(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The island of Sal is dry (and dusty in the interior), with tropical heat and a steady daytime temperatures that don’t fluctuate much from about 32-33 C (90-92 F) year round… it’s even a balmy 25-27 C (77-80 F) at night which to me seems ideal for growing many crops, expect for the one not so small issue on this island: lack of good soil and fresh water.
There are very few vegetables here, apart from a small amount of salad greens, tomatoes and cucumber, and of course since they ae brough in from other greener islands in the group, they are all (relatively) expensive.
However, the sea is full of fish and no matter how rich or poor you are here, local catch their own daily since everything else on the protein menu is limited and expensive.
As a tourist here, a liking for fish is a must because it’s pretty much the only thing on the menu, no matter what restaurant you go to. The one time Kiwi Best Friend found and ordered beef, it was served cooked to a shoe leather consistency and wasn’t particularly edible.
It stands to reason that if the locals are used to cooking something that they eat every day themselves, then they tend to make a great job of cooking it for visitors too. With the price and scarcity of beef, lamb and chicken, I think it would be reasonable to wonder how many people here have ever tasted it at all.
We enjoy walking, and so it’s no surpise that we see evidance of fish and fishing everywhere we go…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
.. and this little sweetie has nothing to do with fish or fishing, her mother stopped me and asked if I would take a photo of her daughter, and she was such a cutie I couldn’t say no. Of course our trip was made four years ago now… She will look a lot different by now.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
