A little over a year ago, the island of Mauritius had never even
entered my consciousness. I had never heard the name, let alone seen
pictures of it or been taught anything about its history. I'm assuming
that most of you have little knowledge about the island either, so
here's a little bit about the history, scenery and culture of
Mauritius (and I'll try to make it a little more exciting than what
our "Port-to-Port" Global Studies textbook gave us.
The island of Mauritius is only 720 miles in circumference. You can
drive pretty much anywhere in under an hour. It truly is just a dot in
the middle of the Indian Ocean, and on some maps, it's not even
visible. It was uninhabited by humans until the 1500s when the
Portuguese discovered the island. They soon realized that they did not
know what to do with the thousands of Dodo birds, giant tortoises and
raven-billed parrots, and they left without leaving much of a trace
that they had ever been there. Next up were the Dutch who also swung
and missed on the island. Finally, the French arrived and they were
able to do some work with the island. Well, they weren't the ones
actually doing the work, the brought African slaves to do the work for
them. In 1814, after almost one hundred years of French rule, the
British took control of the island, abolishing slavery. The only
problem was, that Mauritius' main export crop was sugar, and growing
and harvesting sugar is no small task, so the British brought
indentured servants from India to do the work for them, working in
almost slave-like conditions.
Although Mauritius was under British rule for most of its history,
until it got independence in 1968, the French culture left a very
lasting impression. When walking into stores, customers are greeted
with a hearty "Bonjour!" and the favorite dessert is the crepe.
Mauritius, however, is anything but monocultural (that's a new term I
made up). I was able to spend an entire day visiting different types
of cultural and religious centers. The majority of the Mauritian
people are known as Indo-Mauritians, descendents of the Indian
indentured servants. Their culture is very prevalent on most of the
island, however, there is the Creole culture, the Franco-Mauritian
culture, an Islamic culture and a bit of an African culture.
Mauritius is technically part of Africa, however it is a very
different Africa than anything I witnessed in South Africa. It
honestly doesn't feel like Africa at all, other than the occasional
African mask sold in shops or markets. Mauritius is India-light, as
our Dean called it.
We pulled into Mauritius on Saturday morning just after sunrise. The
landscape is very similar to Hawaii's with jagged green mountains
surrounded by sugar cane fields and varying degrees of blue colored
water.
My first day in Mauritius, I had nothing planned except to walk
around with a friend in Port Louis, the capital city. We were
strangers to the way the system worked at that time, and were not
aware that the waterfront was a half hour walk, but only a 5 minute
water taxi ride away. At that point, we didn't know the water taxis
existed and decided that the best option would be to walk. We ventured
through a shipping yard, to a road, that eventually led to a busy
street and finally the main city. A few blocks down from the
waterfront was an outdoor market. It was very informal. People had
organized their items on blankets in the road and were sitting,
waiting for someone to look their way so that they might be able to
give them their sales pitch. This road was not closed to traffic, but
it might as well have been. The only vehicles that could pass through
the mobs of people were motorbikes, which were in abundance in
Mauritius. People were selling everything from fruits and pastries, to
underwear and toothbrushes in this little market. We passed through
the area stopping to look at one or two items before we finally found
the Waterfront area. Katrina and I had nothing planned so we decided
we would go see a movie in French. Our Dean has always emphasized that
his favorite thing to do in foreign countries is to go see movies
because audiences often act quite differently than they do in America.
So, we decided to buy our tickets for 150 Rupees and went to see
Asterix aux Jeux Olympiques. It was completely in French with no
subtitles, but we really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much you can
understand without even knowing the language. We found a small French
deli and ordered sandwiches before setting back out to the market to
buy completely legal $2 DVDs.
Our second day was one of total relaxation out on the ocean. We
boarded a small catamaran that fit 28 people and sailed out into the
water, chasing dolphins before stopping to snorkel for about an hour.
