05/03/19 I can’t wait to meet the Belgian crew! Today I am flying to Mauritius for a Sydney friends reunion.
A driver picked me up at 12pm and we stopped by the craft market before the airport. After checking my suitcase, I passed security but just before hand luggage screening, I realised I am not allowed to bring the wooden baobab on board. I had it in my carry on because I waa afraid it would not survive the trip without damage in the checked luggage. So I took it out of my bag, asked for mercy and the staff gave it back to me, so I thought I was safe. During the screening however, they didn’t want to hear anything and told me I should ask police permission to go back to the desk to see if there is another option. The lady at the counter said she asked me if I had any wooden item in my hand luggage but she didn’t. She asked about batteries, stones and electronics. There is also an A4 page with all the forbidden items on her desk but nothing about wood. As they can’t bring a checked bag once it is gone, my options were to trash the item or hope to find a kind passenger who would accept to cary my item in his/her suitcase. I desperately tried to find someone but people were either only transiting through Mauritius, not checking a suitcase or afraid my item was contraband, which I totally understand – this might have been me refusing if was asked by another passenger. The security guy who was watching me begging people realised that the lady in charge of the aircraft crew was sitting nearby and suggested I talked to her to see if she can do anything. The very kind lady accepted to sign a discharge document personally which allowed me to take my baobab with me. There are still nice people in this world! My only souvenir from Madagascar is safe ?, at least for now.
The flight was a little late, but my friends waited for me at the airport, despite de fact that they landed 2h earlier. It was so nice to see them! A driver picked us all and drove us to my friend’s parents house. I could not believe my eyes when I got there. Beautiful and modern construction, all on 1 level, at the border of the golf course, in a private village next to one of the most luxurious hotel complex. The village is secured by guards at the entrance and you can drive with golf carts inside. The house is better than I could ever imagine. Made of beautiful noble materials and in Balinese style. Big glass windows, a swimming pool and home automation. This place is heaven on earth!
Port Louis, the capital city, has 150000 people, while the country is about 1.5 million only. We arrived at night so we could not see much of the landscape yet, but the many palm trees everywhere sound very promising.
06/03/19 After breakfast we went to the local market for fruits and veggies where we had local food than went the supermarket to load the fridge for a few days. Back at the house, the temperature was already high so we enjoyed the swimming pool before Flo joined us in the afternoon.
We took her on a boat trip to an island called Ile Aux Cerfs where we enjoyed a flavoured mojito (coconut anyone?) while swimming in the water.
Kem the housekeeper insisted to help us with the dinner and our chicken salad fries turned out a lot fancier than we expected.
07/03/19 As we were up early, Pascal Flo and I went to the gym at 7.30 for half an hour. We took the caddy to get there and crossed the golf course while the staff was cleaning and watering while the sun was not too strong.
At the entrance of the golf course, a guard was offering lemonade, coffee and cookies to the people passing by.
Back at the house we had breakfast with the group and got ready for a day of
A driver picked us up and we drove to Curepipe for a dormant volcano. Next stop was a hindu temple and the statue of Durga, an Indian goddess.
Next we stopped by a sacred lake, very popular among the locals as they have really big parties once a year.
A quick stop at the black river gorge national park view point reminded us of the Blue Mountains of Australia.
The driver took us to the Chamarel rhum factory which opened in 2008 to become the youngest one of the island. There are 2 types of factories; the agricultural one which uses sugar cane (like Chamarel), and industrial which uses molasses.
Rhum is produced in Mauritius since the 17th century, where we can find 12 varieties of sugar cane. Red and yellow sugar canes are used to produce rhum, picked by hand.
Sugar cane can be harvested twice a year and can regrow for 7 years before it is completely removed from the ground.
The sugar cane juice is fermented for only 2 days before going through a distillation process. Chamarel uses 2 distillation methods to get the final product with 42% alcohol.
After the visit, we were invited to a tasting experience of a cocktail and 8 different rhums. I chose the classic mojito ( made by a good looking Maurician) to taste what a real mojito should taste like, and as we arrived quickly to the other 8 rhums we all had to finish the glass quickly, so we all started to feel tipsy. Some were strong, others were flavoured with coconut or passion fruit.
Our next stop was the park of 7 hearths where we could see big tortoises. And we were all ready to go home after that. We had a shower and got ready for a delicious seafood buffet dinner at the hotel organised every Thursday. All you can eat lobster, there are worse places to eat! They also had coconut pancakes for dessert ?. I rarely ate at a buffet as fresh as this one. Everything was delicious and very well presented.
There was a bit of live music in the lounge area where we chilled after dinner and had another round of rhum tasting, offered by the hotel bar ?. These ones were sweeter than the ones from the factory, but we could only have a little shot of each, good enough for me ?.
08/03/19 Today we chilled by the pool and enjoyed the sun while some of us went for water sport activities. We played a drinking game in the evening after dinner at a fish restaurant where we shared giant lobsters and fish, it was delicious!
09/03/19 We made pancakes for lunch and we explored the Four Seasons hotel, little paradise as well next to our residency area. Private beach, palm trees, and fancy pool. Tonight there is a competition among the restaurant staff to put up the best table decoration hoping to win a trip to France, and there is a Star Chef competition for the hotel best cooks as well, who need to make a dish with a list of ingredients they don’t know in advance.
Tonight the last 2 members of the group are joining us, despite the worst plane trip ever. Their flight was delayed by 12h, they turned back after an hour for a window wiper issue, their luggage didn’t follow them either. Air France does not seem to be the best option! Their customer service was hopeless, their complaint file was closed before they received their luggage, and they were redirected to web links to follow the location of their suitcases that didn’t work. At least thy were happy to finally be here! And they borrowed a few things to wear.
10/03/19 Today we had to set the table ourselves and make breakfast, as the house staff does not work on sundays. It is funny how quickly we get used to house staff, not doing the dishes, cooking or making our beds ?. What a life. I feel so blessed being here.
We went to the markets to buy fruits and veggies, ate local food there for lunch then went to the supermarket for groceries. It started to rain heavily so we rushed home to save the cushions we left on the deck chairs outside. We made (wood) BBQ for dinner and went to the hotel bar to enjoy the DJ coming for the evening.
