We drove from Sao Filipe up the mountain toward Pico do Fogo, or Peak of Fire. It's an active stratovolcano with a peak that is 9,281 feet above sea level. The drive up was more interesting than I thought it would be. Practically the whole island of Fogo is part of the stratovolcano. It was another windy drive but well worth it.

The first part of our drive was more interesting than I was expecting. You can see a glimpse of that drive below. It was obviously hilly but greener than I expected it to be.

But then we would dip into lower elevations and find ourselves in the midst of agricultural areas. Agriculture and fishing are the main industries on Fogo. I found the agriculture to be very much to my liking. You can see some papaya and banana orchards below. They grow lots of fruits and vegetables and are the only island in Cape Verde to grow coffee and have vineyards and wineries. We also saw mangoes, figs, gooseberries, corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, and Congo beans. We saw cattle and goats and our local guide said that cows milk is for butter and goats milk is for cheese.

Back out in the open country, we passed small villages like below. I was not sure about their economics as I couldn't see much agriculture next to the villages and they were a long drive from the sea.

As we progressed up the mountain, the geologic outcroppings grew more dramatic, as you can see in the next two photos. Plus, if the Sahara sand was not still with us, you would be looking at the ocean just beyond the land below. You can also see a small portion of the winding road in the lower right corner.

The last photo is just one I took to show the steepness of the hills that we were driving.