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.



Thursday - University of Cape Verde students present an analysis of various specific issues in a few of the neighborhoods after we had toured through some of them. The issues include access to public services, such as roads, water, sewers, electricity, etc.
We went to a restaurant for a group meal and met with US Charge d’Affaires to Cape Verde, Dana Brown, who happens to be from Milwaukee. She was pleasant and engaged the students over the meal. She graciously invited us for a reception at the embassy. Aaron met and introduced me to a fellow interested in more ecologically sensitive waste treatment. I lost my mobile phone.

Friday - The students began their pace of life experiments.

A) How many paces a morning rush hour walker takes to travel 60 feet.
B) How long it takes to purchase a 10 escudos stamp with a 200 escudo note.
C) How close public clocks match up with the phone company's time.

They also began measuring their homes, locating the components and describing its materials and other characteristics.
Sensors were installed in the homes to take temperature, relative humidity and lighting measurements for the duration of our stay.

Saturday - We took a trip to Rui Vaz. Each student was accompanied by a family member. We went up the mountain near the highest point in Santiago and walked down. Jonathan noticed some very interesting rock types and formations along the road. While trying to inspect some of these rocks, he and one family member experienced some minor injuries. The little girl was quite upset and we had to carry her half-way down the mountain. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant that overlooked the valley. The owner was very personable and regaled us with many great stories.

Sunday was a slow day - many of us went to the beach. Mike’s laptop died over night. I tried to set up my computer for students to call home via Skype, but the wifi soon faded, as did my battery shortly afterwards (need to get a longer lasting battery). We went to see some art by a local artist, Duduu.

Monday - A few students went with Mike, Patricia and Andréia to the Sol Cimiento block factory. The whole group then went to the power plant and the desalination plant (both in the same complex). There are solar panels on-site which they claimed currently supply 4.5% of their output. We also drove into (and quickly out of) the main city dump. There were many scavengers there, reclaiming potentially reusable materials.

Tuesday - Adam and Joe, who are staying in Inferno, were interviewed by a local weekly newspaper reporter. He was very interested in what they hope to learn by living with the families.