It wasn't the best snorkeling I've ever done, but the surrounding area
was beautiful, with green hills rising out of the water around us, and
some of the clearest water I've ever seen covering the reef. I did get
to see a school of squid. That was probably the highlight of the day's
snorkeling. After we had all climbed back onto the boat, we sailed to
another part of the island where the water was about eight feet deep
and the sand underneath it was white and free of rocks. We jumped off
the boat from here and swam around in the water. The ship's doctor,
"Doc Brown" was on our boat and he came up with a little activity for
us. Most catamarans have netting at the front of them where a few
people can sit. He decided that it would be fun to swim under the
boat, grab hold of the netting and put his feet up, hanging like a
basket from the bottom of the boat. Of course, more of us had to try
it. I have some pretty good pictures of our doctor hanging upside-down
off the bottom of the boat, like elementary school kid on the jungle
gym. We ate lunch that had been barbequed off the back of the boat and
listened as our crew played guitar and sang songs.
Once again, on the third day, I didn't have anything planned through
Semester at Sea, so a few of my friends and I went to Grand Bay on the
north side of the island to go parasailing. Grand Bay looks like
Hawaii or even Southern California. It does not really feel like a
foreign country, like Port Louis does, but it was beautiful. They had
high end shopping, which we drove past, but didn't stop at, and
gorgeous beaches. We found a taxi driver that day who was in some way
affiliated with the US embassy. He drove us to boat that was to take
us parasailing, but would not let us go until he had made sure that
the men who were supposed to take us were not going to take advantage
of the fact that we were foreigners. We climbed onto the small,
colorful boat, without signing any release papers and headed out for
800 rupees (about $30). My friends were kind enough to designate me to
go first and I was soon floating in the air above the island. I could
see the larger ocean connected to the little cove that we were in. It
was amazing because the colors of the water changed so rapidly from a
water turquoise to a deep cerulean blue. This was unlike any
parasailing I've ever done because it was pretty windy that day and I
was getting whipped around up in the air. It would calm down and I was
able to look out over the water, and then all of a sudden Whoosh I'd
be yanked to the other side of the boat without any warning. Then I
would be lulled into a false sense of security again, and the
parachute would drop several feet before rising up again. It was a lot
of fun, like a very scenic roller coaster. I watched the rest of our
group go through the same thing that I did before we drove back to
land, to find out taxi driver waiting to take us to a beach. We drove
to this small, secluded cove where only a few other people were
swimming. He walked us to beach to make sure that we were satisfied
and then told us he would wait until we came back and that if we
needed anything, just come to his car. He made the day much less
stressful than it could have been. We swam on the beach before lying
down to read and sleep and just enjoy being in Mauritius.
The final day was my cultural day. We spent the day learning about
the various cultures and religions on the island, all living together
fairly peacefully. Our first stop was to a Hindu temple. It was a very
interesting time to be in Mauritius because there was a Hindu
pilgrimage happening. It takes place over five days and celebrates the
god, Shiva. Hindis from all over the island walk to a sacred lake that
would take an hour to drive to from Port Louis. The traffic is slow
during the pilgrimage because the pilgrims walk down the roads in
large groups holding these large shrines to Shiva. We went to a temple
where many of the people were stopping to rest, eat, drink, celebrate
and worship before continuing on with the pilgrimage. The Hindu
religion is known for being very inclusive and very colorful. We were
welcomed into their celebration and into their temple to see a pyramid
shaped building, lined with carvings and sculptures of the gods. All
around this temple were shrines to the gods and several people were
peacefully praying in front of them. Outside of the temple, it was
very loud and quiet, however inside of the scene was very serene and
moving, almost as if sound and time only existed outside the temple
gates. One of my favorite moments was just watching a few people
worshipping in front of the shrines. I could easily see that their
consciousness and focus was elsewhere.
For many people, Mauritius was a Spring Break, however for me, it was
the first time that I truly felt like I was in a foreign country. The
previous ports have been different from the US, but still had a very
Westernized feeling. Mauritius has definitely been exposed to
globalization, but the prevailing influence is Indian, not European.
