Hiking on Boa Vista

The following days are nice and quiet. Too calm in one respect. After my board-off there were two days of very big waves. Then four days of calm. I quickly make a small business card for my hotel boss. In return, I get his kiteboard for the rest of the holiday.

I go out briefly with the 19 Assault, but even with that I can only keep my height with difficulty. A day later the wind comes back, but: No joke, there’s no more petrol in the whole of Boa Vista and Sal Rei. It will stay that way until Monday. No lifeboat, no kiting.
We go on another tour in the jeep. First stop: the desert of Viana. The wind has dumped the Sahara sand over thousands of kilometres in the middle of Boa Vista. A fine little desert was created over six by three kilometres. We continue through the stony desert to the north beach.

Espinguera is as lonely as it gets. A bumpy ride through dry riverbeds, lots of dust and locusts. The Spinguera Lodge is a secluded eco-hotel in a class of its own with nice prices starting at 200 euros a night. We only eat here, all organic and delicious as hell. We also have Caipirinha de Tierra with Caboverdian grog. Two guitars are lying around, we play. We wobble through the dark night in an open jeep for over an hour back to Sal Rei.

A good Italian takes me on his quad bike 10km to the other end of the bay of Sal Rei. But my kiteboard has disappeared. I buy a new one on Ebay.

With no wind and almost no work, I’m getting a bit bored. I go on a hike. Five kilometres north of Sal Rei is a lonely, dilapidated church in the desert. Although the whole thing only takes three hours, I arrive home with a really thick dehydration head because of the water I forgot.

Afterwards, some people tell me that the area further up towards the lighthouse is quite dangerous because of robberies. At first I think it’s a joke, the people here are very nice across the board. Okay, sometimes a little bit drunk on grog. With an average income of 500 euros and living costs close to the German average, they are damn poor. Then the Regensburg girls tell me that the doctor from the RIU hotel was robbed on the beach…

You can do it however you like: Wait in bed to be hit by a comet. Wear a cycle helmet and crash head-on into a lorry. Or simply keep your eyes open and live life to the fullest. My money might be stolen at some point. My experiences won’t.