Oh Mauritius! What a hot, beautiful, wonderful place that is filled with even more amazing people. We docked around 8:00 and got off the ship around 11 or so. A couple of us headed into town to a market and it was pretty funny because three of us were bald and the forth had very, very short hair for a girl, so we got some looks. But that was just fine. We found this amazing market where the ground floor was a huge food market and then the loft above it was just stall after stall of clothes, jewelry, henna, spices, sugar, coffee, and teas. My friend Alicia got her whole head hennaed and my friend Rory and I were planning on getting it around our eyes but then the woman charged way too much. The exchange was 30 Mauritian rupees to $1 and the place was actually pretty expensive compared to the countries we had just come from. They also accepted USD most places, so there wasn’t as much guessing about the exchange as usual. A woman did some sega dancing for us and I even put on a skirt and tried it myself. I’m pretty sure my dancing days are over after trying to follow the traditional steps of sega, with all its hand motions and hip swinging! Coral Boral, it is perfect for you. J But check it out on youtube if you can find it, it is just gorgeous with big skirts, flowered hair, and beautiful women who look so strong and graceful.
After a couple hours of wandering around a bit we headed back to the ship and a couple of us went to an SOS Children’s Home for a couple of hours and just played with the kids. SOS is such an amazing operation. It is in over 100 countries around the world, the first being in Austria, and it is a place for children who come from bad homes, such as substance abuse, domestic violence, or sexual abuse, and also orphans. The children are placed in houses on a compound and this is their new family. The kids all have a mother who lives in the house with them and they are brothers and sisters. So instead of being in a big orphanage or foster home, the kids still have the family connectedness and reassurance of each other. Quite a few of the kids came up to me and asked me if I was a girl or a boy, and then when they found out I was of the feminine persuasion they couldn’t understand why I shaved my head….it was pretty funny. I had this one girl, Florina, on my back or shoulders for a solid hour, but any aches I had were smoothed away with the kiss on the cheek she gave me as we were saying goodbye. I wonder where she will be when she is my age? Will she leave Mauritius? What will she do? I asked our guide about working or volunteering at the village, but he said that he didn’t think they let too many foreigners work. But, there are SOS villages all over the world so I will check them out and round up a band of mothers or fathers to go out and give some kids attention with me.
After we got back it was past dinner time and a big ol’ group of us headed to Grand Bae, which was about a 25 minute taxi ride to the north part of the island. The island itself is only about 19 miles long and 8 miles wide, but the small, windy roads mixed with the mountains (it is a volcanic island that really resembles Hawai’i) makes driving take quite a bit longer that you would think by just looking at a map. But the drive was great because we went past so much sugar cane! Pretty much sugar cane in Mauritius is like corn in Illinois; you drive forever and it’s still surrounding you.
We were planning on just finding a beach to sleep on but one of the cab drivers and a couple of the guides throughout the day talked us out of it. So we went to a bar, got a couple of drinks, and just sat and took in the island night. We were the only SASers there for at least an hour, and then slowly but surely the place began to overflow with our fellow adventurers. Around midnight a group of us walked a bit down the road to a park that was on the beach and jumped in. I love my dear late night dips in Sunset Lake, but I gots to say it has nothing on skinny dipping under the moon in the Indian Ocean off of a tropical island’s white sand beach. Yeah, I just said that. J Oh life! What a world what a world, and you all have helped give me this adventure. Thank you so much.
After our dip we heard some familiar voices and found some friends hanging out in a pavilion with some locals. It was great to talk to these guys about their view of foreigners and how they view Mauritius, and to just have the pleasure of being with people who didn’t have any reservations about their home or speaking their minds to us. What a connection a smile can be.
Most people we met knew we were from the ship, but we are some of the only Americans that visit the country. It is a usual holiday spot for Europeans and Scandinavians, but since it is a solid 30 hours of travel from the US it is not well known among we Americans. But, let’s change that! It is amazing and beautiful and such a secret that we need to spread. Let’s get to it. J
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