Well, when we arrived after an 11h night flight, we were a little done… but getting out of the airport at 6am and right away searching for sunglasses was quite promising…
The airport is on the other side of the island, approx. 70km or a good hour’s drive from our little guesthouse away. So we had a little island tour already (lots of sugar cane fields… guess how this might have an influence on the cocktail list…) before we arrived at the guesthouse, had a nice breakfast in the garden before we got our rooms and organized the essentials (scooter rent for the time we are here, calling the diving center…). Ah yes, and we were introduced to the guesthouse cat “Bebe” (a completely spoiled little cat which once used my T-Shirt as a towel as it was not lucky enough to escape the heavy tropical rain shower in time) *smiley tounge*
The first days were all about the beaches…
With our scooter (our usual island equipment), we checked out a few really nice ones. Sun is strong so even transported a sun umbrella on the scooter… Unfortunately not an underwater coral paradise easily accessible from the shore for snorkelers, but with some sea grass (still searching for a seahorse)… Looking forward to the diving the day after tomorrow! Mauritius is really a melting pot – after the ban of slavery there was heavy demand of labor for the sugar cane plantains – lots of people from India came to earn some money – and stayed. 80% of the population is Indian descent, there are lots of Hindu Temples spread over the island and of course, food also is with strong Indian influence (curry in many dishes). The other 20% are mainly creole people and a few Franco Mauritians.
Food is really delicious – Mauritius used to be a French colony; however the British managed to take over (invasion at Cap Malheureux). What stayed is widely spoken French and of course the baguette. Thanks god toast wasn’t introduced . Also the need to have at least 3 courses for dinner is something which for sure wasn’t introduced by the British… For seafood lovers the island is a paradise, for us as well although we have to pick a little more carefully. Palm heart salad is one of our favorites and we cannot complain for the meat at all – French medium = a little rare… Also not to be missed: Crème brûlée with fresh Mauritian vanilla and the coffee/rum/vanilla/cream composition after dinner… Luckily lychees, passion fruit, pineapple and mango are in season – so there is always a nice light lunch for us.
The plan for tomorrow is an island tour with the scooter, let’s see how far we get…
