Santa Maria beach, Sal by Henryk Kotowski (Wikipedia)

Sal (Portuguese for "salt" -- from the mines at Pedra de Lume) is an island in the archipelago of Cape Verde, and the municipality of the same name. The island is around 30 km long by 12 km wide. It's the most visited island of the archipelago due to the fact that the international airport is located on it and European package-tours are dropped off here.

The village of Santa Maria is the place where these people are housed, some 20 km from the main village of Espargos. For other travelers Espargos is probably a better base, you'll have no difficulty finding a pensão (pension) or a restaurant here. Espargos is the capital city of the island municipality of Sal and is also in the heart of the island.