I have a cousin…

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walking around Talho on the hills outside Ribeira Brava (Sao Nicolau, Cape Verde) me and my travel companion started to chat with a guy who was busy painting a garage door.
This is what you do in these parts of the world, anything else would be rude. So we talked for a while with this sympathetic and somewhat shy man with the name Avelino.
When he heard that we where Swedes he commented “Eu tenho un primo na Suécia”  I have a cousin in Sweden…. he is a football player..
Okey… ??

Yeah his name is Henrik,  Henrik..Larsson.
What are the odds?? I thought!
For those who are not football aficionados I can informe you that Henrik Larsson made his last match for the Swedish national team 2009. He has played for various international clubs among them FC Barcelona 2004-2006..
It seems that Henrik got his name after Avelinos father Henrique. We kept talking with the modest painter for a while. He was following the ongoing world cup in Brasil of course, as everybody else these days, but did not normally play himself,  he was more of a jogger!

when we left I could not help myself thinking once again.. what are the odds!!?

Thanks to Liv Grethe I can show a family picture as well.. Henriks father, Francisco Rocha,  is supposedly the “boss” in the middle!

Mighty echoes

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The sound of drums echoing on top of the Caramujo mountain on Sao Nicolau Island in Cape Verde. Once a year the locals from Ribeira Brava area climb the mountain to honour the spirit.
Eating, drinking, dancing and playing the drums is on the menu!!   June 8

Conquering the big one

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Helge “Santosueco” climbing towards the top of Monte Gordo. To the right in the image you see Faja in the distance, the garden village of Sao Nicolau.

June 17. Cape Verde.