Mauritius

3-4-08
The second day in Mauritius, we hit up a beautiful beach. Our taxi driver told us it was the best beach around, and I could see why. There wasn’t much else around, however, and we had hoped to find somewhere to rent snorkeling equipment. After a few hours of laying out, we were ready for lunch. I was totally up for going to another, bigger beach at Grand Baie where there were tons of shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, Amanda wanted to get out of the sun and Kate was tired of walking. If it hadn’t been so difficult to just catch one taxi out of the remote beach area, I probably would have taken my own cab to the other beach. We headed back to the ship, but because I knew we were going out later that night (which was supposed to be only a few hours after we got back) I didn’t take the long walk into the Waterfront alone. Well, I did get my chance to go to Grand Baie. We went that evening (but not til 7ish, much later than anticipated) to hang out with some of Amanda’s friends at their villa (the beach houses everyone rents) and get some dinner. We went to a good Indian place for chicken curry and then a local bar called Stardust. Amanda, Kate and Meghan decided to stay the night at the Villa, but I wanted to head back since I had my service visit early the next morning. Luckily, there were two other girls who had come along (who I also knew from my Igaucu Falls trip) who also wanted to head back. We finally were able to get a taxi back to the ship MUCH later than I had hoped for, but we did meet some really nice guys from London at the bar, who were not sketchy, did not hit us, and were just genuinely friendly.
My service visit was ten times more amazing than I could have ever hoped it would be. I have to admit that it started out pretty shaky. We went to the Gayasing Ashram Senior Citizen’s home, and I felt like I was in a zoo. We didn’t get to interact with any of the residents; we just toured the place and our guide would point to some of the residents and say: ‘Look! There’s a bedridden person!’ or ‘See, she’s mentally retarded.’ It was pretty awful. After that, however, we went to a school for disabled children, and while we didn’t get to see any of the kids we were taken to a room filled with jewelry for sale [all made and with benefits to the disabled children]. As I’m collecting jewelry in every port, this was PERFECT. The stuff they had made was beautiful and you knew it was going to a great cause. We then proceeded to the DLD Teen Hope Center in Cite La Cure, a suburb of Port Louis. In the Mauritian educational system, you have to pass an exam after elementary school in order to receive any further secondary education. You only get two chances; if you fail both times, no more school ever. This center is a non-government funded organization that provides secondary education to these children. The kids were amazing. They were all sweet and genuine. We got to talk to them and ask them questions (with a teacher translating, because they spoke French and only knew a little bit of English…though this school does teach them French, English and Math). We watched them do crafts, such as basket weaving. One girl let me do a few of the braids on hers; I wasn’t bad, but she was definitely much better and quicker than I was. I made friends with another little girl who gave me a lanyard bracelet she had made. They put on a ‘talent’ show for us. The girls all got up and sang to us. The boys played the drums. They followed it with some traditional Sega dancing, of which they proceeded to drag all of us onto the floor to dance with them. We walked down the block from the school to a beautiful mountain view and took a picture with all of the children. [Of course, when the guy took a picture with my camera, he proceeded to get everyone except me and a few other kids in it, so I will have to see if I can steal someone else’s who hopefully got me in it with my new friends.] It was so absolutely amazing and unforgettable. It was definitely the highlight of my time in Mauritius. After I returned from the service visit, I went into the Waterfront with Amanda, Meghan, and Dave (a new friend who I’ve met via Amanda and crew) for dinner. Annoyingly, the Waterfront pretty much closes down at 6pm [even on a Monday night]. We had hoped to get sushi, but the place had closed. We settled instead for Shooters, a grill and pub. I got fajitas; I know, it was nowhere close to Tex mex, but I saw Mexican food and could not resist. It wasn’t bad, really. It definitely tasted more like an Indian take on fajitas, but it was still good.
After my experience the first two days in Mauritius, while they were enjoyable, I realized that I can NOT handle not having something to do. I can’t not do something (I know, that’s a horrible double-negative), but I really can’t sit around or relax when I know I could be doing something ten times more exciting. Luckily, I was able to get onto an SAS trip for the last day. It was called Volcanic Island, so I stupidly assumed we would get to see a volcano. Well, we didn’t (there’s no volcano to really see, only craters…I don’t get it either, but I know our guide explained it to us when I wasn’t listening). We spent most of the day on a bus. At one point, when it was pouring rain, we stopped at a temple for Shiva. As it was the religious holiday MahavratShivree (the holiday commemorating Shiva’s drinking of the poisonous lake to save everyone on Earth, which is why his neck is usually painted blue in pictures [it’s where he holds the poison]), almost every Hindu family takes a pilgrimage to the Sacred Lake. Because it was so crowded, we didn’t get near the lake, but we did get to see a huge statue of Shiva. It was impressive despite the rain and freezing winds. Afterwards, we had a long drive with a few short viewpoint stops of a crater, and then a good lunch of [more, but still yummy] chicken curry at Chamaral, a nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the country. We also got to check out the 7 Layered Earth. The volcanic activity on Mauritius created this awesome phenomenon where the soil is a gorgeous blending of 7 different colors. It looked very much like a watercolor or pastel drawing. Overall, it wasn’t the greatest trip, but it was better than not doing anything. I did get to see some cool stuff, eat some cool food, and see the small, but pretty Chamarin Waterfall. It was still a good trip, and I’m glad I did it…even though our guide was so obnoxious. For the 9 hours we were on the bus, he probably spent 6 of them talking about stupid trivial facts about Mauritius. It was more than I ever wanted to know about Mauritius.
So to sum it up, Mauritius was very pretty, and I got to meet some really amazing children. I enjoyed my time here, but I am SO ready for India and the Taj Mahal. I’ve got six days until then, one of which is the Sea Olympics. That should be a fun break halfway through the ‘school week’. I’ll be sure to update you on how that goes. [I better start stretching again, so I can win twister!]
What I’ve noticed is that I still haven’t found a really good traveling buddy[ies] yet. I enjoy walking around with my roommate and Tea, but while they both want to do and see the same things, I want to go, see and do different things. I enjoy being with Amanda, Kate and Meghan, but they’re still not the best to travel with. They only like to go out for a few hours at a time because they ALWAYS get too tired, too hungry, sick of walking, and/or don’t want to spend any more money. It’s kind of frustrating because I just want to go everywhere and see everything, and I just haven’t found someone to do it all with. I haven’t given up faith because the trip is not halfway through yet. I am sure to meet someone who will want to do the same things I do, and until then I will keep filling up my time with SAS trips. Some kids don’t like them because they’re a waste of money, you spend too much time in transportation, and you could ‘totally do it better indy,’ but that’s great because that means those types of people won’t be on them with me! I think they’re usually great, especially if you don’t have someone else to travel with, and it’s a great opportunity to meet new people. You also always get an English-speaking guide [though their annoyingness is a possible consequence], which is really helpful [especially in the next few countries, where English speakers are much more of a commodity]. We just got the sign up forms for the last set of trips. I’m a little upset because I found out my overnight Japan trip was cancelled because not enough people were interested. Luckily, there are day trips that go to both Nara and Kyoto, so I will hopefully get into those in this lottery. I won’t get to stay in a traditional Japanese hotel, though, and I was really looking forward to it. If I don’t get into either of those day trips, Kate, Amanda and Meghan are doing Hiroshima, Kyoto and Tokyo indy and plan to stay in a traditional hotel, so I can always tag along with them. I would prefer the SAS trips, though. I still like the three of them, but as I’ve already said I prefer not to travel too much with them. Well, I should get some sleep, and life is still pretty sweet. Ciao for now!