Travel Log, Part Six
Once you stop the business part of a trip, the country becomes much more interesting.
Work comes and work goes. The business part of the trip went well, I did my thing, people did their things, a lot of hours and effort went into making sure all was successful, and in the end, we did our job. Packed up the work area, shut it all down, and then got ourselves into some R&R, as they say.
To recap, for those joining us late:
29-31 December: Travelling from NYC to London to Mauritius. Happy New Year.
1 January: Did a whirlwind tour of the central and southwest regions of the island.
2-14 January: Worked like MAD MONKEYS. Absolutely boring, except for the part where we went to the President's Residence for a reception. That was nice. We started a dance floor to the beat of an Indian rock band. In the President's garden. You can't make this stuff up.
15 January: This would be called "down time". We sat around and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Exhaustion took its toll. I slept a lot, had breakfast, slept some more, took a bath, and then went to the beach where the rest of my colleagues had been slow-roasting all day. If ever in my life there had been a day where I had done less, it probably involved lots of anaesthetics.
16 January: Back to tourism we go. Starting with the island-renowned market of Quatre Bornes, a shopping extravaganza of delirious proportions. Arguably a place to get the best prices on things; realistically a bonanza of trinkets and junk. But the setup... pure chaos! The area is a grid of booths crammed against each other, with narrow avenues passing through the rows, while the entire array is covered by a bizarre patchwork of tarps and canvases. Time and space lost all meaning as we meandered the paths laid before us and haggled with the merchants for their wares. Countless tourists wandered within; I suspect half of them were lost and trying to find their way out. It was a pickpocket's heaven; I wish I knew how to pick pockets.
After the shoppers' thirst had been quenched, our party made the drive north toward Pamplemousses, stopping once to get a mountaintop view down into Port Louis...
...and stopping again to visit another Hindu temple. These things are ornate. And kinda creepy.
The Jardin des Pamplemousses (Garden of Grapefruits) is a lovely botanical garden featuring, as the name implies, a grapefruit tree orchard. It being non-grapefruit season, the trees themselves were rather boring. But the rest of the gardens were a pleasure to walk through...
...once one got by the seedy touristic nature of the place. Entry fare: Free of charge. Guided walkthrough: $3/person. Guidebook w/map: $5. My colleagues opted for the guided tour. After a minute, I realized that the guide was a madman, and I left the pack to navigate the park myself.
It was very relaxing, and good to get out and breathe some fresh air and enjoy the scenery of trees and flowers and orchards and stuff. And giant turtles. And some kind of deer-like creatures.
Nearby was l'Aventure de Sucre, a museum-like area describing the history of the sugar industry in Mauritius. Now I know that there are 30 different species of sugar cane, each making their own distinct kind of sugary goodness. There is also rum distilled straight from the sugar cane, and the store had samples of the rum. Which I sampled. And then the guy showed how to make a liqueur out of it by adding sugar and warming it. Which I also sampled. As a side note, after that we went to lunch and some folks had bananas flambes, which came with lots of sugary rum. Which I finished for them. By the time we went home I was flying high. Oh yeah.
In the evening we left our hotel, walked through the water, and had dinner at the Hotel Maritim, which we were originally slated to stay in until the government of Mauritius "suddenly" decided to relocate us all to a different (cheaper) hotel. Bastards.
17 January: Everyone went shopping and beaching, again. I wasn't really up for either activity, so I said, what the hell, this hotel has a complete spa and fitness center, so I chalked up one professional massage for my well being. BEST IDEA EVER. After that I felt a hojillion times better.
18 January: Tourism resumes, this time to the north and east. We hit up Ile aux Cerfs, an island just off the coast. This meant a motorboat tour along the coastline, into a river and up to a waterfall, and then out to the island. Kick ass. Pictures forthcoming. We did a good deed by saving someone's hat after it flew off their head and landed in the water. Once we got to the island, I took a long hike along the edge in an attempt to walk all the way around. Lovely. Clear clean water, nice fairly empty beaches, and lots of sun. I baked myself like a potato. Then some local chap took me along the other (unwalkable) part of the island, and I returned to the end point, did some souvenir shopping, took more pictures, and then we got the last boat off and went back.
Our return trip took us along the coastal road to a few sites, including Cap Malheureux, the site of two battles between the French (who at the time owned Mauritius) and the British (who, after winning the second battle, gained control of Mauritius). Apparently, the French beat the British back the first time, and when the British returned with a much larger force, they came in and slew every living person in the area. Hence, Cap Malheureux, the Cape of Misfortune/Unhappiness. From there you can see several other neighboring islands- Ile Cuadmire, Ile Gabriel, Ile aux Serpents, and Round Island. Apparently Ile aux Serpents is the only place in the area you can find snakes- there are none on Mauritius itself. And Ile Cuadmire looks suspiciously like the Prudential Rock.
Eventually we got home, had dinner, drank, and I finished packing. The epic travel home began on the 19th. That will be an entry for another day, since I'm here in London right now in the middle of the trip.
