Week 1

Wednesday - Made a trip to Cidade Velha and visited the fort that overlooks the town. It was reconstructed with local labor. Our guide was a very knowledgeable local.
Later that day, we heard a presentation given by CIDLOT and someone from the municipality. They discussed several issues of interest in the urban fabric. They discussed the contrasts between Terra Branca and Cidadela, both planned neighborhoods. These were also compared with so-called “informal”, or "spontaneous" communities like Inferno, Safende, and Kobon. We have students in in these neighborhoods, as well as, in Achada Grande, Achadinha, Calabaceira, Eugenio Lima, Palmarejo, Varzea and Vila Nova.

Day 2:

Amazing country - cool people. For the most part, they have been great. Mostly we have been in sensory overload mode - we arrived in the afternoon of the 4th, a few hours later than planned and went around Praia dropping the students off. Lot's of interesting things. Many houses built onto the side of the rock face - not clear how those concrete blocks were hauled up to some of those places without access roads. Nice stones carved out of the side of the mountain. Great use of tile and scouring the cement stucco/plaster for different effect. The most interesting for Mike and me on the first day, was perhaps the cistern built under the house with its access right in front of the main entry.

Day 2, we toured Cidade Velha (the old capital) - visited the fort above the town. We sat through a 4.5 hour lecture/workshop - draining but interesting. We decided to start the day slow tomorrow (later today). The students are are settling into their homes.... some homes are "informal." This means many are of limited means. However, the host families have been great - even with the 2nd degree language barrier - many speak mostly Creole. Communication between them and the students is in the only 2 languages they have in common - broken Portuguese and gestures.

The students claim they are having a blast! At least the ones who are not have not complained... yet. We are still working out the transportation. Mostly the host families and our partners here are very worried about the students traveling at night - our neighborhood pairings have not worked out perfectly for everyone. Joe and Adam (especially Joe) raves about Inferno - they love the nearby soccer field. Ashleigh loves her new pig - I hope she does not get attached as it may end up in a Cachupa. I will try to start posting some photos to the blog.

Tchau.