Day 71, Sunday, March 26. At sea
We skipped over Nigeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea. There are at least four new passengers, very fit men who keep to themselves, carrying walkie-talkies. They are our security force in case of a pirate attack. No joke: a cargo ship has been taken by pirates within the last few days. It’s not known what happened to the crew.
Day 72, Monday, March 27. São Tome, São Tome and Principe
In terms of weather, temperature and humidity were average for this time of year, hot and very humid. Not surprising as its latitude is just 2′ North of the Equator. We were lucky it didn’t rain, because this is the rainy season here.
São Tome is verdant, unlike the cities we’ve visited on the mainland, and unlike Cape Verde, with which it has close relations. Small—the whole island is home to only about 72,000 people. The city actually resembles Mindelo in terms of its architecture and shows about the same standard of living, noticeably higher than in the previous cities we visited on the mainland. There is well-done public art on some walls, reminiscent of Mindelo. It also feels very safe here. Big contrast.
The ship was anchored offshore, so we came into town via tender, then were driven to Independence Square in a shuttle bus.
A performance was underway in the park: tchiloli, a unique blend of European and African music and theater. Wiktionary describes it as “a traditional cultural performance of São Tome and Principe, consisting of the theatrical recreation of the medieval conflict between the court of Charlemagne and of the Marquess of Mantua.” I mean, What!?! There were six actors and three musicians. The music was a repetitive tune played on a wooden transverse flute, rather soft and lilting, accompanied by two European-style drums. The actors were not singing or talking, but sort of dancing. There was a king and a princess, a military man, a boy, a woman in black and a man with a bowler hat swaying back and forth with a black shawl (shroud?) on one arm and a bunch of different colored scarves on the other.
The main market building is very run-down, but does have garbage bins out in front. It’s surrounded by shops, with vendors who are not pushy at all, but friendly and helpful. One directed me to a store where I could buy some music CDs.
The market square, Praça Yon Gato, had two murals, one of Mr. Gato, I presume, and another above it that just made me smile. I don’t as a rule publish photos here, but I have to make an exception for this “anti-Guernica.”
São Tome is located less than one degree north of the Equator, and shortly after we set out to sea the ship conducted a traditional crossing-the-Equator ceremony, a gentle hazing of “pollywogs”—people who hadn’t crossed it before. One thing they were made to do was to kiss a large fish. Any excuse for a party!
What I didn’t expect was, halfway through the session I was informed they were preparing for a performance__in two days!
I went down to the martini bar. Empty. So I moved the “Do not touch” sign out of the way and sat down to the piano to pick out the melodies we were going to sing.
Day 74, Wednesday, March 29. At sea The leader, Paul, emailed me the accompaniments to five of the eight songs. Helpful.
Another dinner thrown for the Around the World passengers. We sat with some pleasant folks, the dinner was okay. The kitchen was trying to punch above their weight. I’ll give them credit for trying.
Day 75, Thursday, March 30. At sea Sea got rough overnight, and has continued. Mary didn’t sleep well as a result.
That evening the Sing Out Loud gave their 15-minute performance. It was fun and it attracted quite a large audience.