Cape Verde stands for Morabeza. A word that you regularly encounter. What does it mean? Morabeza is the Cape Verdean Creole word used to express Cape Verdean hospitality. It is the friendliness, casual and relaxed behavior of the Cape Verdean population and its culture. It is a unique mentality that lies in the heart of the Cape Verdeans and that they also cherish. Morabeza says a lot about the Cape Verde islands and the inhabitants. It is a word that cannot be explained, it is a special feeling.
Morabeza is spontaneous hospitality and a smile. For example, greeting people in the street is very common, especially in places where there are fewer tourists. Do not be surprised if Cape Verdeans simply offer you a drink, a grogue or some fresh fruit. Cape Verdeans will never force themselves on tourists. This is in contrast to a group of people from the mainland of Africa who, for example, try to sell souvenirs fanatically.
Helen Vicente says
Unfortunately this is not accurate, whilst in the resorts the staff are the nicest, kindest most cheerful people you’d hope to meet with. I wanted to spend some money in the local community so independently visited Sal Rei and the East of the island where we were constantly hassled. Either, people shouted to us to buy something, walked around with us or taxi drivers called out over and over again. It wasn’t “No Stress”…I just wanted to be left alone. Also, I’m used to knowing the price of something before I buy it, but from a restaurant in the east to the Sal Rei municipal market people would not tell us the price until we felt compromised to buy. This has been the only aspect of my holiday on Cape Verde I have not enjoyed.
CapeVerdeIslands.org says
Hello Helen,
Thank you for sharing your experience. On tourstic islands like Sal you have many people from the African mainland trying to make some money on the Cape Verde Islands. Most of them are Senegalese street vendors and are quite persistent in wanting to sell something. In the Cape Verdean culture this is not acceptated. So these are not locals.
Best regards,
Team CapeVerdeIslands.org