After spending two weeks in São Tomé here are my thoughts:
First time in sub-Saharan Africa!
1. It was probably the country I have felt safest in of the ~35 I have set foot in... of course a lot of poverty and certainly strange to be walking down dirt roads and people living in wooden houses with no windows they had built themselves... and everyone having machetes! But I dunno... people were just so relaxed.
Now, it apparently is the African nation with the lowest crime rate! And the homicide rate is less than half of the USA... but yeh...
2. People were some of the friendliest and most helpful I have ever came across. Now, probably helps that my girlfriend is a fluent Portuguese speaker... and people were even nicer to her/us when they found out she was half Moroccan... but yeh... EVERYONE says hello, good day... and if have any trouble (for example car got stuck twice!) instantly people come to help.
3. Very few people were "pushy" when came to trying to get you to buy things... and virtually no begging despite the poverty. If you said "no" then 95% of people were like "Okay then"... and only came across one beggar in entire two weeks, and she seemed like a tweaker or similar and was harassing everyone, locals, us, taxi drivers etc.
4. It was the most beautiful country I have been to... it has virtually no tourists (top 10 least visited on earth) and no idea how. Right on the equator with jungle, infinite sandy beaches, mangroves and a climate that is basically between 80 and 90 every day of the year... and honestly, two days in a row had one of the most beautiful beaches have ever seen (Praia Jalé) totally to ourselves.
5. The food was generally very good. They have an incredible array of fruit and veg that grow and use them well... basically 90% of the meat is fish and octopus. Had Sailfish, Baraccuda and Flying fish there for first time ever... and the best octopus had ever eaten. The chicken was generally excellent too... but the show stoppers were things like their Bread Fruit, sweet potato, manioc, Cocoyam, Banana Pao... they fried a lot of them potato style and tbh better than any potato chips get in the West. Their spicy sauces were great too... also, they have this coconut rice that is unreal. Their local beer, Rosema, is also very solid.
6. I dont like coffee... but had some of their Catura Arabica there from a cooperative called O Monte... and jesus... the first coffee in my life I have liked. Unreal flavour.
7. Had the pleasure of having the best chocolate had ever eaten in my life, Claudio Corallo, also got to meet him on a tour and he explained a lot about chocolate.
8. Got to see a sea turtle laying its eggs... which was pretty f***ing cool.
9. The roads in the south of the country were horrific but after a day was very fun pretending to be a rally driver.
10. Crossed the equator for the first time... on a boat... driven by the guy who basically originated surf culture in the country, this guy Shun who has been featured in a few documentaries! And who was lovely.
11. Made some friends there and will definitely be going back!
