{"id":12840,"date":"2013-04-18T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/g-adventures-west-africa-day-11-sao-tome\/"},"modified":"2013-04-18T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T15:45:00","slug":"g-adventures-west-africa-day-11-sao-tome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/04\/g-adventures-west-africa-day-11-sao-tome\/","title":{"rendered":"G Adventures West Africa. Day 11: S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

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pics: Monte Cafe coffee plant, more smiles, old Portuguese fort now national
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museum<\/p>\n

More contrasts! From smiling Angola to sullen Congo and back to another
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cheerful land, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9. Some wag suggested that life under Portuguese
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colonial rulers left the locals the freedom to smile, as opposed to the
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French in Congo. Compared to what we have at home in Australia \u2013 and still
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want more \u2013 the ready welcomes from locals in S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 is a resounding
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testament to the strength of the African character, forged over centuries of
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hardship.<\/p>\n

Both the rich volcanic S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and its minor sibling, Principe, were
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uninhabited prior to the 15th Century arrival of Portuguese traders but soon
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a booming industry in sugar, coffee and cocoa developed. The labour,
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naturally, had to be imported, so the fields and factories were stocked with
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slaves from other Portuguese colonies like Mozambique and Angola. That, with
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the regular traffic of trade and slave vessels over the centuries has turned
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these little islands into something of an African melting pot with dances,
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songs and customs from all over the equatorial nations and tribes.<\/p>\n

The obligatory town tour displayed fading colonial buildings resisting the
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onslaught of modern development. Churches, municipal offices and some
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commercial buildings still bore the hallmarks of their former Portuguese
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masters. In particular the national museum, built into an old coastal fort,
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held artefacts, weapons and cultural items of some considerable value. That
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fact, of course, did not stop me from trying out an old, smooth bore musket
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for size.<\/p>\n

Lunch is always a feature and the modest Hotel Bigodes presented us with the
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most magnificent grilled swordfish. And there was time for an extra local
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lager while our driver changed a flat tyre amid a monsoonal downpour. He
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earned his tip that day.<\/p>\n

Up in the lush mountains, we luxuriate in the spray from superb waterfall
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before stopping at a historic coffee factory, Monte Cafe, looking very
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pre-Industrial Revolution but still turning out fine Robusta and Arabica
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coffee. The workers staged an impromptu song and dance while giggling
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schoolchildren on their way home from morning class swarmed over us like
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ants turning the whole scene into something of a f\u00eate.<\/p>\n

The rain kept coming down but there was time for a glimpse at the chaotic
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market and quick mission to the post office. Did I say quick? Correction.
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Negotiations for five postcards and stamps seemed to take an eternity
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despite us being the only customers in the place. Welcome to Africa!<\/p>\n

Sent to you over a satellite phone using GMN’s XGate software.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

pics: Monte Cafe coffee plant, more smiles, old Portuguese fort now national museum More contrasts! From smiling Angola to sullen Congo and back to another cheerful land, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9. Some wag suggested that life under Portuguese colonial rulers left the locals the freedom to smile, as opposed to the French in Congo. Compared to what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[344],"class_list":["post-12840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gap-adventures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}