Week 29 - Mauritius

I don't think any of us have felt love at first sight regarding Mauritius. The kids keep saying they miss Kenya. I know a lot of what they miss is having a pool right in the yard and extra adults paying attention to them. I miss it too. J and I both think Mauritius reminds us of Florida. It's built up with lots of hotels, condos, and retirees. The retirees are French instead of American and Canadian and the locals are mostly Indian instead of Hispanic, but beyond that it's pretty much the same. The affluence annoys me after Lebanon and Kenya. We're playing into it, though. It's not actually as hot as Kenya but it's extremely humid and the mosquitoes are terrible. I can get around 50 bites hanging out one load of laundry, and that's with citronella spray on me. There are no screens or mosquito nets, so we shut up the house and are running the AC. I feel bad about the energy consumption, but while there is no malaria here there is a chance of dengue, so we don't really have a choice. It makes it harder to get used to the weather, though. 

We've done our usual routine of finding our way around the area and taking care of business the first few days. There is a big grocery that has just about everything except good produce and a little stand that has excellent produce both within a couple blocks of the house. We found a pharmacy to replace some vitamins and buy the home COVID tests we need to take on day 5. We will need malaria prophylaxis for Madagascar and it looks like they're going to be able to order that for us as well. We took a cab to the next town over and ordered replacement glasses for C and got a local SIM card to use when we're away from the villa since our Verizon international plan doesn't cover Mauritius. All this was fairly cheap compared to the US, so that's good. Monday was Valentine's day so I got the kids some colored paper and they were busy making Valentines. They made them for all the people from the house in Kenya so I took pictures and shared with the hosts there. This was my favorite.

S made it for William, the gardener in Kenya who took care of the pool for us. I did have trouble getting used to all the extra people around, but I'm glad the kids got to form some relationships with local people. That hasn't been easy, partly because of COVID, but also simply because while Airbnbs and VRBOs work well for us, they do make it harder to meet people. So while we all miss Kenya, I'm certainly grateful we experienced it. At any rate, Valentine-making kept the kids busy while we did some research and planned a few outings. 

I've started taking my morning walk again, I'm more comfortable alone on the beach here, and I can bring back breakfast treats. Then school work and maybe a family outing. Tuesday's trip was to the optician. It's too hot to do anything midday, but late afternoon is a good beach time. S and I have been swimming in the ocean — there's less seaweed and no bluebottles, so he's pretty comfortable. It's a little cooler than the water was in Diani, which is nice and refreshing, but it's still plenty warm and calm because of the reef offshore.

Also plenty of shady spots. We're finding a routine, taking advantage of all the things in walking distance, and getting needs met. I wouldn't want to live here, but it's a good place to spend a couple weeks. 

I've been venturing farther on my morning walks and found a few more beaches that are less busy than the one we went to first. On Wednesday, we particularly enjoyed one with some rocky places that provide cover for some little crabs and fish.

That was fun, there was a good swimming area as well so we could alternate between swimming and observing sea creatures. It was a pleasant afternoon. Thursday we split up because J and C wanted to go to a restaurant but S and I didn't want to get out of the water. It's good to do that occasionally, so each kid gets a little one-on-one time.

Friday was our first day trip away from Pereybere. True to form, getting out of town made us appreciate Mauritius much more. It's hard to stay far out in the country because we either have to rent a car or rely on taxis. Staying in town is convenient, but we definitely prefer the countryside pretty much everywhere we've been. 

We're staying on the northeast side of the island and today's trip was down to the southwest, but still only about an hour drive. Our first stop was Blue Bay for a glass-bottomed boat ride and snorkeling. This boat had a shorter motor than the one in Kenya, so we were able to go over more of the reef and saw a lot through the glass on the bottom.

C didn't want to try snorkeling again, but S did. I stayed with S so J could snorkel since he didn't last time. C was fine with the boat driver. S wasn't afraid of the water at all, but totally freaked out when he saw a fish. He did not like the idea of being in the water with them at all! I guess I had assumed he understood the point of snorkeling better. So I took him back to the boat, by that time J was done so he passed out snacks and I got to snorkel on my own for a little bit.

I can't get over how much I love it. I've never been that interested in marine biology and it was never something I wanted to try, but when we were in the Bahamas a few years ago Collin wanted to try and I went with him. It was so amazing that I wanted to do it again, and it was even better here and in Kenya. I just love looking down at a different world. Both places there were several other snorkelers in the water, but once you look down you are aware of nothing else. Oddly enough, I'm now more into it than anyone else in the family. Just goes to show, new things are always worth trying. 

Next we went to a couple viewpoints where there are large cliffs and big waves because there is an opening in the reef. They're was also a restaurant so we had lunch. Mauritian food is an interesting mix of Indian and French cuisine. Very delicious, very lovely views.

Our last stop was an animal park where we saw crocodiles, fruit bats, lemurs, turtles, and monkeys. They were captive, but it was a nice natural-looking setup. They also had a playground, much to S's delight, and a section of farm animals, so of course we made friends with a goat.

It was a fun day. There's a cyclone coming, just a small one and it will probably pass north of the island, but it made today pleasantly cooler. I got some groceries when we got home so we may not go out over the weekend if it's too rainy. 

Sunday is S's seventh birthday and I'm all set for that, then we have another trip on Monday, this time down the east side of the island. We'll also attempt a couple bus trips on our own, and of course continue swimming and enjoying the beach.