Cape Verde tattooed in my heart!
I become sentimental only of thinking about the period I had lived there…12 months that turned into 5 years …
I think, judging from today´s perspective, that this experience helped me to grow and developed many skills a lot. At the beginning, I didn’t know what could be expected from such a destination, it was supposed to be an adventure but finally it has been a tough period of knowledge, life lessons, time with and for myself, survival for a white stranger who arrived without speaking Portuguese ( thinking Spanish and English would be enough… what an ignorant). Probably, because I was young, even now, I cannot come up with any other explanation to understand why I decided to accept the job offer and even after some time lived with every cell of my body; I still made the choice to stay a bit longer. I worked as a Hotel Director, coach, a representative of governmental company. I was a part of charitable organizations on the island as well.
But what surprised me so much was the pure heart of the local people, once conquered, they transmit the best of themselves – pure emotions, a smile that makes your day and gives the strength to face their ´not such an easy´ life, day by day. There are so many stories that I could easily dedicate the whole blog to this archipelago only.
I will make you laugh (now I am able to laugh at some of the stories as well) but I will also make you cry with stories that break the heart.
During the time spent there, I have grown professionally (learnt 2 new languages, new laws, procedures) but moreover I got to know a new mentality. Undoubtedly, this period is one of the most essential ones in my life; a transformation from an executive that was selling luxury villas in Canaries to a hotel director on the island with only 7000 inhabitants, starting from zero and trying to conquer the local people, training the staff and giving a life to an abandoned hotel…
Blanca de Bela Vista…*
There are so many stories to be told… stay tuned!
*Blanca de Bela Vista – trans. The White from Bela Vista ( Bela Vista was the name of the hotel, The White – expression for a white person)
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