Sunday, March 23. Hot, cloudy, [docked in Mauritius].
Mauritius is an island 500 miles east of Madagascar off the east coast of Africa near the bottom. It was Dutch originally, then French but the British took possession some long time ago. [This is not an accurate history lesson.] It has population of 1,240,000 and 788 square miles in size. They speak Creole, French and English. It was pleasant surprise for all of us, I believe, about how developed it is. The roads are top shape and could be part of a British highway system. The market system in Port Louis however is very basic and will probably never change, wonderful!
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We four were off the ship at 8.40 and on the shuttle to town in ten more minutes. Our objective was to get to the morning vegetable market then try and get a cab to take us on a bit of a tour of the island.
The market was a hustle-bustle of vendors setting up their fresh veggies, nicely displayed and all price marked. There has probably been a daily vegetable market here for a hundred years or so. It was a pleasure to be in there and see all the healthy looking stuff, unlike some fly-ridden markets we have seen. A few clothing stores caught or attention and soon the girls had a few fluffy things in the bag and Doug purchased a give away or two as well.
Next task, locate a cab… but soon a sharp cabbie located us and after a few minutes of negotiations we four were seated in an air-conditioned, albeit small, clean car and off we went. One objective was the Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens with the big lily pads we had heard about. A few minutes to withdraw some Rupees from the ATM and we were in, plus 200 rupees [$6.00] for a personal guide and off we went.
It is wonderful to get out of the city and into the fresh air of a well kept 280 year old garden, planned and planted by the French, and well kept. The highlights, other than just being there were the giant lily pads from the Amazon, the tortoises, and the Indian deer.
Our cabbie, a Tamil, was at the other end of the gardens waiting for us and off we went through some rolling hills of sugar cane and villages here and there, just like in France [?]. We located a restaurant right on the water in about the most picturesque bay we have seen and enjoyed a seafood lunch, milkshakes and a very tall, cold local beer. Wonderful.
Near to end of the the trip the cabbie picked up his five year old daughter, Rheana, from her grandma's home and she sat on Jim's lap as we drove back to our floating air-conditioned palace. I have never seen Jim interact with a small child. It was touching to see.
This was a new country for Gail and Jim, Mauritius. About #116 on their list.
Great day, oddly enough it worked out as planned, only better.
Pics: Not in order of the day, sorry.
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce.
- Street sales.
- Negotiating the cabbie.
- Lily pads.
- Tortoises galore.
- Indian [?] deer.
- More botanical things!
- The biggest, coldest beer in Mauritius.
- Tamil Mosque.
- Rheana and Granddad Jim.
- Downtown shopping centre.
- A shot of the market that I just had to add.
- The biggest container ship I have ever seen, still loading.
- Sunset at sailaway.
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