What I miss from Cape Verde – and what I don’t

Time flies; it is now over 3 years since I moved from Cape Verde. As a final contribution to this blog, I thought I would provide a short and frank (albeit not exhaustive) list of things I miss from my stay in the country, as well as what I don’t miss. Some of the topics have been commented in more detail under previous postings.

Here are some things that I definitely miss:
- All Cape Verdean and expat friends
- The absolutely splendid weather (at least 9 months out of 12)
- Outdoor concerts with great Cape Verdean artists such as Lura
- Sunset drinks in Cidade Velha
- The splendid greenery in Santiago after the rainy season (around december-january)
- Mountain walks in and Ribeira Grande and Rui Vaz
- Cachupa refugada (but not the fresh cachupa, Cape Verde’s “national dish”)
- Tennis at the US embassy compound
- Unforgetable visits to Fogo, Boavista and Mindelo
- Magnificent mountain hikes in Santo Antao
- Chilling out at our home-made and unique wooden roof terrace, overlooking the sea
- The pizzas and the somewhat strange (but interesting) atmosphere at restaurant “Kapa”
- Swimming in Tarrafal
- The lively grocery market on the Plateau
- The view (but hardly the food) from restaurant “A Poeta”
- The beautiful Grey-headed Kingfisher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-headed_Kingfisher, abundant in Praia

Here are some things that I definitely DON’T miss:
- Small and very aggressive Praia mosquitoes
- The unbearably hot, humid and rainy period (approx. September-November)
- The isolation (small islands, so far far away from each other – and from mainland)
- Customer service (or rather the lack of it) in general
- The waiting lines - to banks and to CV Telecom, in particular
- Cape Verdean food in general (except Cachupa Refugado and the delicious freshly grilled tuna)
- CV Telecom (not that Belgacom is any better…)
- Expensive and generally low quality groceries
- Repeated electricity cuts
- The need for night guards
- The dust (everywhere, all the time!)
- The constant water scarcity
- Booking, paying and flying with TACV (Cabo Verde Airlines) and TAP (the portuguese flight company) – always a major hassle
- Prejudices towards stay-at-home daddies (although of course not unique for Cape Verde)
- The “grogue” (Cape Verde’s most popular alcoholic drink, at least among men; locally produced from sugar cane)