Mauritius by www.born2travel.it

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04. 01. 2008 Trou Aux Biches (MAURITIUS) The small island of Mauritius welcomes us with a timid sun, in the far south, but we are heading to the north part where the sun is very strong! As good "tourists/sheep", with "our" group, we follow all the various procedures, baggage collection "all together", the welcome from the representative of "our" tour operator, the roll call, "all together" in "our" van that takes us to "our" hotel/village, the entertainer who always says the same things, the same recommendations: (phoning Italy with a mobile costs a lot, it's better to buy a local SIM... come on! Tonight there will be a meeting where they'll explain all the excursions we could do, etc.) While I let my mind wander, captivated by what nature managed to show through the window of "our" little van... Mauritius has very lush vegetation and this thanks to the fact that it often rains here...

It made me think of a mix between Panama and Belize... After about an hour of travel in which we crossed almost the entire island we reach our destination... Hardly time to understand where we are or to change, and we are already splashing about in the water... The Indian Ocean, seen from here, is far less frightening than Sri Lanka! I was a bit disoriented when, before such a beautiful sight, a small white beach and transparent water, I was little moved, like someone who has already seen many! I don't want to be like that! I would like to keep being moved every time as if it were the first time... In the afternoon we decide to do a bit of shopping for the "room" (water, biscuits, etc.).

We go to nearby Grand Baie; Nick even manages to get a lift in a car with a nice local family, and after a while here we are in the huge "Super U" doing our shopping, recalling the shopping done in Playa del Carmen, in Mexico! I was thinking: "A few hours ago I was in Milan under the snow and now I am in another world, where it is summer, I am in a swimsuit (wet), flip-flops... In the evening we are "cooked"; I prefer to rest chatting about this and that with a very beautiful Roman/Sardinian lady: Giancarla. Nick, despite everything and everyone, goes to the disco to dance with Ivano (the person in charge of our tour operator on site). 05. 01. 2008 Perebeyre (MAURITIUS) [Nick]: This morning we were supposed to go to Port Louis but we didn't wake up... It won't happen again but we were really tired...

I was counting on Mark but if he didn't wake up either it means we were really at the end of our rope! As my father says: "You just can't stay calm, can you?" No indeed! What a shame to sleep in late in a place like this; we miss the visit to the capital but we certainly don't lose heart, a quick look at the island map and right away here we are out and about again on a local bus heading to a spot a little north of Grand Baie: Perebeyre. The beach is nothing special but how nice to swim and sunbathe among the Mauritians, far from the places trodden by tourists... All black around us, the beautiful "chocolate girls" (as Jeff would say) walking with those so sinuous bodies, it reminded me so much of the beach of Santa Maria in Cuba... At the bus stop we meet a family from the island of Reunion with whom we chatted at length; I had never met anyone from that place and so I was very curious.

What a story! The island of Reunion, a little island between Madagascar and Mauritius that is nonetheless French territory in every respect! They have the euro, they speak French, the French passport and are considered "France" 100% despite being more than a thousand km from the "motherland", a bit like Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana. Miss France is from Reunion Island and paradoxically we could go there even just with an identity card! 06. 01. 2008 Ile Aux Cerfs (MAURITIUS) [Nick]: Sitting on a low wall overlooking the beautiful island I jot down a few events... Let's start from last night: while Mark was heading off with Giancarla and company towards the disco: Enfant terrible, I was going with Ivano and the two Russian hostesses to another one.

Stuffed with free drinks, I drank four rum-and-pineapples in a row and after a while I felt a brick on my stomach, but I had a great time. We danced until 2.30 (music a bit poor) but at those moments you hardly notice, we were there among local Mauritians and you could admire what nice tricks nature played: mulatto girls with almond eyes, black girls with very green eyes... [Nick]: The evening was fabulous, I danced a lot and when I return to the room, Mark feels like chatting and we talk until 4.30 with the alarm at 7.00! Like two zombies, in a few minutes we are ready! A van takes us, with an hour of travel, to the port, where we board a boat flying the Mauritian flag... At first we were a bit worried because we had bought this excursion at a little kiosk posing as a tourist office, but once again our instinct was right; with a few euros we organised a beautiful visit.

[Nick]: We take a super-fast speedboat that takes us to the Isle of Deer. The island is beautiful, Maldives-like sea, we have lunch in a hidden spot, with excellent grilled fish. Right after we take our speedboat again for a tour of the island by boat. We stop near some waterfalls where athletic local boys dived for the tourists... On our boat we sing and laugh with some tourists from Reunion. In the afternoon we return to our little beach for the last sunbathing, enjoying the various tropical fruits sold everywhere... I took a long walk with Giancarla along the water's edge, admiring the locals picnicking and swimming... You could see the Muslims diving fully clothed, the Hindus timidly getting wet in their long saris, the half-naked Western tourists; I must say though that there is great respect for this population on our part because so far I have not yet seen a topless woman.

[Muriel Paüs from Cilaos, Reunion]: J'étais d'avoir fait votre connaissance. Vous étes sympa. J'attends votre mails pour apprendre á parler votre langues qui sont magnifiques a bientot, j'espere chez nous ou chez vous.

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