Bonjour, Mauritius!

What a beautiful island! Each country never ceases to amaze me. Mauritius may be small and unknown, but I am happy to tell you how “rich” it actually is. Mauritius is a “tossed salad” in the Indian Ocean. Africans, French, Indians, British, Dutch, and Chinese all share this island with a deep respect and interdependency with one another. For a quick history lesson, the Arabs first discovered the desolate island but never settled it. Then the French came and brought along Africans as slaves. The British later came in and pushed out the French colonialists. Once the African slaves were freed, a large population of Indians (which now makes up 50% of the population) and a small group of Chinese (now 3% of population) came to live in Mauritius as well. English is the official language, French is the most spoken language, and Creole is the first learned language. A variety of religions, Hindu, Muslim, Christianity (mostly Catholicism), and Buddhism, are all practiced. The island is volcanic and has a number of craters. Its number one industry is tourism, followed by textile. It takes about one hour to drive from the farthest side to the other. The Mauritian cities have a European style with some tin-pieced homes (like South African townships) on the outskirts. The core value in Mauritius is family.

As we pulled in on Thursday morning we had a gorgeous view of the mountainous island. In fact, it looked like a mini Cape Town! Once the ship was cleared, a few friends and I headed into Port Louis. However, our ship was docked a ways from the waterfront so a land taxi or water taxi were recommended. So we hopped into a water taxi for the fun little ride to the waterfront. The water taxi was pretty sweet- a small antique-ish boat with car tires tied all along the outside. It felt good to be closer to the water in comparison to when we’re on the ship. And the water was beautiful! Definitely a bit cleaner than Grand Lake ☺ We then went on into Port Louis to get our first feel of what Mauritius was like. We acquainted ourselves with the city: a beautiful mosque, lots of markets and street vendors, China Town, and Mauritian restaurants on the water. To save some money, we decided to try to walk back to the ship… which we learned quickly why SAS recommended us taking taxis instead! It took about 45 min and went through the industrial part of the city. But it was neat to see the outskirts of the city and it felt really good to just be able to walk after being confined to a ship for a few days.

That afternoon I went on an SAS trip to the Children’s Village of Beau Bassin. What a cool place with a dazzling concept: give abandoned children homes and a “family” to grow up with. Children are sent there if they are abandoned, their parents go to jail, etc. and move into a house with a mother, auntie, and about 7-12 other kids of all ages. They live in the children’s village their entire childhood until they are able to move out and live on their own. They go to school just like everyone else and fortunately now have a family to come home to. They always have kids around to play with and have a “mother” as a role model. It is government-owned, which pays for 50% and corporations pay for the other 50%. It is also highly supported by Mauritians who constantly send support, including presents at Christmastime. We spent the first 10 min learning about the village and then the next few hours to talk to the families and play with the kids. I visited the home of one family that currently has children ages up to 18 and are getting a 2 yr old brother next week, which they were all excited about. We also hung out with the kids, playing games and laughing. The kids love being there and they truly feel like it’s their home.

Friday morning/afternoon I went on an SAS Service trip to several different locations. We first stopped at the church and tomb of Father Laval. He came to Mauritius when the slaves were freed to help take care of them and start a Catholic church. We then went to Gayasing Ashram (Home) for the elderly and disabled. This was a very lovely place… As I mentioned earlier, family is VERY important to Mauritians. They take care of their members until they are no longer able to, in which they are then sent to a home. This Ashram held the elderly and disabled and took care of them very well. They were all very happy to be there. We were given a tour of the facilities and then interacted with a few of them. Each staff takes care of about 8-10 elders. The men with disabilities had a chained fence with barbed wire around their home, where as the women didn’t have anything at all. They told us this was because the women are more tamed. Haha. The numerous facilities were very welcoming and surely provided a good home for each person. After that we visited a small hospital. It is especially known for massage therapy… They help a French boy who has been paralyzed for many years. His mother brings him to this hospital to get a massage 3x a week. He is now able to talk well and walk some. They are proud of his success and want others around the world to know about their hospital. We then went to Cite le Cure neighborhood to visit Teen Hope, a school for underprivileged and troubled children. Although many of these children are drop-outs and rebels, they seemed to be very happy at this school. They are taught at the pace of their classmates and learn in fun ways. We interacted with them through a translator and drawing pictures. So a funny thing happened during this time… Some kids asked if that was Britney Spears and pointed to ME! HA! Wow… Anyway… They then put on a singing and dancing presentation for us and then quickly grabbed us to dance with them! They taught us Sega dancing (Sega is a Mauritian-style of music. It’s similar to Reggae and the dance moves are similar to belly dancing.) and we attempted to learn it. I really enjoyed these visits because it reiterated how important family and friends (and American pop artists) are to Mauritius.

I then met up with my friends and we took a 40 min taxi ride to Grand Bai, which is on the north coast of Mauritius. Our taxi ride was pretty fun. We talked with the taxi driver about his favorite music, which included Michael Jackson… so he got out a Michael Jackson CD and we jammed to it on the way. Haha. When we told him he could put back on his Indian Music (mostly because we can hear MJ anytime we want!) he said, “No! Not for you!” haha. Anyway, we’ve been told that you can’t go to Mauritius and not spend time on the beach, so… that’s what did in Grand Bai! The sand was white and the ocean was a soft blue-green. We later watched the sun set over the Indian Ocean on the Mauritian Grand Bai beach ☺ BEAUTIFUL! We ate dinner at a Mauritian/French restaurant… might I add that I had a banana-mango milkshake that they made FRESH and it was AMAZING! After dinner we ran into some locals on the beach that were jammin’ with a guitar. We talked with them for awhile and ended up hanging out with them for quite a few hours. They sang us some songs and taught us more Sega dancing. Mauritians and the whole continent of Africa are just sooo welcoming and friendly. They are incredibly giving and warm to whomever they run into. This entire day was definitely one of my favorites in my lifetime so far!

Saturday, the final day, was a good last day. 2 friends and I wanted to see more of the natural sites of the island. The hospitality desk on SAS bartered with us and we ended up getting a personal tour guide driver for only $20 USD for the entire day! This is a great deal considering the SAS trip was over $100… And what a BEAUTIFUL tour it was! We first stopped at a crater that is estimated to be 700,000 years old. Then we went to a giant Hindu Shiva statue that is the largest outside of India. We then went to a sacred lake with a Hindu temple on the coast. We were blessed in this Eswarnath Shiv Jyotir Lingum Temple and marked with red paint on our foreheads. Our tour guide took us to several different overlooks of the beautiful ocean and waterfalls. We then went to Black Gorges National Park that had a very long waterfall. What a beautiful day for it- a rainbow shone beside it! We then went to a Mauritian phenomenon called the 7-Colored Earth. Because of chemical processes, several layers of the earth have 7 different colors. It was just amazing and very beautiful! There were also some giant tortoises nearby that were pretty cute, I think at least! The day tour ended with a drive along the west coastline. And then it was time to board the ship and say farewell to Mauritius. As usual, my friends and I went on the 8th deck to watch Mauritius fall away in the dark of the night.

I hope all is well with you! ☺