The seaside town of Palmeira is a ramshackle collection of buildings surrounded by dusty volcanic plains, watched over by dormant volcanic cones, its inhabitants somehow making ends meet. Palmeira offers a window into the past, a glimpse of how things were in colonial times, and how things still are for many Cape Verdeans. Saving fishing, salt mining or banana cultivation not much else grows here. Tourism, eco or otherwise, is where the hopes and aspirations of many people lie.