Mauritius

This is Axel and this is going to be my blog about Mauritius. I had to go there for work and so I spent almost all of my time with my staff and agents.



The flight was through Delhi and from Delhi to Mauritius it is about 6 or 7 hours. It was long. We got there at night and the next morning I got up early to walk around. The island is surrounded by a coral barrier which kept the waves off shore. It is winter there now and there was a storm for the first two days so I knew my chances of going fishing were out the door. The waves past the coral reef were huge, and I certainly didn’t want to be out in them. But the beach was cool and that morning I walked around on the volcanic rocks near the beach and got the kids some shells and some dead coral.





We then all drove to get on a boat that took us around the island a bit. The island has some cool mountains and it is green of course so I liked that. On the boat we saw a pretty cool waterfall and had some good food. We stopped off at this small island call the isle of the serfs and I went paragliding and did some snorkling. The coolest thing was the birds. I saw about five of them I wanted to catch and take back with me.





The next day we drove to the north of the island and saw Port Louis and a few other cities. Most of the island are Indians with a few Africans and French thrown in. It is strange to see Indians speaking French. We also stopped by a sweet tree garden with tons of awesome trees. Great Ideas for future bonsais. They had about 50 different kinds of palm trees. One actually bloomed. It only does it once in 50 years and then it dies. One of the trees there was blooming so that was cool.
Then the next day some of the agents went on a submarine, but I had been on one before so I didn’t go. We went down south this time and saw mostly the nature. I saw two different waterfalls, the seven sands and lots of other nature related things. We did stop at a hundred foot Shiva. The island is still mostly Hindu, so the agents liked that.





I am going to keep this brief because it is now 6:30 and at 7:00 our whole family is going to Pokhara so we can hang out for a few days (and I can collect orchids/bonsais/butterflies!!!). But my impressions of the island is this; if you have the chance to go and the money to do it, DON’T!!!! Honestly it wasn’t any different than any Caribbean island, right down to the Bob Marley music. The people were totally unhelpful and had the worst of both Africa/India in being kind of dirty and lazy and the French in being stuck up for no reason. I have seen many examples where Africans/Indians are clean and work harder than you can imagine, and I have seen French who are business/service oriented. Mauritius somehow avoided both. There are no orchids on the island and the prices are way too high. Most of the stuff is imported from India, and if you want to buy that kind of stuff, come to Nepal where it is a tenth of the price and the people are humble and service oriented.



To top it off, on our flight back on air Mauritius, the stupid staff there decided NOT to check 28 people’s luggage through to Kathmandu. Only to Delhi, so everyone had to go through immigration twice to get there bags and then recheck in. I was so pissed at them down there I was yelling at them and of course they did nothing. I lucked out in that I have learned that if the trip is less than a week, only take a carry on luggage. If you need something else, that is what credit cards are for.
One other thing that dawned on me on this trip was the similarities between Hinduism and Catholicism. At the time I was reading Ken Follet’s ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ which I recommend. It is a good read. So it was like I was living in a catholic town in 1150 AD in my morning and nights and travelling to Hindu temples with Hindus during the day.




I was struck by how many gods both of them have and the stories they tell. Now your average catholic will probably tell you that they are monotheistic, but to be honest, if you need luck against driving you don’t pray to god, you pray to the saint of keeping you safe on the roads. And there is a handy statue of that saint you can even put in your car. I saw the comparisons when one of the drivers had a ganesh for luck and the other one who was catholic had a small statue of the saint. Both chant and light candles/incense as prayers to the gods. Anyways that was my big revelation for the trip...



And of course I forgot to tell you about the best part of the trip. Walking through the door and seeing three kids running up to me to get hugs and kisses and one beautiful wife to throw my arms around and give her a big kiss. Sometimes even a bad trip is worth it so I can get that at the end.