A Gypsy at Heart

Travel is a learning experience. Going to Mauritius and book into a resort is a holiday not travel. People get of the plane into a Club Med or St Geran courtesy vehicle and 7 days later arrive the same way at the airport.  They know the inns and outs of the resort but missed the island ( except for the beach in front of the hotel).

Travel is communicating with the people of the island, eating their food, riding in their fishing boats to visit a remote island, staying in their accommodation.

AN OVERVIEW 

ROADS

 Coming from South Africa with it's highways and bridges, we smiled a little at the taxi drivers excitement about the new double road from the south, where the airport is situated, to the north of the island. The road is about as wide as the road in front of my house. We understood his excitement when we ended up on the narrow roads running to Grand Baie. It carries a lot of traffic and it looks as if two busses will never be able to pass each other.
You get use to it quickly. Bus fares are very cheap and you can get anywhere by bus but don't be in a hurry . The bus goes right into the sugarcane fields to drop of passengers. A trip from Grand Baie to Port Louis can take up to 3 hours and it is only about 50kms.

SHOPS

I found the shops in the Grand Baie area had more and better specials on clothes than the market in Port Louis. The market doesn't smell nice at all and is very busy. It is worthwhile seeing but be careful before you buy. Port Louis is very commercialised and the one day we spend there was more than enough. Wines and spirits are very expensive and is a good trading tool at the market. Smokers should take their own cigarettes. The brands that they sell were completely unknown to me and are not nice. You can buy at the duty free but I found most of the products at the duty free actually more expensive than our normal prices in South Africa.

PEOPLE

The island is beautiful and the people are very friendly and laid back. Everything is "no problem" and all distances are "5 minutes". Be careful. We ask the owner of the flats where we stayed how long it will take to walk to Grand Baie from Point Cannonaire and he said five minutes. It ended up to be closer to an hour. There are no sidewalks and you have to walk in the narrow streets with cars coming from both ends. Driving is very laid back as well and the drivers are very patient. People park in the middle of the street and nobody gets upset. We found it very safe and walked on the beach long after dark for miles. Don't attempt this barefoot as there are many rocks on the beach.

BOATS AND WATER

A boat trip to one of the completely deserted islands on a lazy Sunday was wonderful. The skipper of the boat prepares a meal with fish, salads, bread and their very famous jungle juice ( a mix of rum( a lot of rum), pineapple juice, grated pineapple and Miranda pineapple coldrink) When we visited the island it was raining on the way there and everybody got soaking wet. We maybe had to much of the juice to quickly but it was still a wonderful experience. The sea is wonderful for children. With the coral reef it looks like a huge swimming pool with the waves far away. My husband and two boys went deep into the sea. When the little one turned around and saw how far away I were on the beach he started screaming he was drowning. My husband told him to stand up and water didn't even reach his middle.  He was 5 years old.

I will always go back. Hotels and restaurants are expensive. The flats and smaller hotels are very reasonable and rotis ( that you buy from the vendors on the street) at about R2.00 (6 years ago that was about 3 or 4 rupees) and their special French baguettes at about the same price is enough to keep you going.