Mauritius

Interesting things while at sea:
Due to high winds, our ship did not leave Jetty 2 until the following morning. We then waited at a bunkering station in Cape Town until about 3 pm, when our ship was full of fuel. The stretch from Cape Town to Mauritius was the roughest seas we have encountered thus far. We were forced to change paths to avoid the rough seas attributed to a cyclone about 400 miles off the coast of Madagascar. When we finally arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius we were 4 hours late.

Mauritius:
We spotted Mauritius on the horizon and it became clearer and clearer that this was going to be one of the more beautiful places that we would visit. The contrast of beautiful beaches with high green mountains was quite amazing. We arrived in Mauritius at about noon and we (Alex, Alissa, Jay, Casey, Chris, Joanne and Kevin) were able to roam around Port Louis for a couple hours before meeting Venkat and Meliga. They are the parents of Valma, one of Joanne’s co-workers from St. Jude. We sat with them for a while discussing everything about Mauritius from politics to energy policies. They are both so well informed about the island, have such interesting life stories (Venkat was a member of parliament and principal of a school) and made perfect guides. After our firing squad of questions, they took us on a walking tour of the city. We visited the garden and craft market, fish market, Chinatown, and walked up to the citadel (a fort overlooking the city). Mauritius is a great mixture of cultures; a blend of African, French, Indian, and Chinese that is unique to the world. It was a bit more Indian influenced than I was expecting and turned out to be a good prep for India. After seeing the Parliament building, Supreme Court, and City Hall of Port Louis, we separated from Venkat and Meliga and decided to crack and get some Pizza Hut. We were all at a point were we just needed some food that was familiar and greasy. After this we went to a local sports bar for drinks and brownies. It was just what the stomach had ordered.

The next morning a taxi driver that had been arranged by Venkat and Meliga met Joanne, Kevin and me. We traveled around the Northern side of the island. Every bend seemed to be more scenic. We passed beautiful beaches and beach towns, sugar cane fields and small fishing villages and could not help stopping every few miles to take pictures. We even came across a water ski course that had me wishing I had a boat, a rope, and my ski with me. We then stopped at a small tourist village that sold trips to Ile de Cerf, a nearby island known for its snorkeling, waterfalls, and water sports. We took a powerboat out to the island and then made arrangements to get a personal boat for some snorkeling. The water was a clear, beautiful blue-green that made seeing an assortment of corals, fishes and other marine species quite easy. We stayed out for about an hour watching all the various colorful fishes and corals. After we were exhausted, we headed back to the island for a delicious lunch. We met up again with our taxi driver after our return voyage on a small rickety boat powered by a 5 hp engine. Our return voyage was quite amusing because it was raining quite a bit and because of this the driver decided to go the shorter route but ended up getting us beached on some shallow waters. Luckily we could be freed by a combination of men jumping out of the boat and pushing and a bit of luck. We then headed to through the interior of Mauritius to the Venkatasomy’s house for some drinks and “snacks”. Meliga was so kind, providing us with a full meal of traditional Mauritian snacks. We returned to the ship and amazingly the taxi was only $40 for the entire day; imagine that in Los Angeles.

The following day the Venkatasomys met us with a van to tour the city. We had a whole van as Gary and Diana, Jay, Alissa, Joanne and Kevin, Gloria Rudolf (my Anthropology Professor), and I all decided that this would be a great adventure. We went through the middle of the island to the water reservoir where we noticed a flat tire. I guess my weight just was too much for the tire to handle. The flat tire was replaced by an even more flat spare tire. We decided to wait for the van to fill up the spare tire at a nearby Hindu temple. There is a hundred foot bronze statue of Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction. The temple was above a lake with stairs down to statues of the three main gods and space to pray. It is one of the holiest Hindu sites outside of India and was quite beautiful. Our hour-long wait was a great opportunity for me to discuss religion and physics with Venkat (a physicist by training). After getting a scenic, albeit indirect, drive we stopped at a fancy restaurant that overlooked the ocean. There was a beautiful wood deck with tables and a 180 degree view of the ocean. The food was fantastic but the view was definitely the best part of the restaurant. The restaurant was next to a museum of wood and its many uses. It was actually a pretty cool museum that had examples of all the forms that wood can take, from boats to furniture to instruments and much more. After visiting the museum, we headed to Flic en Flac beach. We went swimming at the favorite Mauritian beach for about an hour until it began downpouring. We parted ways with the Venkatasomys after driving back to the ship and boarded the ship to head off India. I would like to thank the Venkatasomys very much for being so welcoming and informative.

Things I’ve Learned In Mauritus:
-Rough seas can be quite uplifting, especially for food.
-Politicians don’t like clever people.
-Flat tires happen in Mauritius too.
-Coral does not make nice sand.
-Monkeys like to show off for an audience.
-You can abandon your gender, but not your sex.
-U-turns on a cliff are an acceptable maneuver.
-We must do all we can to avoid perpetuating the American stereotype.