Last leg of the trip . . .

Saturday, March 10th
>Up soooo early to leave Mosteiros- literally up at 5am, and then on the bus at 5.30. A short visit but certainly worth it. We thought that we were going to be taken directly to the Seafood restaurant that we had been to before to get coffee and breakfast, and while we drove very near to it, our driver had to go to the airport for something. It being so early we weren't in very much of a rush, and thought that he might be picking someone up from the airport. But no, we just sat there. For about an hour. And he stood at the airport (smallllll airport) and chatted. And continued to talk. At last, hungry and in need of caffine, Jessie went to find out what the deal was. And just like that, he came back to the car, and drove us to the restaurant. Mind boggling.

>I'm quite sure that they remembered us at the restaurant, but this time we all ordered food, so it was a little more worth their while to have us sitting around for a few hours. Delicious as always though, and nice to have a real breakfast, as opposed to Dakar where we all have bread for breakfast.

>We couldn't stay away from our dear black sand beach, so we trekked down there again and spent the morning. It was just such a nice and relaxing place to go to, and a fun little locale. Around one we packed ourselves up (and Yasmeen packed herself a little ziplock bag of black sand) and went in search of lunch, lugging our luggage around town.

>Around this point is when things got a little bit hectic. We did have a boat ticket, but were not quite sure what time the boat was leaving. We were told "One o'clock, yeah, one, or two . . . or three". Not a very confident answer, so we tried to rush our lunch, yet again, a tricky matter. Nor did we have a place to stay back in Praia (and we were certainly NOT going back Sol Atlantico).

>We managed to finish lunch and hop into the back of a truck (something we were very good at by the end of this trip) and rushed down to the dock. And then we waited. For about an hour or so. The boat wasn't even docked when we got down there, so we got to watch that interesting process, as well as watching things like goats being loaded (begrudgingly) into the cargo of the ship. We also stood next to a young boy who was not bringing on luggage to the boat, but a young goat (a kid, if you will) that was about his size. Some things are just more important than others.

>The boat ride, I will sum up, as rocky. Very rocky. They handed out little plastic bags to everyone. It was interesting. We got in at about midnight. End of story.

>Back on Praia we spent the night at Paraiso, which was very lovely, and there were sheets to be sleeping under!!! (before I had been sleeping in a sleep sack, which works just fine). That and HOT showers, which I hadn't taken one of since being in the US, so although more expensive, it was very much so worth it. That and a great breakfast. A great last night place to stay. As soon as we were in our rooms we all fell asleep, content to no longer be rocking around on a boat.

Sunday, March 11th
>Slept in a little bit, enjoyed a good breakfast and a hot shower, packed ourselves up and went out to our favorite pastry shop (it's sorta our thing to follow one meal with another) and sat there and ate and ate, including quiche and doughnuts. Very fun indeed!

>Went to the park and sat around and read until getting ourselves together to go back to the hotel in order to go to the airport for our 6.30pm flight. But OH NO! Jessie's bag had gone missing, but we weren't sure when! There was a lot of Portuguese confusion, but eventually someone helped us understand that one of the waitresses nearby had seen someone take the bag but she just hadn't said anything about it. At this point Jessie and Yasmeen rushed to the embassy (her passport and many other things were in that backpack), and when the police showed up, the rest of us were put in the back of their SUV and we drove around looking for the person who took the bag/drove through a local crack park and asked locals if they had any info. Quite a lot like the TV shows actually.

>Feeling a little bit uncomfortable we asked to be taken to the embassy, to be reuinted. I have never felt so welcomed by George Bush, Condi Rice and Cheney. It was an odd feeling, but I got over it quickly. In no time the consulate worker got there (a lovely woman named Toni) who immediately got to work on things, which involved calling the airline to find out the information on the flight (she thought the sand might be delaying things). It all developed before our eyes in Portugeuse- the look of shock/confusion/disbelief on Toni's face. Apparently our plane had taken off HOURS ago. Literally hours before it was supposed to leave- which is a very un-African thing to have happen.

>Incredulous at this, and thankfully in posession of our paper confirmation tickets, the consulate travel agent was brought in to deal with our situation. It was so oddly fortuitous to have had Jessie's bag stolen because we wouldn't have found out about the flight change, and wouldn't have had somone advocating for us (in Portugeuse) to get everything fixed. (Side note- bag still missing, but the police were still in pursuit, and had information on the man who had her bag).

>Toni then said we would go stay at her house until TACV (the airline) had set up our hotel for the night. Laura and I accompanied Jessie to the police station while she filed her police report. Jessie was let into the office, and Laura and I were left in the waiting room, to watch all sorts of drama unfold (this time in Creole), including random disputes, people being brought in and you could hear them being beaten in the back room, and two large speakers that were brought in (it was confirmed later that these indeed were full of Cocaine). It was insane, and very scary, and all of the police kept giving Laura and I 'the eye'. Relieved to have her be done, we were taken over to Toni's house where . . .

>Yasmeen opened up the door and it was like we were in America! Working for the foreign service is AMAZING! It was actually Toni's birthday, so the other girls were in the midst of making her a real genuine funfetti cake with funfetti frosting, drinking Snapple and best of all . . . doing laundry. In a real laundry machine. It was out of control and amazing. And then I went into the pantry, which was full of incredible things to eat like mac and cheese, pringles, and alfredo sauce. Toni was more than happy to share since her term was coming to an end and didn't have any more need for the food. It was more than amazing, especially after being in Senegal.

>So we set to making food, had a great meal, had cake and then went to our hotel that TACV
got for us- we all got our own rooms (but many of us shared- we were too used to having one another around). It was the nicest hotel in town and so another lovely night, and a really great night's sleep.

Monday March 12th
>It was great to sleep in- but you could hear the bustle on the street of Praia Plato, so I got up and had yet another great breakfast. We put ourselves together, and had to sadly leave Jessie behind (they were still hoping to get her bag back, they had been surveying the man's house, but hadn't gone in- this part is very unlike American cop TV shows. She never did end up getting her things back, very unfortunately). The TACV people came to get us very promptly at 10.30 and whisked us off to the airport. Clearly they had gotten a talking-to, and knew immediately who we were upon arrival at the airport. The flight left on time, and in no time we we were back in Dakar, waxhaling (bargaining) for a taxi ride home.

>A GREAT trip, that will always remain with me. I needed a break from life in Dakar, so this was perfect timing for me. More posts soon on life back in Dakar (but very briefly, be glad I've been blogging about this, because after coming back from Cabo Verde I was in a very hostile mood, which I have now come out of, and I am now enjoying things again!).