Cape Verde
Mindelo and Praia
19.10.2010
33 °C
Scout
The last two days were special. The ship arrived at Cape Verde and I was asked to be a Scout for the upcoming excursions. A Scout is some kind of tour guide that tags along the trips that our passengers had booked for the specific destination. We have eight Scouts on board, but they need help at the moment, because all local tour guides would only speak English. So my main job at the tour was to translate what the local tour guide was saying. The average age of our passengers is 60, which is horribly old compared to the other routes the ship drives. Hence, heaps of them don’t understand English. Both trips I went along with were tours to explore the island.
I cannot describe the impressions I got during the two days! It was not like I imagined Africa. Coincidentally it rained one day before we arrived (which rarely happens!) so I saw lots of green on the island. I tried to capture it with pictures but it was way more beautiful than the outcome of the pictures.
It seemed as if houses were built until the money ran low, you could often see houses with an unfinished upper floor. Paint for the houses seemed like luxury to me. The rather poor housing stood in contrast with the beautiful landscape! All people I saw and met were really friendly! One street vendor even gave me a bracelet as a present (see picture!)!
Summarizing, I am very happy to have gotten the chance to visit Cape Verde! It is of no terms the usual holiday destination, but it was a good experience and reminder how lucky we are in our country!
At sea
Last night left Africa and are now heading towards Brazil. No land for 3 days ;-) And I think we get one hour as a present each night (turn clocks one hour back) as long as we drive towards the west!
German-ness
In general and as expected, the ship and its rules are very German. I am not allowed to wear thongs (flip flops) on board at the passengers area, even in my free time!!!! I also have to wear long trousers after 6pm when working! (Bless us, at some partner ships you have to wear blazers after 6pm!) And I am not allowed to log in SSI’s ODIN to certify students…hahahah…Just imagine this was the case at Big Blue!! It would be a very poor person whose job it would be to certify them all every day!!
Right now I look at it with some kind of humour and everyone says it takes a while until I would get used to it (the German-ness and the cruise ship-ness). So let’s see, maybe I will become a proper German one day :-D
Posted by JazzyFizzl 16:10 Archived in Cape Verde
