From
Diary 3, I now explore the most eastern part of Sao Nicolau. Right after the airport, the road
turns into copplestone, and they do them real good here. Then I find
the road I thought I could follow for some time towards Mount
Bissau. But it have not been used for years. At one place, it is
washed I start walking, but the road vanish completely, when it reach a canyon. It is just a five meter vertical drop, into the riverbed. I try to follow the dry river, but it turns into a ravine with huge boulders and acacias. I try the sides, but here are not even a donkeys trail to be found. The higher I get,
the closer the acacias stand, and their thorny branches have to be
respected. I can glimpse the peak, way up in the dry haze, and
figure I can spend the day on something else.
I
head
further out east on this giant peninsular. It is at the northern
coast at first, although up on the mountain side. I stop a few
times, when a beach can be reach, but here are not much to be found.
And the plants in the area are real scares and familiar. But the
endemic Cynanchum daltonii covers entire hill sides here,
I think this would be a great tour, on a clear day. Deep and huge gorges meets the sea - I think. The dry haze kind of covers it, along with most of the coastline on the other side of the road. It feels so remote, as I see no cars, nor pedestrians, but the road is a real smooth copplestone road, well maintained too. Then
I
reach the little village of Juncalinho. It is fare from the
most poor village I have seen, although rich, it isn't. I park at
the central square as
I find the rather good road, leading the 500 meters out to the "famous" Juncalinho blue salt ponds, which are rock-pools. I walk, but don't see anything interesting on the way. A guy sits at a new concrete building, and seems like he is not bored somehow. He points to a concrete viewing platform, and I head another way. Here are
several natural ponds, formed when the I follow the coastline in-between the ponds, on the black lava and on the lava wall. I guess the viewing platform is made to avoid this, but as I'm here alone, and nimble as a mountain goad, I don't care. I get some descent photos, and head up through a ravine, on the other side of the area. I wave goodbye to the caretaker, so he can go back to relaxing. Back Again, I am amassed over the work that have gone into making terraces on so huge areas, in the barren mountain slopes. At present, here are only a few plant species, one is new: An Asteraceae, which might be invasive after all. Never the less, it is dominating this valley.
The
road turns into a nice looking
copplestone road As everywhere else I have been in the country, every one is dressed so nice. Plenty of colours and new cloth. I am without any doubt the worse dressed around. Even those cleaning fish on the pier are nicely clean. I meet some with the large fish, while the smaller are cleaned on the pier. The deep
bay forms Praia de Baia Gombeza, where I do some loops in the village, and once more, I fail to get a photo of the pipe-smoking elder women. Actually, the lady having a manual laundry next to my apartment building smoke a pipe. The young men are playing table football, the rest are just hanging out, it seems. I
head
back to the northern coast, and turn further east. It is just a pair
of wheel-tracks, and they
Then I reach some small boulder hills, covered in Euphorbia tuckeyana, which I haven't seen for some days. Here, they are real open bushes, and pretty much the only plants, along with the yellow flowering Asteraceae. It seem like the area can get green with annuals, given it receive rain. I see
On the way back, the car turns into
Ribeira Brava, and I
figure, I might as well get a cup of coffee, while I'm here. I have
only seen one inflorescent on the dragontrees, and it was in an
early stage. I swing by the place where I thought I saw it, but fail
to re-find it. At home, I figure I might have found it a bit into Mt Gordo National Park. Then I'm back home, and just misses the ferry office by minutes, as they closes an hour earlier than anticipated. I would like to hear,if they got the ferry going, and even buy a €50 ticket for Santiago, just as insurance, should the flight remain grounded in the country. I might be able to cancel apartment and car by now, but what if the flight fly? Well, it is only €500 and changes... By the way; the 13 hours ferry is €50 while the one hour flight is €70. I walk a tour Day 8.
During my sleepless night, I finally figure the "mist", called "dry
haze" are the remains of an African sandstorm. And it will
accumulate in the aircraft's engines. However, that still don't help
me, getting away from this island. I check online, Well, last day with a car, and I head back to the village track, I didn't make; Fragata, located in the most beautiful part of the island: The north. I head straight to Praia Branca, and park the car, as far as It can go up the mounain.
The road soon turns into a
copplestone path: The Fragata Trail, and it have its real
steep parts. In some parts of the trail, the weed meets in
Wherever I look on the mountainsides, ancient terraces can be seen, but apparently, only the better ones are grown these days. Here are many birds and skinks along with some locus. I try to capture it all, but the motives are just too large around here. I
The decent is real steep, and some parts of the trails sealing of copplestone are gone. It is really fertile on this side of the mountain, despite it is a gorge. But the humid wind most likely come from the button, and not the side.
Donkeys, goats and cows are keep in small enclosures, while the hens and dogs roams around by them selves. I pass the school, quiet this Sunday, and meet a few active farmers on their way to their fields or back. Here
After
"the Inca trail", this part is a bit more average - but only after
the Inca trail. I have not thought of it before, but after passing a
village and then the entire Ribeira da Prata, I figure they
have a "car-free Sunday". When A car finally turns up, it is a taxi,
and he get a good Sunday,
It is not that late, and I have another site in mind: The early inflorescent of a dragontree, the only one I have seen. It is within Mt Gordo National Park, and yesterday, I got confirmed: It is not the first trees. They actually had a big party at the centre yesterday. There
is none at the entrance centre, and I just walk up pass the small
farms. I actually find the right three, but the inflorescent have
not evolved. I make a bunch of photos, and head back.
I gas the car, and empty it for my things. That way, the nice man can clean it and rent it out in the morning, should someone be lucky to get here by flight. I was not going to use it for anything else, than the drive to the airport, and he promised to give a ride - should there be a flight, that is. The evening
spend working, packing and a bit of laundry, just because I have the
time.
Day 8 HIGHLIGHTS. |