Must be a safe island: you need 3 keys to get in

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  Flic En Flac, Mauritius
Sunday, October 21, 2007

The flight in the middle of the night was uneventful. In fact: leaving at 3 in the morning is not such a bad idea. With a little aid of some pills, we slept for at least 5 hours, to be woken up for a typical, completely tasteless breakfast. Our first (but not last) experience with Air Mauritius: ordinary.

We did land exact on time and were happy with the 24 degrees at 7 in the morning. Immigration, health, customs. Health? Our passports were studied. In our case: a big job. Aha: Honduras!!! We were blacklisted on the health files as possible malaria carriers. If we need a doctor or a hospital in Mauritius and our symptoms are VAGUELY like malaria, we will be quarantined.  

Also, we are told we need an official proof of reservation, a sort of guaranty we can afford the stay

Nice kitchen

. No kidding: this is an official document. AND a ticket back out, of course, like we know by now. The first one does not apply for us, as it seems, only for certain 'blacklisted' countries. We get in OK.

Someone is waiting for our pick up.

I am impressed by the island. Together with Réunion and Rodrigues, Mauritius is part of the Mascarene Islands. It is 2000 square km and has 1.220.00 inhabitants. This archipelago was formed in a series of undersea volcanic eruptions, as the African plate drifted over the Réunion hotspot. Mauritius and Rodrigues were formed 8-10 million years ago. Some original craters can still be distinguished from several mountains.

Mauritian society is highly multi-ethnic. Most of the island residents are the descendants of people from the Indian subcontinent. Mauritius also has large immigrant populations from continental Africa, Madagascar, France, Great Britain, and China, among other places.

The official language of Mauritius is English. All government administrative documents are therefore drawn up in English

One of the 3 bedrooms !

. Together with English, French is also used in instruction in the educational system. French, however, predominates in the media, both broadcast and printed as well as with business and in corporate affairs. Mauritian Creole, which is derived from French with influences from the other dialects, is widely spoken on the island and is considered the native tongue of the country. Creole was the language used by the African slaves to communicate with their French masters. Today, Creole is used in everyday life by all Mauritians. It is NOT a mixture of English and French: I speak both languages well but cannot understand the Creole.

The cuisine of Mauritius is a blend of Indian Cuisine, Creole, Chinese and European. It is common for a combination of cuisines to form part of the same meal.

Sugar, rum and vanilla are natural resources.
 
At 08h30, we arrive at our apartment in Flic en Flac:

http://www.iot-mauritius.de/en/apartments/laresidence/laresi dence.htm

It is owned by a German and all correspondence was via him

Little office in each bedroom

. But, we are greeted by an Indian looking man. Who does not have our name on his reservation list. He spits out several names. Arning, we were supposed to arrive at 11. No. Ah: now he sees: Sachmuller: we are a day late. No. We show him the mail. The little, lively man, spends a lot of time saying nothing. Dr T has questions, of course. We learn nothing new. Hubby asks: do you recommend any of the beaches? The answer is: they are all public, sometimes you have to pay for the umbrella and chairs. All answers are equally unuseful.

But the apartment is OK. 3 bedrooms WITH a desk space in each of them. Big kitchen, newly furnished living area AND wireless internet. We take a shower (Hubby, the tap which says cold water, is the hot water).

We have no drinks and no food. Although, our little Indian man assures us the water is safe, Dr T refuses to drink it. We are in a back street of the beach and find a (breakfast) restaurant in minutes.

A distinguished smell hits my noise. When we use to grow our 'own' pig: everything of the animal was eaten, I mean everything. Cutting it up in pieces, one of my tasks was ... cleaning the intestines

Sitting room

. NOT the best job, but since I did not want to participate in the killing, I got another shitty job. Those intestines going through MY hands were clean at the end: I assure you. But, when you baked them (in the grease of the pig) they smelled bad. I cannot describe it, it smells like nothing else in the world, nothing! And THAT smell is hanging in the restaurant. I feel like running. We order full breakfast. It takes ages. Coffee is only served with the breakfast.

We know where the supermarket is and go shopping. Walking back home is NOT pleasant. We have water, coke, beer, wine, juice, ... in little plastic bags, which cut off your finger. 15 minutes take long! We also bought vanilla shower gel and vanilla coffee.

