Carnival in Mindelo

24 February 2020

Since this is the carnival trip, we have to celebrate that too. After Rio de Janeiro, the best carnival location in the world is Mindelo on São Vicente. At least, that’s what the people here say…

For this reason we have slightly changed our usual route. We went to São Nicolau first and then to São Vicente. Once we were here we first took the ferry to Santo Antão for a day on this beautiful island. Also this time we walked from the crater into the valley.

Yesterday the carnival finally started. They kicked it off with the Mandinga. This is a procession with many drums. For this the people painted themselves black with a paste of oil and ground charcoal and as Boeman they dance through the streets and suddenly jump towards the spectators to smear them in the face. Originally the Mandinga was found to scare the children.

Today is a “quiet” day without very special things, tomorrow it is time for the big parade. We are going to bed nice and early tonight to enjoy the spectacle here tomorrow.