17th century the islands experienced the first serious droughts which have left most of the islands completely barren. The island of Santo Antão is mountainous and captures the rain clouds brought in by the trade winds and is therefore the main agricultural island growing maize, bananas, oranges, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, beans and other substance foods. Despite this the islands still have to import 90% of goods.
The current average age on the island is 20 years as many people perished from repeated droughts and famines in the 1940's and many more were forced to emigrate. The generation of 55 to 70 is almost absent today.

There are still many attractive colonial buildings remaining in Mindelo and beyond the main docks there is a lovely sandy beach where you can enjoy a swim.

The rally is in the Cape Verde's for 3 weeks and many of the boats (including ourselves) will start to cruise the other islands, returning to Mindelo to re-provision before leaving for Barbados on 23rd Nov. We are looking forward to nice anchorages, swimming and snorkelling in the turquoise waters and exploring inland too.