Our final tour in Fogo was to be a gastonomic tour. We were looking forward to munching our way through the morning in the town of Sao Filipe, so we ate the lightest of breakfasts just to tide us over until the first stop.
We were delighted to see that Monday's guide, Joselito, had been assigned to us again. But the delight turned to confusion when he started to give us the overview of they day - a walking tour of the city. We glanced at each other, realizing that what he was describing was not what we had booked, and after he finished his spiel I explained what we had been expecting.
Now it was his turn to look confused. He referenced his messages from the tour company, then read what I had copied into my itinerary. We listened him have what seemed like a slightly frustrated conversation with Qualitur. It turned out that the company had put us together with a second group, and that group had booked the city tour. Joselito assured us that we would get to experience what we had booked, but first we had to connect with the other group.
Pulling up to a local hotel, we joined a Dutch couple on the patio while Joselito gave an overview of the area's history to prepare us for our walk. Most of which we had heard on Monday. And through it all, a man was using a leaf blower to tidy the patio of the restaurant next door, making a racket and blowing dust and twigs at us. Not off to a great start.
At last the walking tour began, and we wandered out onto the piazza to view the dividing wall between the lower town - originally the domain of the slaves - and the upper town with its colonial buildings.
Heading to the upper town first, we were introduced to some of the town's key landmarks while Joselito continued to share tidbits of historical and cultural interest.
We were now some time into our walk and we were growing hungry. We didn't begrudge the other group their tour, and we knew Joselito would do his best for us, but this was not what we had arranged. As we looked over the water to Brava Island, I asked when the food tasting portion of the tour would begin. He assured me that the market was coming up soon. And, after a whirlwind walk through the municipal museum, he hurried us down the street to the mercado.
Joselito had a quick, quiet conversation with a vendor to make arrangements, and then gathered some fruit and cheese for us all to sample. First he explained how the famous Fogo goat cheese is prepared, and sliced up a round for everyone to try. We had already discovered this creamy and salty cheese - similar in texture to burrata - and it was gobbled down hungrily. Next was papaya, and I managed to give Joselito another panic attack when I lifted it to my mouth to eat. I still don't really know what the problem was, but he shouted "CAREFUL!" and said something about the skin and something that would grow on my mouth. We think that he was concerned about a chemical spray or bacteria on the rind. Then we had bananas - the small Cabo Verde variety that are the best I've every tasted - both sweeter and tangier than the ones we get at home. We enjoyed peanuts in the shell, and he taught us a trick to opening them. And finally, tangy tamarind still in the pod, sticky and tart. The whole time, Joselito was referring back to my itinerary and making sure we got to try everything we had been promised.
With the group now somewhat sated, we continued our walk through the old town which ended at a local coffee shop -
Djar Fogo. At this point the other group started to be concerned about making their connection for their next tour - a wine tasting - but joined us for a quick cup of hot coffee before hurrying off.
With only the three of us left, Joselito could now focus on getting us the rest of the promised delights. The famous cheese tarts of a local bakery, a traditional lunch at Sao Filipe's best restaurant, and local wine.
Wandering past the beautiful blue church we arrived at the renowned
Padaria Maria Augusta - only to discover that our timing was off. The promised dessert hadn't been baked yet. Joselito quickly ordered some cookies for us to sample, and suggested we have lunch and then come back for the tarts later.
Tropical Club had a great vibe, and our lunch was quite delicious although decidedly untraditional as it was prepared without the usual meat for our vegetarian trio. Joselito had also hoped to get us the promised wine, but when he made a call into the tour company he was told we'd already had our wine tour. While true, we had booked and paid for that separately. His hands were tied, so we made do with water.
While we enjoyed our meal, our driver quietly slipped away and returned with the famous cheese tarts, still hot from the bakery oven.
The tour had not gone as expected, but we were thankful to have had Joselito as our guide. He did everything in his power to make sure we got all of the elements of the tour we'd booked despite the awkward situation with two different tour groups getting mashed together.We bid him a fond farewell on reaching La Fora.
After readying ourselves for the next day's departure, we settled in to watch the sun set on our last full day on the island.
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