Island of Santiago, Cape Verde

There are times when I get a bit fed up with the official postcrossing site. Particularly when I get boring cards with no message at all, or a card that just says "Happy Postcrossing". I do realise some people don't like writing on their cards, and some might not be very good at English, but it can still be frustrating. On the other hand, I love the randomness of it all, not knowing where the next card will come from and who's sent it. That, and sometimes there are true gems amongst the postcards I receive. The following card is one of those; I actually like it so much that I'm going to send a thank you card to the sender.


PT-128334

Isn't it a lovely, colourful image?! And the card was made even better by the fact that it's fully written, with lots of interesting information, and the stamps are gorgeous and include one with the picture taken by the sender.

The sender, Iolanda, has recently been to Cape Verde and will soon be going back. Cape Verde was a former Portuguese colony, which comprises 10 island (one of which is not inhabited). On this card you can see Tarrafal, a fishing village on the Island of Santiago. It doesn't have a very happy history - Tarrafal played an important role prior to the independence of Cape Verde, of which Portuguese people feel ashamed of, as there was a "detaining camp" to which anyone in favour of the independence of any of the colonies was sent to and where many people died of disynteria and other "African diseases", which at the time were not as well controlled as nowadays.

Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975. It's located off the western coast of Africa, close to Mauritania and Senegal and has an estimated population of over 500,000. The capital of Cape Verde is Praia.



The two stamps on the right are from a set of 6 stamps issued earlier this year and depict theatre in Portugal. The top one is based on a dream which involved the lover of a Portuguese King, Inês de Castro, and the bottom one "A barca do Inferno" by a well-known Portuguese dramaturg, Gil Vicente. The stamp on the left is made from a photo taken by Iolanda.