Cape Verde

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Life at sea. So filled with contrasts that you every minute is torn between the most extreme feelings and emotions there are. A day when the sun smiles down on you and the wind is favourable you feel like you are on the top of the world and everything just makes sense. Whereas when the rain pours down and the wind makes the sea angry you merely feel like a wet spot with no purpose or place! So far on the journey we have experienced mostly sun and nice weather, however as we left Safi in Morocco the wind increased with high waves as a consequence that left many of us sea sick, including me.

Right now Gunilla is moored in Mindelo, Cape Verde and we are planning to stay here until Sunday the 9th of December when we leave for the Salvation Islands in French Guyana. Almost a month has passed since I left home in Gothenburg and the time has really flown by! Life on board is so far from “real” life that one can come, both socially and regarding work. Here on board 54 people live together on a 50 metre long ship and I often refer to it as a social experiment, a kind of social composition not experienced elsewhere. Here everyone have to get along and coexist, there is really no choice. So far I must say that the kids (young adults really, or at least they like to think so) are doing a great job and really make an effort to improve the life on board and to learn everything there is to learn on a ship. As to the work I more or less work all the time, but even though a normal day includes about 12 hours of work it does not feel tiring. Foremost it is because almost everything I do aboard is loads of fun, but also because all the kids aboard give so much. I love to be seen as an idol or at least as someone they look up to!

Our first real stop was Safi, Morocco. Safi is a town still untouched by the tourism that already has coloured other cities on the coast such as Agadir. In Safi we could experience the “real” Morocco and the general opinion of the students was that the Arabic culture was enormously friendly, open and curious towards other cultures. The people we got in touch with took us in, showed us their homes and invited us to eat “tajine” a special Moroccan dish made of mainly couscous and vegetables. During our 6 days in Morocco we also went on a one-day excursion to the most famous Moroccan city of Marrakesh. Over one million tourists come to Marrakesh every year, a fact that has truly marked the city. The genuine Marrakesh was still found in the narrow alleys of the medina (or the old town), but the prices were high and the people less friendly than in Safi. So after a day in Marrakesh all the students were happy to return “home” to Safi. Something that really touched me about the Arabic culture and manner was that they had no hidden intentions, they just expressed a great general friendliness and hospitality (except in Marrakesh that is...).

On the Cape Verde islands the people do not have much. The islands had no indigenous population and the inhabitants on the islands are rather a product of the history of slave trade and colonists. The islands are extremely poor without any real natural resources and they have survived solely on its strategic position in the Atlantic Ocean. I could write a book about these very interesting islands, but here I will try to keep it short! Anyway, on Sunday we start crossing the blue Atlantic with no land in sight for 14 days. As I before stated, life aboard Gunilla is a life without comparison. I feel as happy as ever before, every day is an adventure! Life is for living and living is what life aboard is all about!

To be continued on the other side of the Big Blue!

(my mail aboard is by the way [e-mail])

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Photos

Rescue Runner
Me and the previous watch leader Marcus are practicing on the rescue boat. Loads of fun!

Hoisting the flag
Every morning in port the students, with some help at first, needed to hoist the flag.

Huts on Santo Antaõ
A green and very beautiful island west of São Vicente