It was a nice transition from the more modern countries, to the
countries that lie ahead. Our next stop is Chennai, India. Wish me…and
my stomach…luck. I can't wait to tell you the stories from India. I'm
sure that they will be incredibly memorable.
entered my consciousness. I had never heard the name, let alone seen
pictures of it or been taught anything about its history. I'm assuming
that most of you have little knowledge about the island either, so
here's a little bit about the history, scenery and culture of
Mauritius (and I'll try to make it a little more exciting than what
our "Port-to-Port" Global Studies textbook gave us.
The island of Mauritius is only 720 miles in circumference. You can
drive pretty much anywhere in under an hour. It truly is just a dot in
the middle of the Indian Ocean, and on some maps, it's not even
visible. It was uninhabited by humans until the 1500s when the
Portuguese discovered the island. They soon realized that they did not
know what to do with the thousands of Dodo birds, giant tortoises and
raven-billed parrots, and they left without leaving much of a trace
that they had ever been there. Next up were the Dutch who also swung
and missed on the island. Finally, the French arrived and they were
able to do some work with the island. Well, they weren't the ones
actually doing the work, the brought African slaves to do the work for
them. In 1814, after almost one hundred years of French rule, the
British took control of the island, abolishing slavery. The only
problem was, that Mauritius' main export crop was sugar, and growing
and harvesting sugar is no small task, so the British brought
indentured servants from India to do the work for them, working in
almost slave-like conditions.
Although Mauritius was under British rule for most of its history,
until it got independence in 1968, the French culture left a very
lasting impression. When walking into stores, customers are greeted
with a hearty "Bonjour!" and the favorite dessert is the crepe.
Mauritius, however, is anything but monocultural (that's a new term I
made up). I was able to spend an entire day visiting different types
of cultural and religious centers. The majority of the Mauritian
people are known as Indo-Mauritians, descendents of the Indian
indentured servants. Their culture is very prevalent on most of the
island, however, there is the Creole culture, the Franco-Mauritian
culture, an Islamic culture and a bit of an African culture.
Mauritius is technically part of Africa, however it is a very
different Africa than anything I witnessed in South Africa. It
honestly doesn't feel like Africa at all, other than the occasional
African mask sold in shops or markets. Mauritius is India-light, as
our Dean called it.
We pulled into Mauritius on Saturday morning just after sunrise. The
landscape is very similar to Hawaii's with jagged green mountains
surrounded by sugar cane fields and varying degrees of blue colored
water.
My first day in Mauritius, I had nothing planned except to walk
around with a friend in Port Louis, the capital city. We were
strangers to the way the system worked at that time, and were not
aware that the waterfront was a half hour walk, but only a 5 minute
water taxi ride away. At that point, we didn't know the water taxis
existed and decided that the best option would be to walk. We ventured
through a shipping yard, to a road, that eventually led to a busy
street and finally the main city. A few blocks down from the
waterfront was an outdoor market. It was very informal. People had
organized their items on blankets in the road and were sitting,
waiting for someone to look their way so that they might be able to
give them their sales pitch. This road was not closed to traffic, but
it might as well have been. The only vehicles that could pass through
the mobs of people were motorbikes, which were in abundance in
Mauritius. People were selling everything from fruits and pastries, to
underwear and toothbrushes in this little market. We passed through
the area stopping to look at one or two items before we finally found
the Waterfront area. Katrina and I had nothing planned so we decided
we would go see a movie in French. Our Dean has always emphasized that
his favorite thing to do in foreign countries is to go see movies
because audiences often act quite differently than they do in America.
So, we decided to buy our tickets for 150 Rupees and went to see
Asterix aux Jeux Olympiques. It was completely in French with no
subtitles, but we really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much you can
understand without even knowing the language. We found a small French
deli and ordered sandwiches before setting back out to the market to
buy completely legal $2 DVDs.
Our second day was one of total relaxation out on the ocean. We
boarded a small catamaran that fit 28 people and sailed out into the
water, chasing dolphins before stopping to snorkel for about an hour.
