”The first thing that attracted me was the wind.” Fede says firmly. There are many reasons that attract foreigners to stay in Taitung, such as the verdant mountains, clean ocean, beautiful scenery, and warmness of the people. However, it seems that Fede was the first one who chose to stay here because of the northeast monsoons in Taitung.
Dulan Cape Café , a prestigious coffee shop which can easilty be found on the Internet, is currently run by Fede. Having short golden hair, it is difficult not to see him in the shop. “I was born in Argentina and moved to Spain when I was one year old. However, my nationality is Italian. I have been in Taitung for more than two years,” Fede says with a smile. It’s hard to tell exactly where Fede comes from. Fede only had a short stay when he visited Taitung for the first time. However, he decided to stay permanently after his subsequent three-month working exchange gig in Dulan. He speaks fluent Chinese and has managed his coffee shop well. For most of the local people, he has become a true native.
“My job is a summer job. I used to work in Spain, New Zealand, Australia, and other countries.” The experience of traveling to many countries is usually an enviable lifestyle that everyone admires. However, for Fede, it began to feel tiring after five years of work. “I don’t like over-exploited seasides. When I came to Taitung, I felt the east coast is empty. By walking along the Suhua Highway and the road against east coast from Hualien to Taitung, I rarely saw any water activities in progress. The coast is amazing so that I thought I should give it a try!” he adds. Recalling his first impression of moving to Taitung, for the first time he had a sense of belonging after working in various countries. It was then that he began to find ways to stay in Taitung.
In the beginning, Fede’s goal was not to open a café, but rather to develop water activities in Taitung. “The situation in Taiwan is that everyone loves to eat, but people are afraid of the water. They love Spanish food, but there is no one wants to participate in water activities,” he says. After a few days of observation, he came to this conclusion. Soon after, he met Feng though a friend, who gave him the inspiration to realize his dream of staying in Taitung by running a coffee shop. “Feng is a legendary person. Because of their meeting, he found out that they have a consistent business philosophy,” he says. With his assistance, Cape Café has grown from scratch to the popular coffee shop it is today. As soon as the shop opens, it is always full of people,” he jokes. In the beginning, friend were not optimistic about the fact that he wanted to open a coffee shop in its current location. They told him that most restaurants in Dulan are open on the main road, and the location of Dulan Cape Café is extremely remote. “I didn’t put out any advertisements. The first guests heard about it through friends, and listened to other people. Some also got lost on their way. Then there were bloggers, and then TV shows. The business got better and better!”
After successfully running Dulan Cape Café, Fede began planning to teach windsurfing. “Surfing has developed very well in Taitung. I hope to promote other safe water activities. I hope I can see that there are a lot of people who will take part in windsurfing in Taitung in a few years,” he says. Sailing is a healthy and pollution-free activity that will not affect marine ecology. Fede then mentions the unique northeast monsoons of Taitung. “The wind here is strong and stable. Winter and summer have different wind types. Summer is more suitable for beginners to learn surfing, windsurfing and sailing, whereas winter is suitable for people with a higher level.” Fede also reminded that the development of the tourism industry should be careful. “For example, the current problem in Barcelona is that there are too many tourists. Every day, people protest that housing prices are getting higher, traffic is chaotic, and tourists are sometimes messy and impolite. An excessive number of tourists have caused local residents to suffer!” Fede does not want Taitung to become a noisy and crowded place, but rather a city that is worth visiting again and again. As long as Taitung can continue preserving its purity and nature, more people in the future will see the beauty of Taitung.
