we travelled by bus out to the ground site about 30minutes drive from
Mindelo. It is up a little side road that was built specially to get to
the site.
The site itself is right down close to the sea shore and gets a lot of
spray. It consists of a couple of shipping containers, two tents, a dog
shed, a 40 m tower and a porta-loo. The dog shed houses our lifetime
instrument (measures how long OH lives for) and is really quite dinky! The
tower is REALLY high and sways with the breeze. I didn't quite realise
this till I'd climbed all the way to the top in my nice slip-on shoes. Now
these shoes are not normally a problem but having to grip them really
tightly so they didn't fall off on the way down meant that I was having
cramps in my legs for the next few days! (I'll explain how necessary these
shoes were in a minute...)
But the view from the top of the tower was stunning. Cape Verde is made up
of a number of islands. The name green cape does not necessarily apply to
all the islands. In fact Sao Vincente would be a good substitute for the
pics I've seen of Mars. It is absolutely desolate. The lava flows are
still evident and haven't been populated by plants as I expected for such
a nutrient rich land. This is mainly because Sao Vincente receives so
little rain. Everyone relies on deep wells and the water table is
dropping. Everything is imported apart from the few vegetables grown in
little irrigated farms in the valleys between the craters. I know I
complain that you couldn't grow anything on our land in Clare but this
really is struggling to survive. But all this makes for a stunning
landscape. It's as if the craters are superimposed on a blue sky. The day
we docked the visibility was superb. I saw an island that looked like it
was swimming distance only to be told it is over 30 km away! Reminder to
self: never underestimate distance when there is water involved.
Kate and Lisa (the ground FAGE crew) seemed in a good mood and Dwayne (my
boss) arrived the night before we docked. The girls were having a few
laser issues (bit of a re-curring theme - see my AMMA diary from last
summer www.roisinco.blogspot.com) but they seemed to be coping quite well.
The lifetime instrument had had a motor malfunction so Kate had to sit and
move something every ten minutes through the whole day. Rather her than
me! Although I think Dwayne was going to take over that job while he was
there :)
It was weird to be on dry land. I think I've gotten used to walking as if
I'm drunk. I used to laugh at the stereotypical swaying walk of sailors on
tv but it is actually the easiest way not to fall over all the time when
the seas are choppy! It makes it funny trying to decide if people are
actually drunk or just walking drunk in the bar (it's usually the latter
;)
And now about the shoes: I decided to get a bit dolled up for the trip to
shore. I thought it would be the last time I cared what I looked like for
a fortnight and in hindsight I was right ;) I haven't worn make-up since
but now I think my skin is in withdrawl. I've spots everywhere and a
couple of cold sores thrown in for good measure. And no-one has any
cold-sore creams! I'm sure they'll all disappear when I get back to my
more usual diet of only eating proper food when I'm hungry...
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