It was a Sunday, no buses run in or out of Lonnoc. The plan was to do a bit of snorkelling as it costs nothing. Heika (a German we met) however had arranged someone with a 4x4 to go over to Matantas and wanted to go with someone else.

So we piled into the back of a pickup truck along with a couple of mad locals (complete with machetties) and headed west for the day. It seemed that the locals were just out on a jolly.

Matantas is as far as you can go by road on this island. It had a very long black sand beach heading west and a white sand beach heading east. Lots of local women were washing the clothes in the river so I went over to say hello and possibly get some photos. There was a wonderful scene where they were introducing a baby to a flightless bird they found. Whilst all this was going on the village chief came over to have a chat, it is so good being able to meet these people in such a way.

I went over to some locals with a boat, as it happened they were from the very west of santo and asked if I wanted to go over. I was reading about this area, it has meter tall people that use their very long hair as a screen to observe but not been seen by outsiders. However we did not have enough time on the visa, so this opportunity and another offer (at Oyster island) of sailing up to the Banks islands and beyond for 20 dollars a day were missed.

On the way back we went to another beatiful beach at Port Olry and another blue hole. This time I had my snorkelling gear with me so was able to see the fish and the surreal blue to full effect.

Back at Lonnoc a plan was formulated to go to the village to watch the football . For 60p we got a seat on a wooden bench with dozens of locals. The locals sat in silence whilst goals were scored but as soon as anyone was injurred they howled with laughter.