“So Delicious. So Mauritius”

Don’t expect a completely happy post about Mauritius (if all goes well, tissues will be needed…just kidding, no way I’m THAT melodramatic). Anyways, I’ll try to make it as enjoyable as possible. Let’s start with some basics:

MAURITIUS FAQ

Q: Does Mauritius really exist?
A: Contrary to popular belief, it certainly does. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Q: Where is Mauritius?
A: Look on a map. It’s near Madagascar. Trust me, it’s there somewhere.

Q: What’s Mauritius like?
A: Well, let’s begin, shall we…

MY MAURITIUS BLOG PROLOGUE

Before I begin writing about this touristy, tiny-dot-on-the-map country, I must first talk about the seas between South Africa and Mauritius. Ok?
For at least 3 or 4 nights I could hardly sleep, because my room’s near the front of the ship, and all night is spent lying in bed as the ship flies up in the air, leaving me with a second or two of weightlessness, then it crashes back down and lunges me back into my bed. I recently read that NASA has experimented with astronaut training by using shipboard tactics like these.

A bunch of us watched the film “Love Actually” in my cabin the other night and throughout the entire film I was bombarded with “how the hell can you actually sleep at night??” You kinda get used to it, though a few nights ago a large crash sent almost everything we had sitting on the desk/nightstand flying to floor.
Not only that, but my roommate and I can also hear waves crashing into the ship, and they seriously sound like loud, mini-explosions.
I’m also beginning to think that the crew has a stash of refrigerators, skillfully placed a few floors directly below us, and when a big wave hits, the fridges violently crash against the room’s metal walls. That’s exactly what it sounds like; no exaggerations here folks. In all fairness though, I should probably also add that there were cyclones in Mauritius a few days before arriving, so those were a pretty big cause for rough seas indeed.

CHATER ONE: FIRST DAY SHENANIGANS

These ridiculous seas caused us to arrive in Mauritius about 5 hours late. We disembarked around 2 o’clock or so and we immediately started exploring the city/market area. The port, the city, and the mountains surrounding us were all oretty beautiful. The culture is incredibly diverse too; they mostly speak either French or English, even though most people we encountered around the city were Indian.

The group was walking around Port Louis, but nobody was making any decisions about what to do, and that gets tiring after awhile, so me, Jess, and Kate decided to sit down at this small outside restaurant, and I feasted on a milkshake and a tasty crepe. After eating and talking we quickly paid a dollar for a water taxi to shuttle us back to the ship, because eight of us had to meet and catch a bus.

We rented a villa to stay at in for most of the trip, and it was an hour bus ride away from Port Louis. I slept most of the way of course. When I awoke, I was surprised to gaze out at a vast array of sugar cane as far as I can see; we were almost there We were also very, very close to the vast mountains. Eventually we were dropped off in this smaller village area.
I should mention that the eight of us didn’t have the house number of this villa we were residing in; we only had the street name and such, so when we left the bus and my cell phone and a pay phone didn’t work we became slightly nervous. One random woman was kind enough to call the villa owner on her cell phone, and literally within minutes this man in a red pickup truck picked us up and took us to the house.

Ok, now you can get the tissues out, because I forgot to mention something very important. Remember that depression I was talking about in my Africa post (if not, then you should scroll down, because you probably missed out on an amazing post)? Well this depression came back the day before Mauritius, and it came back strong! I was diagnosed with this years ago. It’s sporadic, but it honestly doesn’t hit me too often anymore (it’s been way over a year since I’ve felt this bad).
The sad part is that there’s seriously nothing I can do about it besides let it take it’s course. This sickness didn’t completely ruin my time in the country, but it definitely made it somewhat unbearable. What’s even worse is that you really can’t complain out loud to others, because you don’t want to ruin everyone else’s time, so you just have to seclude yourself and deal with it…and when you’re on a once-in-a-lifetime trip like this one, secluding oneself is very difficult. You really don’t want to…you want to experience as much as possible.

Ok, I know, “Ricky, quit bitching and talk about the villa.” Well, it was incredibly spacious. 2 floors. Very open living room, fairly large kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, balcony. It was also up on a hill (below the mountain), and this enabled us to have a beautiful view of the ocean. This spacious environment was necessary, because 13 of us occupied the house the first night.

