The story goes that in the hills behind the church of Westpunt there was a house that was used by military personnel during the Second World War maybe for storing weapons or ammunition. The strangest stories are told; there should be cannons, guns and shells in these hills. More than enough reason to investigate this. And because one of the people who would know more about this is at Wacao, we make a first stop there.
Unfortunately this person doesn't remember where it was, so we decide to start our investigation in the hills immediately behind the church of Wespunt. This church has been built in 1854, but, looking at an old picture (Soublette; click on the picture to see the older picture in a new window) and the current state of this church, apparently this church has been rebuilt more recently. The two buildings are completely different.
Next to the church there is a dirtroad that leads in the direction of the hills. There is a small nameless hill directly behind the church and a bit further there is the Seru Belefá with a height of close to 60 meters. Soon we have to leave the dirt road and enter a dense vegetation to get to the first hill. Soon we all have several scratches from the Palu di Lele and also spines from the Prickly pear in arm or leg. The route uphill is not easy because the underground is not very stable and the dense vegetation is not helping. Arrived at the top of this first hill we have a nice view but no way to go on to the second hill. So we return along the path that we made and walk around the first hill to reach the second. But first we take a long rest in an abandoned and not completed house.From the house there is a path that leads to the foot of the second hill. There the story repeats itself: loose rocks and lots of spiny vegetation; but we all make it to the top. In the surrounding area there are several abandoned houses. A pity because this would have been a nice place to live so close to the shore provided the dense vegetation would have been removed. Apparently there have been disagreements about who owns the property or the families couldn't live together and so everyone left leaving everything behind. Now nature is taking everything back.
We descend along another side of the Seru Belefá and reach a dry riverbed (Roi). We take another rest and then continue back to the road. There we inspect several foundations. We find a large pile of stones of which some have plaster on them. This plaster looks like WW-2 plaster that we have seen at other WW-2 ruins. There is no definite clue if this has been a building at this location or if this is the result of clearing some area with a bulldozer and dumping everything here. All in all no clear signs of a WW-2 building in this area.
On the way back home I make a stop to show Allan and Hetty the remnants of what we think was a small asphalt factory in the Second World War. It is a double concrete bin with lots of tar on the outside. Maybe a heating device was placed in the bins to heat the asphalt that was put in a container on top of the structure.
The track in blue shows where we walked in this area
A pilar in the fence along the street at Wacao
A bee on a Passion flower
Incoming! A second bee wants to get honey from this flower
Apparently there is room for two
The church of Westpunt seen from the street
View on Playa Piskadó; the fishermen's bay at Westpunt
Every boat needs a name
A sign of habitation in this area
Prickly pear and Palu di Lele make it difficult
An artifact from a long gone era - the dinosaur period
Kaka di pushi - cat's droppings is the name of this cactus
The church of Westpunt seen from the first hill behind the church
This is the Seru Belefá - in the area several abandoned houses
Green moss on a stone
The first abandoned house - the bathroom
Window with a view on nature
Allan, François (sitting), Eddy (sitting on a chair) and Fred
A field of Aloe
Another abandoned house; two toilets
Apparently left in a hurry; the cement sacs became concrete in the rain
Expensive toilets
Happy hikers, Hetty and Carel
A plant with tiny blue/purple flowers
Moss on the rocks
A bee nest in a termite nest
View on the surrounding hills from the top of the Seru Belefá
The church of Westpunt from the top of the Seru Belefá
Eddy, Hetty and Dirk
Well-camouflaged Allan
Time for another rest in the rooi (riverbed)
Pile of stones, some with (WW2) plaster
This looks like WW2 plaster
A profile in the concrete
The asphalt factory seen from the road
The asphalt factory seen from the back
Two large concrete bins
Allan takes pictures of the structure
