Secrets of Sal

Yesterday we were picked up by the hotel lobby at 1 pm by a jeep that took us, an English/Latvian couple and a few more tourists in two other cars on a round-trip around the island. The island Sal is just around 20 km wide and has 4 towns. The trip took us around some of the most scenic places of the island. 5 days of rain per year makes the nature very desert like, the color scheme was all kind of terracotta, brown and orange with splashes of low growing bushes where they been able to survive. The landscape is very flat with a few higher mountains where nothing grows. The coastline however is amazing, we visited Murdeira beach and Buracona lagoon with the black vulcanic landscape and azure sea. We also made a stop at the Salina's salt lakes where we were able to go for a swim. I would highly recommend it- the feeling of almost floating on top of the water due to the density of the water. It felt so strange, it was almost difficult to stand up because the feet didn't naturally go down to the bottom... ( Also be aware that every small cut or scrape get a burning sensation from the salt. Not just the cuts, the entire neither region felt sore from the salt after a couple of minutes- take my advice and pay for the shower after you are done bathing. It costs only 1 dollar and is totally worth it!)

The area around the saline lakes are very wild wild western- like. The sand, the dusty road, the barren lands and the abandoned wooden structure from past times salt transportation via ropeway- it all came together. If tumbleweed would roll past, i bet no one would bat an eye.

After the trip to the salt lakes and a short stay in the desert of Terra Boa where we got to se the Mirage, we drove to Plameira where we were given several shots of the local hard liquor. It was a fun ending of a fun day!

For dinner we had booked one of the resorts restaurants, this particular one was specialized in Asian foods (interesting choice considering we haven't come across any Asians at all during our visit so far). The food was quite good, it contained more spices than the regular dinner buffet and we particularly enjoyed the misoshiro soup, the chicken curry and the grilled, marinated fish. If you are gonna stay at the hotel, please make a reservation to the restaurants because they book up fast! A lovely ending of a fantastic day!Read more