Fundo das Figueiras Things to Do

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During a tour of Boa Vista island in May 2011, we visited the cluster of three villages in the north east of the island, one of which is Fundo das Figueiras.

Our guidebook stated that these villages were located in the greenest part of the island, in an area known as "The Garden of Boa Vista". They didn't appear to be particularly green, but compared to the rest of the island (which consists of sandy beaches and a rocky, dusty interior) there was certainly more plant life here than elsewhere. There were trees lining some of the streets and bright pink and red bougainvillea on the front of many of the homes.

We arrived at Fundo das Figueiras, the largest and most active of the three villages, a few minutes after passing through Cabeça dos Tarafes. Compared to the road that we had travelled along up until this point, the road from Cabeça dos Tarafes into Fundo das Figueiras and onto João Galego was of a much better standard. It wasn't a tarmac road, but at least it was a clearly defined, if somewhat cobbled, road. You could easily drive between the villages in a standard car (i.e. not an off-road vehicle) and that is more than can be said for much of the rest of the island!

I believe that the village also goes by the name of "Norte" (or maybe this is a collective term for all 3 villages), as this name appears on some maps of Boa Vista island.

We stopped for a short while in Fundo das Figueiras and had a walk around the village. The main street was lined with a handful of trees and a lady was sitting under the shade of one of them selling fruit and vegetables. We passed a school, a couple of bars/restaurants and rows of pretty houses painted in pastel colours and boasting colourful flowers outside. Dogs and chickens roamed the cobbled side streets and a few locals could be seen sitting in the shaded areas at the side of the road. We ended our visit with a brief look inside the village's impressive church.

The village was far from busy, but was clearly the centre of activity as far as these three villages are concerned. The satellite map on www.boavistaexperience.com highlights several of the buildings, including a handful of bars/restaurants, two schools, the church, a post office and a clinic.