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Cabo Verde: First Stop in the New World
What if I told you there was a place that played a central role in the journeys of Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, and Amerigo Vespucci? Does it sound like a fairytale place or...
View ArticleCape Verde and Africa: Distant Neighbors
Fidel, who bore more than a slight resemblance to Tom Jones, was fiercely proud of his native islands. Given the choice of going to Providence, Rhode Island with his wife in the late 1990s, he chose...
View ArticleMindelo – transforming gray into technicolor
Mindelo – Cabo Verde’s second city and a crossroads of British, Portuguese, French and Creole culture – lies on the far side of São Vicente, a spectacularly inhospitable island. Starved of water,...
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A “Synagogue” by the Sea
I didn’t expect to come across a town called Sinagoga, or “synagogue” on my trip to Cape Verde. In fact, I didn’t expect to come across much non-Christian religious history in a place that was...
View Article(Not) On a Mission from God
Overlooking a black sand beach at my guesthouse on Santo Antão, a squat, bespectacled Belgian man waved his hand at me and asked, “I overheard you on the phone, are you an American?” “Indeed I am!” I...
View ArticleCesaria Évora – Queen of Cape Verde’s Currency
You can tell a lot about a country by the people they put on their money. After seeing that Cesária Évora, the deceased musical icon famous across the Portuguese-speaking world, gets top billing on the...
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São Paulo: Brazil’s emerging Carnaval capital
One sunny Saturday in downtown São Paulo, Brazil, Freddy Mercury was dancing samba to “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Rather, several Freddy Mercuries were dancing samba as they wove their way through skyscrapers...
View ArticleWhy Bruce Chatwin Pisses Me Off
I’ve never read In Patagonia. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever picked the book up to consider reading it. I don’t know very much about Bruce Chatwin, other than the little that I have gleaned in the...
View Article“Vos”: Argentina’s great equalizer
Americans struggle with Spanish, but particularly struggle with the irksome task of having to figure out who to call tú (informal “you”) and who to call usted (formal “you”). Making matters worse,...
View ArticleA Transitional Travelogue
At the beginning of 2019, I decided to make a career change. One of the first orders of business after leaving my job was to try to reconnect with some of the same passions, interests, and journeys...
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