After making ourselves at home, half the group left for the small grocery store to find some supplies for the first night’s dinner. While gone, four of us encountered an unexpected visitor. This bug…wait…this Creature…no, completely off…this MONSTER flew around our living room with it’s giant wings and planted itself near the top of the curtains. Have you ever read “The Metamorphosis?” After this experience, I can clearly say that I totally sympathize with the way Gregor’s family treats the giant, human-like bug.
I strategically sprayed it with the deet/mosquito repellent I bought, but this monstrosity probably chugs bug spray for breakfast. Instead of dying, it made this horrible, unthinkable growl that caused me to jump back and hide on the other side of the room. Out of the four of us, we all agreed that Emily, the only girl present, had the greatest qualifications for conquering this giant insect; us guys stood back and watched her back for any surprise attacks. Emily, armed with stronger bug spray found in the bottom of the sink, did a great job at slowing the creature down (it was hiding in the curtain), but in the end it was a group effort. Obviously my important role in the group was documenting the monster hunt with my video camera (in case I ever want to make a Japanese horror film), so now our kill may be viewed and applauded forever. Luckily there were no human casualties.

Anyways, thirteen of us eventually inhabited the villa (the rest eventually made it by taxi), and our main cuisine for the night was Eric’s killer grilled cheese sandwiches. We hung out on the balcony, talked, shared secrets till very late. Next door there were a bunch of “7th deckers” (the term 7th deckers applies to students on the ship who care more about partying, alcohol, and tanning on the 7th deck than they do about life) renting the other villa. They played loud music, bought a ton of drinks, and stayed up pretty late. Some of them were actually really friendly, and invited us to join them, and that was really nice. At the same time, other 7th deckers would randomly walk into our house and wonder the premises while completely intoxicated.

Sleeping Arrangements. Rather than sharing a bed I ended up getting stuck with the leather couch in the living room, and granted it was somewhat comfy, there was no air conditioning in the living room. We wanted to keep the windows closed so tons of bugs don’t invade our territory, so it was uncomfortably hot all night. My sweat was sticking to the black, hot leather all night as I TRIED to sleep…eww.

SECOND DAY

I ended up with 2 or 3 hours of sleep, but I still woke up early and decided to take a stroll down to the nearest beach by myself. Very relaxing. I can easily listen to the sounds of waves all day.

By the time I returned, Dorothy, Mark, Natalie, Steph, and Matt made breakfast, and we had a quick bite to eat before traveling to the Flic and Flac beach (a 20 minute drive from the house).
The beach was pretty gorgeous. There weren’t tons of people there, and the bright, blue water was refreshingly pleasant. Because I felt like complete crap all day, I tried to keep to myself most of the day. I seriously felt horrible (keep in mind, I want no sympathy from you readers out there or anything. I’m just telling it like it happened).
We stopped for lunch. Afterwards I tried to get rid of this awesome farmer’s tan I have, but it seems like there’s not enough hours in the day to do EVERYTHING.

Four of us left to buy some groceries for the final night in Mauritius, and we bought A LOT. We were expecting around 15 or so people at the house, and figured that we’d go all out since it was our last night in the country. After buying all the food and arriving back at home, the villa owners received a call from the ship, saying that the rest of the group wasn’t going to be able to make it tonight, since many had day trips early the next day, and many others were tired from the planned trips earlier in the day.
Our friend Sara was the only one who made it, so the seven of us hung out until everyone became tired. Luckily I was able to secure an incredibly comfortable bed all to myself while the other four girls shared a room with a few mattresses, and Mark and Matt had their own room. Goodnight everyone.

THE LAST DAY

My bed was soo comfortable that I slept a little longer than I wanted to…actually I was hoping to travel back to the ship with Steph early in the morning because she had a trip, and I wanted to find some other stuff to do in Mauritius that would hopefully make me feel better, but alas I overslept and ended up leaving around 10 AM or so on my own.

I still felt like complete crap as I caught the bus at 10 in the morning. The bus was old (it sounded like it was about to fall apart), overwhelmingly crowded, and the dirt roads we were driving through almost made it feel like we were off-roading in a bus. At least it only costs maybe around 50 cents in US currency to ride the bus to and from anywhere.


