Mauritius!

October 14th, 2010: I’m sorry, where are we again?

Some of you may be wondering where and maybe even what Mauritius is. It is a small volcanic island off of the east coast of Madagascar and a little bit past the island of Reunion. As we pulled into the port of Port Louis all we saw were the tall buildings of the city center being surrounded by lush green mountains. It has a population of 1,300,000 and was originally under French rule but now is under the British. When the dodo bird was not extinct, Mauritius was its home and despite being extinct for almost 400 years, the bird is what Mauritius is known for. The island has no army because, well, there’s no one to fight with when you’re that far out into the ocean, and they have a navy of 11 ships. The island also does in fact have a Mauritian National Soccer team and won their first Olympic medal at the Beijing games. Our driver explained that despite the location, the island is still very connected to the outside world via television, cell phone, and internet. At our diplomatic briefing the only thing the consulate said was that more than anything, Mauritius wanted to be respected.

As soon as we stepped off the ship, Sam and I headed for a cab to get away from SAS people and into the heart of the island. Our driver took us to the southern coast to see Chamarel Falls while giving us a bit of a tour along the way. We realized that there is nothing really “official” in Mauritius. People speak Mauritian Creole, French, or English. The people accept Euros, Rupees, or American money as payment, and everywhere we went we saw mosques, Hindu temples, and churches. When the country feels like it and it’s convenient for them, they consider themselves to be part of Africa, but when it’s not convenient they see themselves as separate.

The more we drove, the more we saw the heavy Indian influence on the island. We’d pass these enormous brightly colored buildings with the Hindu Gods intricately carved up and down the columns. Our driver took us past this gigantic 100ft tall Hindu sculpture which was placed outside the Holy Lake. Every year for religious purposes, all of the Hindus in Mauritius pilgrimage to this lake for a festival. It’s almost as if this lake is the Ganges River of Mauritius. We also stopped at Black River Gorges National Park (which made me miss Ithaca!) and Alexandria Falls.

As we drove into the mountains the view became more and more spectacular. I peered out of the window and saw the bluest water I had ever seen in my entire life. It was like an island paradise (which is how most SAS kids treated it, but we’ll get back to that later). We finally made it to the Chamarel park which was beautiful and full or rolling hills was birds I had never seen before. Some brightly colored, some darker. We drove down dirt roads until finally we came to a halt. As we stepped out of the car we saw the Cascade Waterfall thundering into the gorge. It was created as a part of volcanic erosion and was a beautiful sight to see. Sam and I wanted to go hiking so we asked our driver and he nodded his head. We’re not sure what he thinks hiking is, but he ended up taking us to the seven colors of the Earth exhibit. This is basically a giant slab of dirt surrounded by fence that has, well, seven colors. This was a result of hydrolysis and ions and some cations being released… all of that good chemistry stuff I never understood. Just as soon as we thought this trip was a bust, Sam turned around only to see Giant Tortises. They truly live up to their name because I’m not quite sure how they manage to lug around that enormous shell every day.

As we went back to the car we yet again asked for hiking. This time we suggested backtracking to Black River. This was a bad idea. The driver continued to drive through the mountains for a good hour or so to the point where I was fighting with myself to not fall asleep. As I looked out the window I was able to see what makes Mauritius a third world country. Shacks lined the streets. They were made of metal, wood, tarp; basically any material that they could find. These houses were exactly like the townships in South Africa. Our cab turned down this dirt road onto a street lined with these shacks. Our driver asked this woman sitting in a chair some question in Creole and she pointed down the road. We continued to drive until we came to an open field that had a cement foundation on it. The driver turns to me and goes “No, it’s closed. No hiking here.” Again I’m not quite sure what he thinks hiking is because there is no way that at any point in time there was ever hiking there. Sam and I decided that we would succumb to the beautiful beaches instead, but he insisted on taking us elsewhere to try again. He dropped us off at a ranch and when the staff greeted us we greeted them by asking where the heck we were. We inquired what there was to do there to which the concierge responded “Well we teach you how to crush sugar cane the old fashioned way and we have horse carriage rides.” We tried really hard not to laugh and turned back to the cab and asked to go to the beach. He insisted that there were no beaches around our location (which is crap because the whole island is a beach!) and that we’d have to drive north. Little did we know that north meant all the way back to and past Port Louis, up to Grand Baie.

