Sal island in Cabo Verde

After a few days in Marrakech, Morocco, I flew via Portugal to Cabo Verde. I went to the island of Sal (which means salt) and basically…relaxed.

I arrived around 1am at my hotel and had to be up early the next morning to go to the island capital for a COVID test. Given that I arrived late on Friday, would depart late on Monday night, and the labs don’t work on Sundays, I had to get tested Saturday morning to have my paperwork in order for departing Monday.

I arranged with my taxi driver from the airport to pick me up, and he was there waiting for me as scheduled the next morning. The drive from the coastal town of Santa Maria into the capital (the center of the island) of Espargos was mostly desert and didn’t have any real signs of life.

After a very disorganized process, I got my COVID test after 2 hours (I was in line 15min before the clinic even opened) and went back to the hotel for breakfast.

For the rest of the day, I did…nothing. And it was fantastic.

I relaxed at the beach, swam in the super-calm ocean, relaxed by the pool, and swam in the pool. This was my daily routine other than doing some work online when the sun got too hot.

Tourism is really down in Cabo Verde right now, and I practically had everything to myself. I saw very few people at the beach or by the pool at the hotel.

The money in Cabo Verde is really pretty. The currency is “escudo” which means “crest” or “shield”. I liked it.

In the evenings, I walked the 15min or so from my hotel into the center of Santa Maria town to get dinner. I tried a few different places, and nothing really stood out as “amazing” in any way. The town is cute. The pedestrian-only street Amilcar Cabral was THE place to be every evening. Bars packed full of people, lots of music.

Considering there were only 2 confirmed cases of COVID on the island (both confirmed before my arrival) while I was there, of course people were out enjoying themselves and trying to move past the pandemic. It was a very different situation/experience than at home.

I really liked Sal island. I definitely plan to go back. It will be interesting to see it with more people and more things going on.