Now this bus was SUPPOSED to take me to Port Louis. It ended it’s run at some random bus station in some random town on some other random part of the island. Seriously, where was I? I later talked to Steph, and she said that her morning bus took her to the exact same place.
I asked around the area how far away it was to Port Louis and the Waterfront, and was instructed to just take a taxi straight there. Easy enough. I found a driver to transport me straight to the city, but (and there’s ALWAYS a “but”) I ended up getting in an argument with him, because the guy kept insisting, in broken English, that he make a pit stop at his friend’s store so that I can shop around and buy stuff. I eventually just insisted I only have enough of money to pay for the cab drive (which was a lie), so he then left me alone. How frustrating.

After the long bus ride and the annoying cab driver, I finally made it back to the ship (which felt very good to see). I ate a quick lunch, then ventured out to find an internet café. I ended up running into Kate and Noopur, and the three of us shopped around the market for awhile.

Now this part of the story gets slightly embarrassing, but I have a good excuse for my actions. It WAS Saint Patricks Day, and what’s the greatest St. Patrick’s Day tradition? That’s right, Shamrock shakes at McDonalds. Sadly the Irish population in Mauritius is zero, so this holiday is not celebrated in any shape or form. Because we were already in the restaurant though, my stomach felt obligated to digest some greasy food, so I ordered a Royal with Cheese meal. It tasted exactly like American McDonalds –disgusting, unhealthy, but still ends up pretty tasty.

THE MAURITIUS BOOK STORE

I totally forgot to mention the ingenious idea I got in South Africa while wondering around the mall. I decided that I’ll buy an American book in each country we visit, except it must be written in the country’s native language. Now some may think that it’s stupid idea, because honestly I’ll probably never be able to read any of the books. On the other hand, I hate buying souvenirs like t-shirts with the country’s name spelled out in big letters, or hats, or cheesy stuff like that. It’s probably the English major in me talking, but I figure that when someone looks at my soon-to-be made bookshelf and notices a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets written entirely in Afrikaans (the original native language of South Africa), they’ll probably ask why I own that. I’ll answer them by talking about my first trip to South Africa, and that’ll spark some conversation.

Anyways, I stopped at a bookstore in the small, westernized mall across the harbor from the ship. I was hoping to find a Batman comic or graphic novel, but they had none, so I bought a copy of Jurassic Park written in French instead, and only spent around 3 or 4 US dollars for it.

THE FINAL NIGHT

Everything closes in Mauritius around 5 o’clock. That’s ok though, because at 5:30 my friend Kyle and I had plans to meet with a few others to go out and celebrate the last night.

My friend Noopur’s parents were visiting from Connecticut to celebrate their anniversary. They invited me, Eric, Kyle, Kate, and Emily out to this wonderful Chinese restaurant on the top floor of this beautiful building and we filled ourselves up with some delicious food with a few of their Mauritian friends. Her parents covered the bill, and were super, super nice, AND invited us all to Connecticut when we get back for some traditional Indian food at their home.
After dinner it was time to make our way back to the ship, for we didn’t want to receive dock time.

I should explain the concept of dock time. Basically everyone on the ship must be back onboard 2 hours before we depart a country. Every minute that someone’s late, that person loses an hour of time in port for the next country. We easily made it back in time, but many others weren’t as fortunate as us. We still made fun of all the people that were late. Mwahaha!

We finished the night by talking and hanging out in Kyle and Eric’s room, rather than standing outside and watching the port fade away into the dark distance. Funny times were had, as always.

I didn’t hate Mauritius or anything. Unfortunately I just internally felt so bad that I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I should have. Not only that, but other people I know got to visit other parts of the island and see some pretty crazy things, so I kind of wish that I would have just adventured instead of trying to relax. Still, the island was mostly beaches and touristy kind of stuff...nothing that grand. I’m happy that I’m around really great people though. Hopefully I’ll look back on this post in a few days and laugh at how horrible I felt through the whole country.

I’ll post another update in a few days or so. Let’s hope, pray, and imagine that I’ll be in a more positive mindset.

Thanks for reading all of my rambling.
Rick