It wasn't the best snorkeling I've ever done, but the surrounding area
was beautiful, with green hills rising out of the water around us, and
some of the clearest water I've ever seen covering the reef. I did get
to see a school of squid. That was probably the highlight of the day's
snorkeling. After we had all climbed back onto the boat, we sailed to
another part of the island where the water was about eight feet deep
and the sand underneath it was white and free of rocks. We jumped off
the boat from here and swam around in the water. The ship's doctor,
"Doc Brown" was on our boat and he came up with a little activity for
us. Most catamarans have netting at the front of them where a few
people can sit. He decided that it would be fun to swim under the
boat, grab hold of the netting and put his feet up, hanging like a
basket from the bottom of the boat. Of course, more of us had to try
it. I have some pretty good pictures of our doctor hanging upside-down
off the bottom of the boat, like elementary school kid on the jungle
gym. We ate lunch that had been barbequed off the back of the boat and
listened as our crew played guitar and sang songs.
Once again, on the third day, I didn't have anything planned through
Semester at Sea, so a few of my friends and I went to Grand Bay on the
north side of the island to go parasailing. Grand Bay looks like
Hawaii or even Southern California. It does not really feel like a
foreign country, like Port Louis does, but it was beautiful. They had
high end shopping, which we drove past, but didn't stop at, and
gorgeous beaches. We found a taxi driver that day who was in some way
affiliated with the US embassy. He drove us to boat that was to take
us parasailing, but would not let us go until he had made sure that
the men who were supposed to take us were not going to take advantage
of the fact that we were foreigners. We climbed onto the small,
colorful boat, without signing any release papers and headed out for
800 rupees (about $30). My friends were kind enough to designate me to
go first and I was soon floating in the air above the island. I could
see the larger ocean connected to the little cove that we were in. It
was amazing because the colors of the water changed so rapidly from a
water turquoise to a deep cerulean blue. This was unlike any
parasailing I've ever done because it was pretty windy that day and I
was getting whipped around up in the air. It would calm down and I was
able to look out over the water, and then all of a sudden Whoosh I'd
be yanked to the other side of the boat without any warning. Then I
would be lulled into a false sense of security again, and the
parachute would drop several feet before rising up again. It was a lot
of fun, like a very scenic roller coaster. I watched the rest of our
group go through the same thing that I did before we drove back to
land, to find out taxi driver waiting to take us to a beach. We drove
to this small, secluded cove where only a few other people were
swimming. He walked us to beach to make sure that we were satisfied
and then told us he would wait until we came back and that if we
needed anything, just come to his car. He made the day much less
stressful than it could have been. We swam on the beach before lying
down to read and sleep and just enjoy being in Mauritius.
The final day was my cultural day. We spent the day learning about
the various cultures and religions on the island, all living together
fairly peacefully. Our first stop was to a Hindu temple. It was a very
interesting time to be in Mauritius because there was a Hindu
pilgrimage happening. It takes place over five days and celebrates the
god, Shiva. Hindis from all over the island walk to a sacred lake that
would take an hour to drive to from Port Louis. The traffic is slow
during the pilgrimage because the pilgrims walk down the roads in
large groups holding these large shrines to Shiva. We went to a temple
where many of the people were stopping to rest, eat, drink, celebrate
and worship before continuing on with the pilgrimage. The Hindu
religion is known for being very inclusive and very colorful. We were
welcomed into their celebration and into their temple to see a pyramid
shaped building, lined with carvings and sculptures of the gods. All
around this temple were shrines to the gods and several people were
peacefully praying in front of them. Outside of the temple, it was
very loud and quiet, however inside of the scene was very serene and
moving, almost as if sound and time only existed outside the temple
gates. One of my favorite moments was just watching a few people
worshipping in front of the shrines. I could easily see that their
consciousness and focus was elsewhere.
For many people, Mauritius was a Spring Break, however for me, it was
the first time that I truly felt like I was in a foreign country. The
previous ports have been different from the US, but still had a very
Westernized feeling. Mauritius has definitely been exposed to
globalization, but the prevailing influence is Indian, not European.
It was a nice transition from the more modern countries, to the
countries that lie ahead. Our next stop is Chennai, India. Wish me…and
my stomach…luck. I can't wait to tell you the stories from India. I'm
sure that they will be incredibly memorable.
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