What’s going on? A fight?

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Day break

The sky had lightened just a touch but the commotion is already peaking.

Loud voices of women arguing and shouting at the top of their lungs, and men answering back loudly. Some outboard motors running. Seagulls or some sort of sea birds are screaming too, invisible.

Market fish as an artwork

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No.
There's no fighting going on.
All is cool.
Everything’s all right.

It’s the daily ritual, or rather a kind of struggle for survival, for a better life. A daily struggle. But it is just loud. No one is angry or upset. On the contrary. Cap Verdians love to laugh, dance, sing and play music. It's just the way things are done here at dawn behind the the fish market.

These sounds, waking me up each morning, are the sounds of fishermen returning from sea with their catch. They dock silently, exhausted after a night of hunting the high seas for fish. Their small, open pirogue boats loaded with fish, are now clustered around the dock head, behind the fish market in Mindelo, Cape Verde, a group of islands off the west African coast.

Fresh Atlantic ocean fish

Here on the very rough concrete dock, the fish market sellers await the fishermen, ready for a new day of business. And they, the sellers, soften down the hard dock with very loud voices.

Clean and waiting for a buyer. Cape Verde fish market

Most of the sellers in the fish market are women. Strong looking women. Hardened by years of fish market haggling, made shrewd by decades of bargaining, indifferent to the slime, smell, flies and heat.

Sellers at the Mindelo fish market

When the catch arrives at dawn they have just a few minutes to identify which boats carry the most prized fish, those that will bring the highest price per kilogram. And they have to get a good purchase price from the fishermen. It is all done in shouting, indiscernible Portugueese in a Cape Verde dialect. The people at the dock understand the conversation very well though.

Slicing up fresh tuna, Mindelo fish market

Tuna, Mahi Mahi, shrimp and some other delicious fresh fish - are the most sought after. Within 10-15 minutes it is all over. The fishermen pirogues are empty, the baskets in the women’s hands are full. Some money exchanged hands, and the day begins.

Fish on the way to the cleaning table. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

The fish market stalls are filled with ice and the fresh catch dropped on top. It is hot in the covered market but everyone is used to it. A long and narrow work table is along the far end of the market.

The fish cleaning and slicing table. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

Here, men in plastic aprons use empty tuna cans - perforated at the bottom by a sharp chisel - to scale the fish, then gut them with a single motion, and slice them to the buyer’s preference.

The colors are amazing in Mindelo

The lady fish sellers don’t do that. Fish cleaning is reserved for the men at the table. You buy the fish and walk over to the table where one of the guys, his arms covered with sticky scales of all colors and sizes, will silently take the fish from you and clean it for a dollar. Bring your own carry bags or boxes. They have none.

The local cat waits patiently. He'll get his fatty tuna soon enough

By noon the stalls are nearly empty. What’s left is the common stuff and it’s starting to go off in the heat of the market.

By noontime most of the top catch is gone. Mindelo fish market, Cape Verde

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Fish market entrance. On the other side is the dock. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

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Next door is the vegetable market. It is way more orderly, clean and quiet than the fish market.

Fresh produce market. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

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Here too, women rule. Neatly arranged fresh produce top the stalls arranged on both sides of the aisles.

Most of the fresh produce is grown locally in small scale family farms, Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

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The bright colors and fresh scents are a pleasure. Here you get your fresh salad to accompany the fresh fish.

The selection is limited but the produce at hand are delicious and fresh

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Very sweet peas, out of the casing, courtesy of this kind seller. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

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Local herbs. I brew delicious teas with these. Test them on dishes. Natural enhancers. Herbal folk medicine. Mindelo market, Cape Verde islands

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The old produce market. Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

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Cape Verde tomatoes

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The old town center. Bus stops, markets, a large open square and much movement. Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands

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The bay in Mindelo, Cape Verde

It’s evening now and the sun is about to leave us. Now she is washing the crowded hills above Mindelo with fine light.

Golden hour in Mindelo, Cape Verde islands

There are kids playing in tiny self made playgrounds. Youngsters hang out on the entrance to their family home. Older people stare ahead from their balconies. Some music playing from somewhere, Cesaria Evora.

The amazing Cesaria Evora, Cape Verde singer of international renown

The wind is blowing dry and hot, spitting the heat of the parched hills into the cool ocean

Mindelo. Cape Verde Islands

As darkness slowly takes over, the fisherman in their open pirogues are heading out again, into the ocean, their nets and lines and hooks ready to get lucky.

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