When the driver finally dropped us off at the beach, we told him that we had a place to stay for the night in order to get rid of him. He basically sucked all of our money away and the next thing I know, Sam and I are sitting on the beach with white sand and crystal clear water in front of us all the while staring into our empty money belts wondering how we’re going to get back to Port Louis. At one point a boat pulled up to shore and dropped off all of the Living Learning Coordinators from the ship. You think it’d be weird but after a while it becomes 2nd nature to see your teachers and bosses in port. Despite what it may seem like, we were actually in a fantastic situation. We had no money, but we were “stuck” on a beach in one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen before. After watching the sunset and asking the Abercrombie manager about the bus systems, we ended up catching a bus back to the port for only 26 Rupees (which is less than $1!).

October 15th, 2010: Back to the water

Today was a very calm day. We woke up and headed back to Grand Baie to relax on the beach. We sat for a couple of hours just staring at the crystal clear water. After a while we headed back into the main part of the town. Street vendors lined the side of the road with coconuts and pineapple. Jules and I actually purchased our own coconuts which the shop owners proceeded to chop off the top right in front of us, stick a straw in it, and then hand it over to us. To be honest, I don’t even like coconut that much and the juice didn’t taste like anything. I really just wanted to drink coconut juice out of a coconut.

We headed back to Port Louis after lunch and wandered around the markets. All of the shops had something to do with dodo birds. It was insane. The people there were friendly but it was a little like Morocco. They didn’t seem as genuine although some were. Others you could tell just wanted to talk you up so you’d end up buying their products. The indoor market was actually two floors of continuous vendors. The bottom floor was fruit while the second floor was all clothing, jewelry and other things. I somehow ended up with a Mauritius soccer jersey which to be honest is probably one of the uglier ones I’ve seen but I couldn’t pass it up.

As we were heading back to port we ran into Adam (the assistant to the academic dean/registrar) who convinced us to go grab some coffee with him (again, the administration becomes your friend on SAS, not your superior). We wandered along the waterfront and met up with Lauran (my boss in the field office) and her mom, Sue (the Executive Dean) and sat and talked for a while. I can honestly say I never expected myself to be sitting down with the Deans and my bosses for coffee and hanging out with them in port, but I guess that’s what happens on Semester at Sea!

Since all of us still had some extra Rupees we needed to spend, we left the café for the little gift shop next door. There Adam and I found the most obnoxiously colored and touristy shirts with Mauritius and the dodo bird plastered all over it. So what do we do? Naturally we decided to buy them and wear them to the barbeque on the ship later that night. After, we raced back to the ship to wait in line to board and avoid receiving dock time. It was like chaos and it was embarrassing to be a part of SAS. Students came back to the ship completely drunk out of their minds. They would be getting out of taxis and not be able to stand up on their own. Some were chugging the last of their liquor in line while others limped up with injuries as a result of being intoxicated and stupid. It was sad to bear witness to how most SAS students treated Mauritius.

All in all Mauritius should be looked at as a model country for the rest of world. There is little to no conflict there and everyone is at peace with one another. It’s funny to think about because America was founded by people seeking religious freedom yet there is so much religious tension there today, yet in a place like Mauritius where they have very little and are considered a third world country, they don’t bring religion into the mix at all. Hindus, Muslims, and Christians all coexist and don’t think twice about it. Yet again I pose the question, why can’t America be like this? I mean, maybe if we cut everyone’s possessions in half then everyone would find peace within themselves and between each other.

Mauritius has so much to offer and unfortunately most students did not treat like that. In the diplomatic briefing the consulate told us that all Mauritius wanted was respect. Well, Semester at Sea did not respect them by any means and the night we got back on the ship was horrible because everyone was drunk and/or recovering. My friends and I sat with our friends in administration and just talked about how horrible we feel to be back on the ship where we’re associated with these other people whereas out in port we made a name for ourselves. In the end, though, it sucks to know that Mauritius’ last impression of me personally was a student of Semester at Sea and they don’t think too fondly of SAS at the moment. Kids trashed their hotel rooms and villas to the point where it looked like tornados went off. Broken furniture, lamps. Kids skinny dipping in pools and peeing off of the balconies. I even heard one story of kids fighting with bamboo in the lobby and throwing up in the pool as well as wrapping themselves in the Mauritian flag and jumping in the pool. It was an absolute disgrace to the American name and the Semester at Sea organization which is exactly why my friends and I decided to stay on the ship rather than be associated with everyone else. All in all, I had a great experience and I would love to go back and get to know the culture more. The island’s main export may be sugar cane but they have a heart that’s made of pure gold.

Desmond Tutu quote of the day: “Unless we work assiduously so that all of God’s children, our brothers and sisters, members of one human family, all will enjoy basic human rights, the right to fulfilled life, the right of movement, the freedom to be fully human, within a humanity measured by nothing less than the humanity of Jesus Christ Himself, then we are on the road inexorably to self-destruction, we are not far from global suicide – and yet it could be so different.” –Archbishop Desmond Tutu on society