Thursday, March 8th
>Today was a day we got to sleep in! Ok, well that’s a very relative term, but at least it wasn’t getting up at 6am for a grueling hike. We rolled out of bed and went and sang happy birthday to Gwen (21!!!) then sat down to an incredible breakfast. The place we stayed was a nice auberge at a local’s house, so we got lots of nice home-made foods. There were donuts, and mini egg-something’s (not sure how to describe them other than good), hot coffee, fresh-baked bread, homemade marmalade, fresh goat cheese, and OJ. Suffice to say we cleared everything you could have eaten- it was so delicious!
>After lazily getting ready we went for a walk around the area of Cha, and found ourselves a good rock to play some cards on. Nothing like sitting on an old lava-made rock with some friends for some cards. Eventually it got too hot to really enjoy much more, so we went back to our auberge and did snacks for lunch. We had remembered to stock on back in Sao Filipe, so we had plenty of peanut butter, jelly and crackers (and cookies!) to go around.
>Around 3 o’clock Sam showed up again, and we put ourselves together for another hike, only this one was promised to be much shorter. No need for all the snacks and layers this time around (but definitely water). He took us to see the most recent volcano sight, which erupted in 1995. It was a much different hike this time, with a lot of uphill in the sand-like lava- good workout for the calves. It was hot as heck this time around, so there were a lot of water breaks involved. But once there it was totally worth it! The first spot he took us to was where the earth had gotten sucked under as a result of the eruption, so it was just a HUGE sinkhole! He said he had been down into it, but we didn’t really feel like putting in the effort of shimmying down inside, just to have to work our way back out.
>Next stop was where the volcano had erupted out of, and it was incredible! There were tons of colors, and it was a huge pit. Not how you traditionally imagine a volcano, it was more of a huge hill/small mountain with a big crater space inside. From where we stood we could see just how far the lava spread. I wouldn’t want to be around it when it went off- but they have very little way of knowing when the next one will be. All of the rocks around the eruption site were great colors of red and yellow and green, with some being very sparkly and all very cool. Sam gave us some good science lessons on it all, and even showed us certain ‘hot spots’ where if you put your hands close to the ground it is super-hot from the different elements. Such an educational spring break!
>We hiked back down (no running this time, but definitely up and down some hills) and went to the auberge to change into some clean clothes. We then joined Sam (the all-purpose man in town) for some wine-tasting. They make some very tasty (and strong) wine up in Cha, and it was fun to get to try the wines. They are trying to develop the tourism to Cha, and wine-tasting is certainly a way to get people’s attention!
>The group then split up, with Yasmeen, Gwen and Laura going to hear some local music, while Amy, Jessie and I went with Sam to prepare a (surprise) birthday dinner for Gwen. We whipped up a cake (I did the homemade frosting), which was very interesting, and very challenging, while Sam made an awesome home-made pizza. Like I said, he’s had a lot of time to get good at the home-cooking. Needless to say, Gwen was very exciting to be celebrating her birthday in such a unique fashion, and really excited by the delicious cake. After some dinner, cake and music, we headed back and fell asleep, fully content after another wonderful day.
Friday, March 9th
>Sadly, we did have to leave Cha at one point or another. Sam had to go into Sao Filipe on some errands, so he joined us for the ride down, which left around 7am. This time we took a truck down, and sat in the back (no fancy van this time around), for a great cheap ride with awesome views. Once down in Cha we did a bit of grocery shopping and mulled about what to do with the day. The options were among staying in Sao Filipe or going over to another town, Mosteiros, with another Peace Corps person. A last minute decision was made in favor of Mosteiros, and we all piled into a Yass van with our new friend Jenda for the ride over to Mosteiros. More wonderful views of Fogo, and we were on our way to see another part of the island.
>Jenda’s Peace Corps work was significantly different from Sam’s- he essentially lives in a two bedroom apartment with another PC person, and works in an internet café. Some people joke about PC in Cabo Verde being pretty easy- and it does seem that way (even though Sam lives in Cha, he can get to Sao Filipe very easily and is never too far from things, unlike being out in the bush in West Africa). Jenda showed us around the small town, which was very quaint and took us to the beach, where we found another black beach and some crazy crashing waves- no playing in the water this time around!
>Long story short for the rest of the night, Jenda (and his roommate Mike) were awesome, and in exchange for us making them dinner (pasta!) they let us sleep on their floor for the night, and we saved ourselves some good money. It was a lot of fun, and we cooked, played cards and hung out. We had to head to bed early again, though, because this time our ride left at 5.30am- eeeeek! Mosteiros was an awesome place to visit, and considering that we had the next day in Sao Filipe, I was glad to get to see another part of Fogo and meet more cool people.
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