Cape Verde Islands
Mindelo
5-13 January 2018
Of
course, I had dreams of finding lots of cotton wax batiks available in Mindelo but
not to be. The shop stocking those exuberant Ghanaian
textiles in Mindelo (Sao Vicente) I had read about was long since gone (hopefully relocated) and
the market was full of cheap polyester substitutes.
We
had a day trip planned on neighbouring Santo Antao and I had hoped to see
fabrics in markets as we drove around the island. The demand though is for ready-mades (for tourists & locals) and I may have missed noticing any cottage industry in textiles. There appears not to be a huge demand for them either. Driving across Santo Antao however, is a delight, with
pockets of green tucked into steep sided hills, so the day was rewarding in many other ways as I have already noted in this post. African
cottons…well, I guess it’s back to the drawing board and lots more time on the computer researching. Or perhaps even planning an African textile adventure. Now there's a happy thought!
For now, here's a start with a few links to Wiki: African wax prints and Kente cloth but my photos I'm afraid, are only of the wonderful Santo Antao scenery.
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A small fisherman's harbour Santo Antao
- only for very brave fisherman ; ) |
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| Santo Antao interior |
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| Santo Antao's steep and rugged coastline. |
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Included this one of Mindelo's busy waterfront with the main market square over to the right
(behind the buildings) |
