Out and About in Mauritius Part 2
General Observations
I’ll start off this post with some general observations about Mauritius. There were really sometimes that it reminded me of home. I suppose there are some threads of small island life that will be similar wherever you go. For instance, I don’t know if this is an island people thing or what, but Mauritians sure seem to love their KFC. Just like in JA, they dot the landscape.
Maurituius is an interesting place. From what I observed, there is quite a dynamic racial mix, with Indian ancestry far and away being most dominant. However, the mix is such that on more than one occasion, I was assumed to be Mauritian and addressed in the creole. Speaking of Indian descent, as a side note, I did spend some time thinking about the money I could possibly make exporting hair back home from there. With so many women of Indian descent, it’s a bit of a weave lover’s paradise. Hey, hair is big business in Jamaica, it could work. lol . The people are also multi-cultural and have multiple faiths. I saw lots of women walking around in traditional Indian garb ( Kurtas, Salwar, Sari etc) and Hindu temples, Churches and Mosques alike all over.
Almost everyone that I encountered was multi-lingual. French, English and the local French- based creole are the dominant languages. In fact, I think it would be a little difficult to properly navigate life there without at least some basic knowledge of both French and English. When you drive along, billboards, road signs etc are either in French or English. Supermarket labels tended to be French. I noticed that people would most likely address you in French first. I hadn’t actually practised speaking any of the French I picked up while living in Bordeaux for the longest while, but I was happy to note that I remembered far more than I thought I did, which was very helpful.
Diving day – Trou Aux again and Grand Baie
The next day took me back to Trou Aux Biches; the Negril like beach I mentioned. By the way, there is actually work related to this trip guys, I promise that’s coming up :). My bunkmate and a couple of the engineers wanted to try out diving. Of the five of us that set out (including Tiphaine), only one had ever gone diving before, and I was the only one who was licensed. The others were complete novices.
The engineer who had been once before couldn’t quite remember where exactly the dive shop he had dived with was. So we ended up on a little goose chase (which included getting off at the wrong stop and having to trek half an hour back up the beach).
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Not a terrible way to spend a morning, but not completely appreciated when you’re lost. Fortunately the dive instructor was able to come pick us up eventually. It would have been another 1/2 hour at least if we had walked all the way.
| This stretch reminded me of the West End in Negril |
The others did their discover scuba lessons (theory and basic skills in shallow water), but since I am already a certified diver, I got to skip that. yay! Since we went as a group, we did a shallower dive than I would have liked, but it was still pretty good anyway.While the reefs seem to be in far better shape on the whole than ours, there are still a few of the same worrying signs. Dead/ dying coral, signs of bleaching/ stress etc.
The instructor was very good and rather pleasant. He even treated us to lunch when we were finished. It was my first bit of Mauritian street food; fried noodles with octopus and chilis! Washed down with a nice sparkling pear drink.
| Fried Noodles with Octopus and Chill |
The instructor even treated us to dessert. He had to make a stop at the supermarket before dropping us back at the bus stop, and picked up some pineapple slices, yoghurt and chocolate for us while he was inside. Talk about going above and beyond. I had been quite satisfied with the service we had received at the shop, but this was something else. I must remember to write him a nice review on TripAdvisor.
We then took a bus to Grand Baie which is another trendy touristy area to fill out the afternoon. The others wanted to soak up some sun and swim a little before we went back. The water seemed a little dead to me, so I volunteered to stay with the bags and just chill on the beach instead.
The Beach we stopped at in Grand Baie
We also made a stop at a supermarket. It was on our walk back from the supermarket that I discovered this; an RDX poster.
RDX seems to do some serious touring. When last I was in Amsterdam, they had had two shows coming up the week after I was there. At another time, after I had returned from the ship, I saw some billboards advertising a Mr. Vegas and Nyanda concert that was coming up the weekend I left. Seems there really is a dancehall sub- culture.
Downtown Port Louis
Ok, so this was the last day of frolicking, I promise. This was departure day, and some of us decided to spend the morning downtown. We were under strict orders from the captain to return by 13:00. The first stop was the cambio as I had no local cash. I thought I was good at bargaining, but my Chinese friends are the best. I had no idea that you could bawl down the exchange rate at a cambio! Somehow it worked and we got a slightly better rate for changing so much money together.
| Downtown Port Louis |
Then it was off to the Central Market. The most exciting thing I bought was my first long string of genuine pearls! I was able to get a really good price for them, since my friends and I collectively bought a lot of things in that store. The owner was quite pleased with us.
Now Port Louis’ waterfront in and of itself is nothing to speak of really. What they have transformed it into however is pretty great. It is the kind of vision I have for our downtown one day. Based on what we have already, a little effort and investment could do wonders.
The last thing I did was to buy postcards for my family and boyfriend and then it was time to make our way back.
We left the port that afternoon at 16:00 on the dot. It would take us 3 and a half more days to arrive at the working area. In the next post I will begin chronicling my life at sea.. If you are interested in keeping up, you can subscribe to my posts by email below.
