So Delicious, So Mauritius

When Mark Twain visited Mauritius he wrote, “You gather that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius.” I can now say from my own personal experience that I don’t think that he was too far off. Mauritius, also the home of the famously extinct Dodo bird, has some of the most exotic and endemic species of plants and animals in the world. The island population is primarily composed of Hindus and people of Indian descent, which was something that I wasn’t really expecting. The official languages are English and French, but I found that very few people spoke either. The locals generally spoke Creole, which is a mixture of both French and some African languages.

We arrived in Mauritius and the ship was cleared almost immediately. The process went a lot quicker than in any of the other ports so far. For the first time ever, my friends and I weren’t even really ready to get off the ship right away. We quickly packed our backpacks for the next few days, and then we were off to Flic en Flac beach to find our rental home. We decided to do as the locals do and ride the public bus. It was a small adventure in itself just trying to find the right bus stop and make our way to the other side of the island. Finding the house we rented would’ve been really hard, had the nice local who sat next to me on the bus not helped us. The house ended up being amazing! I was expecting the worst because we got such a good deal on it, and you never know what you’re getting on the internet. From the house it was just a short five minute walk to the beach and town. A lot of SASers rented houses and condos in Flic en Flac, so every where we went, they were there too. Our house was in a more obscure residential neighborhood, which ended up being really nice when we needed to get away from the spring break madness. It was a great four bedroom house with a kitchen, living room, and cute little pool. We spent most of the first day at the Flic en Flac beach, just swimming and hanging out in the amazingly warm Indian Ocean. I bought a snorkel set at a local grocery store because Mauritius is supposedly one of the best snorkeling places in the world. The water is incredibly clear and the entire island is actually surrounded by a coral reef. We spent our time in Flic en Flac eating the local Mauritian food, hanging out with SASers, and partying it up at the beach and at our house. I won’t go into too much detail but there was definitely some NOSing involved (if you don’t know what that is…uhhh…just don’t worry about it). On the last day we ate lunch at a restaurant up in the rocky green mountains. The restaurant itself was outside in the trees and overlooked much of the island. It had an absolutely amazing view and the food was to die for. We also spent some time hotel hopping and enjoying the resort pools and private beaches. I have to be honest with you all, I am just gonna come clean with the fact that I didn’t spend a lot of time “learning” in Mauritius or actually soaking up any of the history and culture. You can probably attribute the shortness of this blog to that …or maybe the fact that I have been warned by my fellow shipmates that what happens in Mauritius, stays in Mauritius. You can take your pick. Either way, I did have a really great spring break/academic endeavor/tropical vacation and wouldn’t trade it for the world. I can’t believe that this was actually a part of school! Best school ever!

Quote of the Day: “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” –Ralph Waldo