The
island of São Tomé
(St. Thomas is the English translation) lies south of Nigeria and is situated
in the equatorial Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea about 190 miles off the northwest
coast of Gabon. It is considered to be
part of West Africa. The Portuguese came to the island of São Tomé about 1470 in search of land to grow sugar cane. Before that, the island was uninhabited.
The
equator runs through the southern tip of São Tomé, and the island is wet enough to grow sugar cane
in wild abundance. Its proximity to the
African Kingdom of Kongo provided an eventual source of slave labor to work the
sugar cane plantations. Principe is a
small island nearby, which was also part of the Portuguese colony until 1975,
when São Tomé
and Principe became a sovereign nation, with the city of São Tomé as its
capital.
Our 3.5-hour tour was “Highlights of
São Tomé.” Although there were other
busses taking people on this same excursion, our bus had only seven people from
the ship – which was great for us because we could receive a more personalized
tour. (Later, we wondered why our group
was so small. The seven of us might have
been the last signed up for this tour to arrive at the meeting place because,
by the time we realized that 8:00 might be our meeting time, it was already a
little after that! Therefore, we might
have been in the “overflow” group, assigned to a bus with no air
conditioning. Yes, it was hot on the
bus, but we wouldn’t have traded A/C for the small number of people in our tour
group!)
Our guide was Jorge (George in English).
Besides us, bus passengers were Catherine & George (from Scotland,
but they had lived many years in Tasmania, Australia before retiring and returning
to Scotland); a couple from Belgium (who agreed with Sally that Belgian food is
better than French food); and Natalie (a young lady from Poland who works in
the Insignia spa as a masseuse).
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| Sally with Giant Sea Tortoise |
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| At Museum with Insignia in the Background |
After
leaving the dancers, our bus drove farther, where children and young people
were collecting shellfish among the black volcanic rocks along the beach. Canoes (small fishing boats) were pulled up
on the beach. The houses in that area
were small shanties.
At
that point, our bus turned around and returned to the city, where we went
inside Our Lady of Grace Cathedral.
Jorge told us that this, the Cathedral of São Tomé Church (which it is
also called), took about 400 years to build, being started in 1576 and finished
in 1958. [Wikipedia states that the
original building probably dates from the fifteenth century; between 1576 and
1578, it was renovated; in 1757 the seat of the diocese moved to the island of
Principe, where it remained for decades; in 1784 it was in poor condition with
the front part in ruins; in 1814 it was restored again; in 1956 the last
modification was made, which significantly altered the main façade.] Although we drove by other churches, we went
inside only the cathedral, which is quite pretty. It was also relatively cool inside because of
the very high ceiling, but there were fans on the wall when it was crowded with
people for Mass.
Very
soon we stepped off the bus again at a city park, where a performance was in
progress. By the different type of
clothing, we saw immediately that this was much different from the dances we’d
been seeing with colorful costumes and enthusiastic dancers. Ten people were lined up, and an eleventh was
playing the flute. In the back was a
drummer. Both the tune and movements of
the dancers were melancholy. Most dancers
were dressed in European style, with most men in suits. One woman, dressed in a long, white dress
with a white veil was obviously impersonating a bride. The “groom” was wearing a white suit and a
captain’s hat. One man appeared to be a
priest, and the others might have been attendants. Afterward, Sally asked Jorge what the
performance was about. Jorge replied
that it was a tragedy, about a man who killed his uncle because he was in love
with his uncle’s wife. We watched for
about 10 minutes until it ended.
At http://www.saotomeislands.com/ Sally found a more detailed description: This play, the “Tragedy of the Marquis of
Mantua and the Emperor Charlemagne,” is a tchilôli and was written by Baltazar
Dias, a blind sixteenth-century Madeiran poet.
A tchilôli is a “hybrid” theater; it “retains the complete Portuguese
Renaissance text, the original characters and the unities, but it adds many
elements of African origin: the music, the choreography, the costumes, the
musical instruments, the dances, the many mimed scenes and the pantomime.” The play tells us how the Marquis discovers
that his nephew has been stabbed to death, and how Prince Charlemagne, who is
guilty of this crime, is condemned. Although
the entire “Tragedy” lasts for six hours, shorter versions last between one and
three hours.
After our bus traveled a
short way further, we walked through the large city market, which was partly in
the open and partly under a roof. Most
items for sale were vegetables, but also we saw dried fish and other items. Jesse asked Jorge how to say “hello” there,
and he suggested “bon dia.” After that,
Jesse had a great time greeting the people, and several of them gave him a
“thumbs up.”
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| Sally with Jackfruit |
Our
bus took us even a little further to a small shop, where we saw very nice
carved statues and other things.
Probably Jorge thought one of us might like to spend more time shopping;
if we had a larger group, at least one shopper might have spent more time in
that store. However, although we had
finished 15 minutes early, at this point we had accomplished everything our
tour was supposed to include. Then Jorge
asked if anyone would like to see anything else. The Belgian couple asked if they could return
to the market we had visited earlier, but to walk on the second floor
there. (We never knew their reason for
this.) However, we didn’t mind staying
on the bus and talking with the couple from Scotland.
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| Dinner in the Tuscana Italian Restaurant |
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