Cape Verde
Shortly before your 30th birthday, challenges sometimes take on completely new forms. While some people tie the knot for life, I embarked on a completely different adventure: Learning to kitesurf! I was looking for a place with good conditions in winter, over 20 degrees and not too far away.
And I found what I was looking for: Cape Verde, 25 degrees, direct flights, less than six hours flying time. Between the green mountains of Santo Antão and the secluded beaches of Sal, the archipelago offers an impressive variety of landscapes. As I only had a week, I opted for Sal, the island with the evocative name (Portuguese for “salt”). Here, the rough sea meets dry plains and salt flats, creating a landscape that is as rugged as it is unusual. A place where you want to take a deep breath and soak up a little of its magic. Sal is a mecca for water sports enthusiasts and especially for kitesurfers: constant and steady winds, especially between November and May, legendary and varied spots, a sunny climate and warm water. A destination where sport and relaxation meet. This island is also home to three kite world champions: Airton Cozzolino, Matchu Lopes and Mitu Monteiro, who you might meet in the water or in front of Mitu’s kite school on Kite Beach.
A Swiss kite school?
I’m writing to you from the shade of the bougainvillea trees at my Surf Activity resort, which Odile, the founder of the kite school Kite Cap Verde, has reserved especially for me. The Swiss woman, who originally only wanted to spend a sabbatical year, finally decided to extend her adventure to a decade of passion on this island and set up a kite school. And who could blame her? Everything was perfectly organized: travel, accommodation and kitesurfing lessons with instructors who are both committed to their students and respectful of the sea and Cape Verdean culture. To tell you about all my adventures, however, I would need much more than these lines. Because Cape Verde, the small country of Cesária Évora, is also an ideal place to make new contacts. I could tell you about my meeting with Paul, a photographer and filmmaker, whom I got to know thanks to a note that slipped between two seats on the plane, about the lively dinners and Cape Verdean soccer matches or about the stories of Lilly and Amadu, our warm hosts. But I would rather save these experiences as an invitation to return, to immerse myself once again in the morabeza: this Creole word that expresses the human warmth, the hospitality of the Cape Verdeans and their joie de vivre. One thing is certain: this is just the beginning. See you soon, Cape Verde.
Information on kapverden.ch
