Holidays...

Beach in Bolama

Way to the beach, caju and more caju

Beach in Varela

Me

Varela

My week of holidays in Guinea can be briefly put in one word: Beach! For the last days in Africa i wanted to know the famous beach of Varela, in the north of the country, and the first capital in the colonial time, Bolama. Well, to arrive in Varela it takes like 5 hours from Bissau. You have to catch a car from the big center till S.Domingos. From there you go on a truck, or somethig similar, till Varela. The most knowed beach in the country is actually a poor and desert village, sorrounded by militars and weekend houses. The life is reduced to the fishing business and the transport between Varela and S.Domingos. The beach is nice but far far away from all the expectation made by the local people. The big atractionare the cows! They spend all the day taking sun and slowly walking in the sand. Something that hardly i will seee again in my life.

After that time to go back home and relax. Travelling here it's hard and takes effort. Next weekend i wento to Bolama, one of the nearest islands from the capital Bissau, and previous big colonial center. I was curious to see the old traces left by the portugueses and how is the sitation now. Like many cities in Guinea the old buildings are abandoned or destroyed, and in this particular case, the situation is worse. Just a few live there and in general they don't take care of what exists. Things are left apart and with time they just deteriorate themselves. So i encounter myself in a ghost city with few people and movement ruled by the caju campaign and fisherie. The way to the beach is beautiful and when i arrived i had a small beach all to myself.

Made of simple journeys my holidays were just what i wished. Peace, sun and water!