Mindelo - Cape Verde Islands

Cesária Évora is the most famous singer from Mindelo and we saw her image all over town. Nicknamed the “Barefoot Diva” she sometimes performed without shoes and had a penchant for swigging alcohol onstage.

Cesária Évora often sang in the local Cape Verdean Creole, and her style is sometimes compared to Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday.

Cape Verde is known for its unique music, (which is a story I’ll share elsewhere) but we weren’t in port late enough to catch the local scene.

That said, I’m not sure how safe it would be to hang out in Mindelo at night as a foreigner. Poverty is rampant, beggars plentiful, and every store has staff on watch for shoplifters. As for living off the land, locals can catch fish, but the island is so rocky that little grows.

As you can see, we ran into our choir teacher, Thiago, while out and about. We let him know that the Portuguese phrases he taught us came in handy today. Although they speak their own Creole, it varies from island to island and Portuguese is the official national language.Read more