Day 38 – Spring Break!!! After my Global Studies exam this morning and our pending arrival in Mauritius tomorrow morning I can let my mind and body relax for a while and enjoy our villa and the warm Mauritian sun for the week! It should be a great time and I’m looking forward to getting a villa with Robyn, Kate, Kait, Grant, Kyle, Collin, and Aaron.
Day 39, 40, 41, and 42 – Mauritius was a very lush tropical island nation that reminded me very much of Hawaii even down to the presence of Mina birds which I had thought occurred only in Hawaii. Mauritius is an interesting blend of French, British, Creole, and Indian culture.
On the first day I went on an orientation of the city of Port Luis where we saw cathedrals, pasodas, mosques, Hindu temples, colonial buildings and the Champ de Mars, a horse racing track that is the oldest in the Southern hemisphere and was originally used for French military drill. The island boasts jagged green mountains accented by the 2661 foot tall peak of Le Pouce. Le Pouce looks as though it is ready to topple over at any second but has somehow managed to remain standing over the years. We also went to the Pamplemousses Garden where we stopped at the Sir Seewoo Sagur Ramgoolam botanical gardens and saw a huge array of different plants like water lilies and a spice garden. We also saw the Aldabras Giant Tortoise, which is one of the world’s largest (roughly the size of a small end table). Though because it was the heat of the day they were all sleeping and the most thrilling thing that happened was one shifted a leg.
Afterwards Kate, Kait, Robyn, Kirsten, Sara, and I spend the rest of the day exploring Port Luis and found a place called the Sunset Café that had absolutely amazing ice cream!
That night I made my way down to the west coast of the island to a place called Flic En Flac which is largely a tourist dominated region populated by villas and small hotels. Also stray dogs… lots of stray dogs… I stayed at Meghan and Kayleigh’s villa and a big group of us hung out and did what college students do late into the night.
The next day I stayed at a villa that was part of the Klondike hotel which was absolutely gorgeous! We had free glass bottom boat and snorkeling rides, an open air dining room that served us buffet style breakfast and dinner, and an infinity pool overlooking a beach with scattered lava rocks. Our villa had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a living area with two more beds and a kitchen. It was just enough space for the 8 of us.
For lunch, Kyle, Grant, Aaron and I found a hole in the wall restaurant where I had some excellent Creole style fried rice. We then headed to a supermarket to stock up for the evening’s festivities. We had a great time at our villa and went through a considerable amount of Phoenix (The Mauritian national beer). We also got some snorkeling and of course sun bathing in during the day. On the first night at our villa we also went out to a bar called Shooters which was populated entirely by SASers. I even managed to bring myself to dance with a few people so I made some serious improvements of my dance skillz ;)
The people I met in Mauritius were extremely friendly. I met a originally from Mauritius, but now living in France. She said never in all her travels around the world had she ever seen a bunch of youths with laptops as we were doing in Port Luis on our last day when someone discovered free internet there. We also talked a bit about politics around the world including the upcoming elections in South Africa and also talked about globalization. She was also very flattering to me and said I was handsome and that if I were a bit older that she would’ve wanted me to meet her daughter. This remark was very unexpected but I enjoyed the compliment.
A few hours and one last ice cream at Sunset Café later we were back on the ship getting set to sail to India!
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