It is almost noon, here (we are 4 hours behind from Perth) and I decide to take a nap: jetlag! Of course, my iron man does not and goes to inquire about the diving. The reason we came to Flic en Flac is because our tourist book said it is the best place for diving and it is a small city with lively bars and restaurants. Flic en Flac derived its name from an Old Dutch phrase "Fried Landt Flaak" that literally means "Free and Flat Land."

During the 1960's the village was known only for its cemetery where people from nearby villages came to bury their dead relatives

First breakkie in Mauritius

. A cemetery of the 60ies next door: sounds like me!!!

I feel weird, jetlagged, I guess.  We go out in the early evening for our meal. We choose an Italian restaurant, closed to our hotel. Priorities: local beer: not bad. Hubby has chicken in orange, I have (a much too big) seafood pasta. Since the English is not working so well, I switch to French, which does not work, either. But, people are nice, wine, food and beers OK, so all is well in paradise. We are home early, to go to bed early. For our body, it is till 4 hours later and, although we slept well on the plane it is still not the same as in bed, is it?

I wake up before 7, turn and turn, fall back asleep, turn and turn and get up at 8.  Shower and make coffee. The vanilla coffee is nice! We have brunch on our terrace. It sounds easy but ... it was a bit different since everything in our fridge was: frozen.

While we are having our brunch the little Indian man is saying hi, just in time to be attacked by Dr T: there is not one cutting knife in the apartment, no decent pan and what do we do with our garbage : it is already full! Issues are solved.

The tourist information website for Flic en Flac is useless. Tony already has some diving info. We decide to walk the village. NO dumping it says, first in French, of course.

For who knows me well, the grave yard, which originally was the only purpose of the city fascinates me

Also the office

. It is not well kept at all. A large piece of land only contains 1 grave, the volcanic mountain at the background.

The shop, we wanted to buy some dives from is closed. When we walk by another dive shop, by accident, we book our dives for tomorrow.

http://www.sea-urchin-diving.com/html/start_en.html

The guy, who booked us, is very nice. We think English is not his mother tongue but either is French. He agrees on 2 morning dives, since we are not happy with diving at 9 and at 13h.
We walk to the sea, the sand is white and powder soft. Here we will depart for diving. Dr T is too hot and changes into his beach wear.

The vegetation is colorful.

Although it is clouded day: it is very hot. Local weather station says 24 degrees feels like 28. So we deserved a beer at home: the local brand.

Vanilla coffee

We go back to the supermarket, this time with a backpack: poor Tony.

I do not know how I feel with all this security. We are advised to:

1.       Keep our apartment door locked at all times.
2.       Keep the door to the building locked
3.       Lock the gate

It does not make me feel save, though!

We spend hours discussing 'after South-Africa': would you believe? We are getting organized. Countries which are safe and other which are not. Angola, DR Congo and Zimbabwe are considered unsafe! Also: my passport is not valid for more than 6 months beyond the 9th of January, which some countries require. We make a plan where to go, when and how. Wait and see.

When I am trying to write to you, hubby wants to go out for a beer

Orange chicken

. We did see, like a processions, this morning. We heard a lot of noise all day. And now Tomcat wants to find out what is going on.

But first: he paints the diving flag on one of my toe nails!

And, yes, there are thousands of people around, celebrating 'something'. All Hindus. The beach is full, the streets are loaded. We ask a police man. It is the worship of Durga. You do NOT want to have the whole story but she conquered evil. 80 percent of the people out, are women. I guess the husbands stayed home with the children, since it is female Goddess.
Coconuts, with faces painted on them, were tossed into the sea. Since Durga was a water Goddess, that might symbolize her?

The flip sight: the pubs are OR booked for private parties OR closed: we have to come back home.

It is pleasant to have a beer in our apartment. But, now someone has to cook the lamb chops we bought this afternoon. And I do not feel like cooking. Right this second, Hubby says, I'll start diner. Isn't he the best??? Or he might have thought: if I say that I will start the cooking, SHE will get up. But that did not work.

I will not survive long after dinner. But that is OK, we have to get up early for our first diving in Mauritius.

We will keep in touch, write to us???

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Seafood pasta	Brunch on terrace	NO dumping	1 Grave in front of the mountain
Diving for tomorrow	Too hot for me !	My Dr T	Beer???
My lovely mule	Locks and locks	Dive flag by Tomcat	Beach reunion
Coconuts

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