One young Bijagos girl challenged me to don such a skirt. To general amusement but Gérard’s embarrassment, I substituted my shorts with the minuscule frill. Although I was wearing a bikini considered prudish by Brazilian standards, the virtually naked women were amazed at the sight of so much white flesh. Willing hands helped to tie the skirt. Their excited chattering built up to a puzzling crescendo, until another frill was produced to hide my bottom peeping shamelessly below the hemline of the first.
The headman, a wizened gentleman with few teeth and grisly grey hair, led us to a sacred hut built of palm fronts, completely enclosed on all sides like a chicken coop. Chanting ceremoniously, he smeared greasy black paste between the big toes of our right feet. Alberto explained that this was a blessing for “muita comida”, plenty of food. This coming from a people whose lives centred on the daily struggle to provide sufficient food, it was a wish that we would never go hungry, equivalent to a blessing for the greatest riches.
From the book Freedom of the Skies
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Glimpses of the journey:
- Around the world
- Crossing the Atlantic
- Saint Louis, Senegal
- Bubaque, Guiné-Bissau
- Timbuktu, Mali
- Cottar’s Camp, Kenya
- Virungas National Park, Congo
- Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe
- Sossusvlei, Namibia
- Lumbo, Mozambique
- Antananarivo Madagascar
- Adis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Misfat, Oman
- Jaipur, India
- Himalaia, Nepal
- Mae Hong Son, Thailand
- Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia
- Borobodur, Java, Indonesia
- Baliem Valley, Irian Jaya
- Gimbat, Australia
- Munda, New Georgia, Solomon Islands
- Hurricane in Apia, Western Samoa
- Anaa, Tuamotu, Polynesia
- Easter Island, Chile
- Crossing the Andes, Chile-Argentina
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
