Desert Mirages, Sal, Cape Verde

After the refreshing Buracona Natural Pools the tour continues and it's then time to head towards the Desert in the center of the island. Bellow, you can see the main attraction of the place, the huge mirages that take form there.

The place is very hot so do remind yourself to take some water with you - take my word for it - I'm positively sure you wouldn't wanna drink from the lake (behind the bus to the right) you can "see" in the photo above :)

Besides being a very dry spot, the place is also a bit windy - just check the tree above - this time it's no mirage and it illustrates the fact perfectly. Well, I think that that's about all from the desert so I'll see you in the final post of the tour, the Salt Mines.

Buracona Natural Pool, Ponta Norte, Sal, Cape Verde

Located in the north shore of the island Buracona is the place where you'll find the fabulous natural pool of the photo bellow. Although only a few kilometers away from our previous stop Palmeira you might take a while to get there - the road is bumpy so drive slow okay :)

Besides the pool Buracona also presents its visitors with a fantastic landscape. Simply turn your back to the pool and you'll be able to admire the notorious contrast between its ocean blue tones and the red ones of the desert behind it.

Dominating the desert landscape is the highest mountain of the island. With its 405 meters of high, Monte Vermelho (in English, Red Mountain) do complete the beautiful landscape.

Hided close to the pool, deep in one of the caves nearby, is what the locals call Olho Azul (in English, the Blue Eye) - a beautiful light effect one can admire when the sunlight hits the ocean waters in the bottom of the cave (about 25 meters bellow surface) reflecting up its magnificent colors.

Before we follow to the Desert a serious warning: do stay away from the edge of the pool - as you can see above it is naturally filled with ocean water so be cautious ;)

Palmeira, Sal, Cape Verde

Proceeding with the tour around Sal's island lets make way and head to the city of Palmeira. The main port of the island is located there and its marina is most certainly one of the local attractions worthy of a visit.

Another thing for what I call your attention, is for the curious architecture of Sal's towns and villages. Like in the capital Espargos, the majority of the houses and city structures are small and very colorful. A good example of what I'm saying is again the local market, similar the one in the capital, it mantains both the size and the "happy" color choice - here instead of green, a combination of red and yellow.

Still about the market, one word of advice - if you're not prepared to negotiate prices, don't even think in passing close to its door. Although they sell there most of the island typical souvenirs one must possess good negotiation skills in order to strike a good bargain.

Finally, and before we continue to the natural pools of Buracona I'll leave you with another great example of Palmeira's colorful environment: the walls of the grocery store. In fact, if you're not certain on which way to take to our next stop, I'm sure these walls will help you :)

Travel Resources

I was searching the net to choose a backpack for a friend that loves adventure travel (mental note: must tell him to write a few posts about his last vacations, just imagine, he went crossing Sardinia's peeks on foot) and came across with two nice sites that I've decided to share.

The first one, Travel Equipments has advices you on many of the material anyone will often need for a successful travel. From backpacks to binoculars they leave nothing to chance and have a word for almost everything :)

The second one, Adventure Travel goes specially for my friend F. and for all of you who like to camp and take long walks on your vacations. If you ever consider taking seven days on a jeep just to reach Terra do Fogo then check it out, from adventure hiking to rafting they have it all :)

Espargos, Sal, Cape Verde

Today I'll start a tour around the island of Sal. Starting with capital Espargos, and going from there to Palmeira and Buracona passing by the Desert Mirages and ending with a visit to the salt mines in Pedra de Lume.

Located more or less in the middle of the island the city has the same name of the plant that grows in the wild in the surrounding areas - Espargos is Portuguese for Asparagus.

Above you can see the main plaza of the town, place where you'll find a few coffees and many local kids playing the national sport of the place - soccer. A few steps away from this plaza is another place you don't wanna miss, the local market (photo bellow).

Although most of the people on the island only speak Portuguese and Crioulo (the other local idiom), in Espargos like in the rest of the island, everyone is always very nice with the tourists.

In the next post will continue the tour traveling a few kilometers east to another plant named city - this time Palmeira - Portuguese for Palm Tree :)