São Tomé & Principe: São Tomé

Monday, March 27, São Tomé, São Tomé & Principe

Our ship was anchored and we took the tender in to the port at São Tomé  from the ship.  They had a shuttle bus into the center of town and we took it. Getting off the shuttle, Charlie asked the driver about a post office, and he offered to drop us there on his way back to the ship. The post office had a good supply of São Tomé postcards, so we bought a few and mailed them. The women at the post office were a big help despite language barriers. 

The tender driver taking us safely to shore

Me at the post office.

We started walking along the waterfront looking for a coffee shop with wi-fi and found one not too far away (thank you Google maps). They had pizza so we ordered one for lunch and started a conversation with a man named Ahmed who spoke English and had some connection with the pizza place. He recommended a forest/waterfall (Sao Nicolas Waterfall) trip for us and offered to help us get a taxi driver.

Charlie & Ahmed

We went next door with him, and it turned out to be a bakery he owned (he sold pizza dough to the cafe). He dispatched one of his employees to lead us to the taxi spot, and connect us with a driver. Ahmed then (by phone) helped negotiate a price with the driver, and told us how to handle it, and not to show our money. 

Taxi square

On our way out of town

Our driver spoke little English but we got along with some Spanish. It was hot and no AC but with the windows down we were very comfortable, especially as we rose steeply up the hillside.

He seemed to know a lot of people along the way, and early on stopped to get gas. This was one of the weirdest gas purchases I’ve seen. He stopped at a roadside vendor, and they brought out gasoline in a glass one-gallon jug, stuck a long-necked funnel into the gas tank, and poured the gasoline in! We later saw other rural “gas stations” which consisted of a house with a sign “Have Gas.” 

It was interesting to get out of the city to the rural areas. Lots of people walking their kids home from school and kids making their own way. Lush greenery and flowers everywhere. 

Once we got further along, the road deteriorated into a gravel/dirt road. It had obviously rained earlier, and there were puddles and ruts. We later talked to people who took the ship tour to this waterfall, and it was pouring rain when they were there. They couldn’t get out of the bus. Sometimes it pays to sleep in!

We encountered many children walking along the road, and there were young boys who had picked berries, put them in a cone made from a leaf, and were trying to sell them. We got some, paying with some random U.S. coins.

The waterfall was and running strong, almost deafeningly loud after the morning’s rain. Charlie climbed to the bottom and got cooled off by the spray. The surrounding area was lush and beautiful. Families and children walked the dirt road beyond the waterfall to their residential area beyond. The road was not good enough for the taxi to continue and we didn’t have time to walk it, but we wondered how they managed in such a remote area. Only a couple of cars came by. Two impish boys were very interested in my waist pack and the small bag I was carrying. I ended up giving them each a pen.

Climbing down

Charlie & our driver climbed down. You can  see a collapsed suspension bridge on the bottom.

On our way back, our driver took us up a side road by an abandoned resort. It looked like it had been a good one. There were also houses nearby, some pretty good, some shacks. All were making the best of their situations.

Boarded up resort

Another side trip was to a coffee plantation, complete with museum. The museum didn’t take US dollars, and we didn’t have local currency so we weren’t able to enter the museum, but Charlie snuck some photos of large coffee processing machinery through some open windows and doors.

Coffee plantation

We had the driver drop us at the port area, and arrived at the same time as a couple of returning tour buses. We had been on our own rather than on a ship tour so potentially we could have held up the ship’s departure! So far that hasn’t happened and fingers crossed our luck continues.

Scamps

Last photo with driver

Coming off the mountain into town, our ship in the background.