So this blog is just catching everyone up on the events of this weekend and Monday. Friday Judy, Chika, Danielle, Mike and myself all took a taxi to a plantation near the northern tip of the island. This plantation used to be a large cocoa plantation and still produces some today. ( a couple of tons a week) At one point the Portuguese had developed Sao Tome as the primary cocoa exporter in the world. Today it represents a larger percentage of the exports than all others combined. Our taxi driver showed us around the plantation which had one of the largest and best hospital in West Africa. We walked around the hospital complex which was nearly abandoned and stripped of any valuable wiring and flooring. (see photo).
This area was also where the kids played with their home designed racing cars (see photo). There was a slight incline so they would race their cars down the slope. Its really amazing to see what children can come up with when they have limited resources. The plantation factory for drying and producing the cocoa beans was much more modern and engineered than I expected. After visiting the plantation we took our driver and another guy who joined us on the tour for lunch at a local resturant where we had red fish and rice. :)
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