Abraham, in the blue shorts, joins in and helps haul a canoe up the beach. A small section of one of Varela’s beaches is a base for fishing canoes. We went down one afternoon to discover the canoes coming in with the day’s catch.

People looking to see what the catch is.

We chatted with a guy named Bernardo while people haggled over the price of the day’s catch. Bernardo lived in the capital, Bissau, and bought fish in Varela to take back and sell there (which is several hours away — we couldn’t figure out the logistics of it). He migrated to Bissau from the interior of the country to find work, but discovered that he was not alone — unemployment is very high in GB, and Bissau does not have many opportunities to offer. Interestingly, all but three of Varela’s fishermen are actually Senegalese who come across the border and fish Varela’s waters in the dry season. Bernard told us that, unlike Senegal and despite the unemployment, very few people in GB fish for a living.

The day’s catch: small sharks salted and on the drying rack.

The future fishermen of Varela.