So delicious....so Mauritius
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2005
1
20
24
Trip End
Dec 09, 2005
Port Louis, Mauritius
Sunday, October 9, 2005
After getting off the ship I met up with my friends Jordan, Greg and Su Fen. We headed into downtown Port Louis via water taxi. We had loose plans to get out of the city and see the countryside and possibly to go hiking. Downtown was bustling with vendors and markets. We dodged in a Chinese store to get our bearings. Su Fen lives and goes to school in China. She could speak with the Chinese shop owners and found out they were originally from a city very close to her home. A lady at the store took care of us and called a cab to take us around the island.
Our cab drives, Mahen, arrived and introduced himself and we were off heading south. We stopped and grabbed a quick lunch at an Indian restaurant. Mahen first took us to a dormant volcano where we walked around for a while. We drove in to the countryside and the scenery and agriculture reminded me of what I saw in Brazil.
Our next stop, Mahen took us to a lake that is the most holy part of the island to local Hindus. The area was gorgeous, with shrines to Hindu gods in the water. The smell of inscents, flowers and fruit filled the air. We watched as locals prayed. Mahen is Hindu and he described to us some of the basics of Hinduism. We walked up towards a shrine that was up a hill. On our way we saw people putting flowers on cars and squashing lemons under the wheels of the cars. Mahen explained that newly purchased cars were being blessed by their new owners.
From the top of the hill there was an amazing view of the lake, the shrines and buildings, and the people below. We removed our shoes and Mahen took us into one of the shrines. He got a coconut for us all to split after we left the shrine and looked out over the hill below.
Mahen next took us to several waterfalls and scenic areas in the countryside. Locals were at many of the places having picnics and relaxing on their weekend. We came to one overlook and a few wild monkeys met us there and stared at us as we stared at them.
As evening was approaching, Mahen turned down a dirt road in to a field of sugarcane. I wasn't quite sure where we were going but we continued to make our way slowly on the dirt road. The sugar cane towered over our car. After a few minutes we parked and hiked for a few minutes before coming to a spectacular waterfall. We stayed quite a while and enjoyed the sound of running water and the view.
Mahen wanted to take us one more place before it got dark. We got back in the car and headed towards the coast. We passed an area of shanty structures that resembled the townships of South Africa (but on a much much smaller scale). This was really the only sign of extreme poverty I saw on Mauritius.
After about 30 minutes of driving, we followed Mahen as he walked us out on to some rocky cliffs on the coast. It was approaching sunset and the scene was perfect. The waves of the Indian Ocean were huge as they smashed into the cliffs and the spray went up about twenty feet or so and just over our heads on the cliff above. We found some crabs scuttling around and watched them for a while before heading out.
Mahen drove us back to Port Louis and into China Town. Su Fen was in search of an authentic Chinese restaurant. We said goodbye to Mahen and found a restaurant to try. The food was great and Su Fen told us it was just like home. We walked back to the ship after a long day.
The next day I made my way to the northern part of the island with 7 friends. We rented a beach condo and hung out at the beach throwing the frisbee around and enjoying the water, sun and sand. Tuesday afternoon, we caught the bus back to Port Louis and said our goodbyes to Mauritius.
It's off to India now...
