Bubaque, last african call before being alone on the ocean. It’s hard to detach from this continent, and they are not the few days we spent here that will help. First Cacheu, well hiden behind sand banks, defended by its Portugues fort orned by enormous bronze sculptures : Henri the navigator, Staline, Lénine…then Bolama, ex ruined capital in the shadow of giants “fromagers”, where we set the world to rights, drinking red wine in company of the Province Governor, the Port Captain, the Fishery Director…then the Bijagos islands where we anchored just in front of where a ceremony, forbiden to non iniciated of course, was about to be. Strange these islands, where women conduct the ceremonies, where iniciation last 3 years for the women, 8 for the men ( they have to divorce and go into the wild). We came at the end of this period, when the men would be at last free, and at full moon the bombolong sounded all night. The women are in grass skirt, head shaved for the ocasion, the King of the neighboring village is here, the other one died and will perhaps be replaced….It’s hard to believe all that, but there is restricted places, as the wood of the defunct daughters, and in the crucial evening we had to change of anchorage, and you could smell the “cana” miles around. Ibrahima the fisherman explained all to us, him who came to this island more than 15 years ago. We left him and his family loaded of more than 50kg of grapes, oranges, bananas…..It’s dificult to imagine that it will soon be Christmass, we will be ta sea, not too far from Brazil, we hope so. May will you have some snow ?
