Sep 03 2010
Other Places Travel Guides, with Cape Verde Author Callie Flood
Other Places Travel Guide to Cape Verde
Other Places Travel Guides are a new series of guides written by returned Peace Corp Volunteers. Not only are they written by people who lived and worked in the areas they write about, but they cover such far-flung places as Cape Verde, Benin, Micronesia and Palau and Namibia.
We were interested to find out a bit more about the new series, and we emailed a few questions to Callie Flood, author of Other Places Guide to Cape Verde, to see if we could find out a bit more. She was kind enough to respond and share some pictures.
Santo Antao - photo by Callie Flood
1. Do you prefer aisle or window? (please explain)
It depends on the length of the flight. For short intervals, I enjoy gazing out the window, but I am fairly tall and fidgety so the aisle is ideal for mobility and stretching.
2. What compelled you to join the Peace Corps?
As I was preparing to graduate and enter “the real world,” I became more and more aware of what I didn’t know as opposed to what I thought I knew. Joining the Peace Corps gave me an opportunity to see and experience a different life and culture, learn a different language and do what I felt was meaningful work. I still believe I have a lot to learn, see and experience, but I feel my two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer have laid a solid foundation.
3. What was your first reaction when you found out that you would be living in Cape Verde?
When I began the application process, I decided to have no expectations in order to avoid disappointment or conflicting emotions. Many other volunteers from my group said they had no idea where Cape Verde was when they received their invitation, but as a Massachusetts native, I knew some Cape Verdeans and was excited to ask them questions and have the opportunity to learn more about their country, language and culture. I was also intrigued by the prospect of living on an island – something that proved to be completely different.
4. Living in a country and visiting a country are very different experiences. How was your trip back to Cape Verde to research for the guide book different from your first trip?
Maio - photo by Callie Flood
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I lived in a remote, agricultural village of about 1,000 people on the island of Fogo. My focus was on teaching English while learning how to communicate in Kriolu and integrate in my community. When I returned to research the guidebook, I was residing in the capital of Praia. With nearly 125,000 residents, Praia was a far cry from rural Fogo. I missed the small community and my friends on Fogo, and I found I had to balance the part of myself that was intimately involved with the country and culture with the part of me there for objective research.
5. Cape Verde is a considerably small country and it’s reasonable to assume you saw a good portion of it in the two years that you lived there. Were there any new favorite spots you found on your second trip that you missed while living there?
Fogo - photo by Callie Flood
This is going to be difficult to answer because there were so many places that took my breath away, but I will say as a disclaimer that while I love the ocean, I am drawn to mountains – so my responses may be a bit biased. As a Volunteer, I passed up international travel in favor of visiting the different islands and was enamored with Santo Antao and Cha das Caldeiras on Fogo. Returning to write the guidebook, I “discovered” Maio, Boa Vista, Sao Vicente and Sao Nicolau with the help of Peace Corps Volunteers living in communities there. The beaches on Maio and Boa Vista are stunning and both islands are relatively calm. I had the great luck and privilege to visit Sao Vicente for an off-road tour after a particularly rainy season and the raw, jagged landscape with a carpet of green was incredible. Joao of Cabo Verde Safari did an excellent job of sharing the culture, history and hidden landscapes of Sao Vicente, an island frequently visited, but often not fully explored. Sao Nicolau was just all around wonderful with a mix of rugged peaks, isolated communities, welcoming people and stunning coastal formations – Carborinho and Juncalinho.
6. As a local, you get to know a place to a certain depth that a tourist can’t quite comprehend. Yet sometimes a tourist can see and learn more about the place in a short visit. You got the opportunity to be both. In researching and writing this guidebook how did you balance “the local regional expertise” vs. “the outsiders view”?
Carnival - photo by Callie Flood
This goes back to my response about the differences between the trips. I realized early on that in order to write the guidebook, I needed to put myself in the eyes, shoes and mind of a tourist. Despite the cultural understanding I gained as a Peace Corps Volunteer, each time I stepped off a plane, boat or vehicle, I tried to imagine that my feet were touching Cape Verdean soil for the first time. I found my language skills and cultural understanding aided me in getting around and communicating more directly, but I tried to be aware of that advantage and make note of some of the difficulties that a true tourist might encounter, like getting pulled into a car driving circles around the city, or I also spoke at length with tourists, locals and Peace Corps Volunteers when traveling to glean their perspectives and observations – outsider and insider - to keep my own “fresh.”
7. What was the biggest challenge you faced when writing the guidebook?
Many of my challenges relate to finding the balance between Peace Corps and objective researcher. On a lighter note though, the Kriolu is a little bit different on each island, and most Cape Verdeans expect foreigners to speak English or Portuguese, so when I was traveling and started speaking Kriolu with a noticeable Fogo accent (something comparable to a deep southern accent in the US) I received an array of responses from flat out disbelief, quizzical looks and, in a few cases, flat out laughter. Another challenge, and this is addressed in the guidebook, was the varying reliability of transportation. Cape Verde is unique as an archipelago not populated until after Portuguese colonization, but in many respects, it is clearly influenced by West Africa. Transportation schedules – if they exist – are subject to change at any time with little to no notice, so getting from island to island was always an adventure.
Sal - photo by Callie Flood
8. Hemingway Challenge: Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a novel in six words. What’s your six word travel story?
The travel writer story:
Sunrise, notebook, adventure, reflect, rinse, repeat.
My travel story (moral included):
Live every day with new eyes.
Lisa can usually be found staring longingly at the Eastern European shelf at the Globe Corner Bookstore. However, she really wants to go to Colombia.
The author, Callie Flood, conveys a distinct sense of wonder and reflection mixed with a humble nature of a foreigner in a new land–something that I find is often missing from more self-interested travel writers. It is refreshing to get her perspective on travel and learning.