Work comes and work goes. The business part of the trip went well, I did my thing, people did their things, a lot of hours and effort went into making sure all was successful, and in the end, we did our job. Packed up the work area, shut it all down, and then got ourselves into some R&R, as they say.
To recap, for those joining us late:
29-31 December: Travelling from NYC to London to Mauritius. Happy New Year.
1 January: Did a whirlwind tour of the central and southwest regions of the island.
2-14 January: Worked like MAD MONKEYS. Absolutely boring, except for the part where we went to the President's Residence for a reception. That was nice. We started a dance floor to the beat of an Indian rock band. In the President's garden. You can't make this stuff up.
15 January: This would be called "down time". We sat around and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Exhaustion took its toll. I slept a lot, had breakfast, slept some more, took a bath, and then went to the beach where the rest of my colleagues had been slow-roasting all day. If ever in my life there had been a day where I had done less, it probably involved lots of anaesthetics.
16 January: Back to tourism we go. Starting with the island-renowned market of Quatre Bornes, a shopping extravaganza of delirious proportions. Arguably a place to get the best prices on things; realistically a bonanza of trinkets and junk. But the setup... pure chaos! The area is a grid of booths crammed against each other, with narrow avenues passing through the rows, while the entire array is covered by a bizarre patchwork of tarps and canvases. Time and space lost all meaning as we meandered the paths laid before us and haggled with the merchants for their wares. Countless tourists wandered within; I suspect half of them were lost and trying to find their way out. It was a pickpocket's heaven; I wish I knew how to pick pockets.
After the shoppers' thirst had been quenched, our party made the drive north toward Pamplemousses, stopping once to get a mountaintop view down into Port Louis...
...and stopping again to visit another Hindu temple. These things are ornate. And kinda creepy.
The Jardin des Pamplemousses (Garden of Grapefruits) is a lovely botanical garden featuring, as the name implies, a grapefruit tree orchard. It being non-grapefruit season, the trees themselves were rather boring. But the rest of the gardens were a pleasure to walk through...
...once one got by the seedy touristic nature of the place. Entry fare: Free of charge. Guided walkthrough: $3/person. Guidebook w/map: $5. My colleagues opted for the guided tour. After a minute, I realized that the guide was a madman, and I left the pack to navigate the park myself.
It was very relaxing, and good to get out and breathe some fresh air and enjoy the scenery of trees and flowers and orchards and stuff. And giant turtles. And some kind of deer-like creatures.
Nearby was l'Aventure de Sucre, a museum-like area describing the history of the sugar industry in Mauritius. Now I know that there are 30 different species of sugar cane, each making their own distinct kind of sugary goodness. There is also rum distilled straight from the sugar cane, and the store had samples of the rum. Which I sampled. And then the guy showed how to make a liqueur out of it by adding sugar and warming it. Which I also sampled. As a side note, after that we went to lunch and some folks had bananas flambes, which came with lots of sugary rum. Which I finished for them. By the time we went home I was flying high. Oh yeah.
In the evening we left our hotel, walked through the water, and had dinner at the Hotel Maritim, which we were originally slated to stay in until the government of Mauritius "suddenly" decided to relocate us all to a different (cheaper) hotel. Bastards.
17 January: Everyone went shopping and beaching, again. I wasn't really up for either activity, so I said, what the hell, this hotel has a complete spa and fitness center, so I chalked up one professional massage for my well being. BEST IDEA EVER. After that I felt a hojillion times better.
18 January: Tourism resumes, this time to the north and east. We hit up Ile aux Cerfs, an island just off the coast. This meant a motorboat tour along the coastline, into a river and up to a waterfall, and then out to the island. Kick ass. Pictures forthcoming. We did a good deed by saving someone's hat after it flew off their head and landed in the water. Once we got to the island, I took a long hike along the edge in an attempt to walk all the way around. Lovely. Clear clean water, nice fairly empty beaches, and lots of sun. I baked myself like a potato. Then some local chap took me along the other (unwalkable) part of the island, and I returned to the end point, did some souvenir shopping, took more pictures, and then we got the last boat off and went back.
Our return trip took us along the coastal road to a few sites, including Cap Malheureux, the site of two battles between the French (who at the time owned Mauritius) and the British (who, after winning the second battle, gained control of Mauritius). Apparently, the French beat the British back the first time, and when the British returned with a much larger force, they came in and slew every living person in the area. Hence, Cap Malheureux, the Cape of Misfortune/Unhappiness. From there you can see several other neighboring islands- Ile Cuadmire, Ile Gabriel, Ile aux Serpents, and Round Island. Apparently Ile aux Serpents is the only place in the area you can find snakes- there are none on Mauritius itself. And Ile Cuadmire looks suspiciously like the Prudential Rock.
Eventually we got home, had dinner, drank, and I finished packing. The epic travel home began on the 19th. That will be an entry for another day, since I'm here in London right now in the middle of the trip.