Lindsay Melhoff

Another first for me today….swimming in the ocean at 8:00 on Christmas morning. Definitely something I’ve never done before and something I likely won’t do again, or at least not for a while. We took our little mini-bus into Curepipe today to see where my great-aunt No-No lives. I must say that, relative to everywhere else here and the crowdedness of Curepipe, she has a huge flat! Her place is covered in pictures of her Canadian family…there was one of me as a baby, one of me at age 3 and many more. Even two pictures with Dustin in them. No-No had a bunch of Christmas gifts for everyone…she is just too generous. We were all very delighted with our gifts…it’s uncanny how well she knows us all. She even sent a wrapped gift home with me for Dustin, because, as she put it, “he’s part of the family, no?”.

Then we headed to Flic En Flac where No-No booked us it for lunch. Now I don’t want to use that horrible word “undescribable” but it was. The grounds were immaculate! Ponds and lush vegetation, even some tortoises for good measure. We ate on this little veranda in the middle of a pond, with (of course) a thatched roof overhead. The meal was up to par with the surroundings, being definitely the best we’ve had so far. Most of the family ordered camaron, which is a little lobster kind of thing. Me, I had durado fish with cream of asparagus sauce and mixed veggies (which included palm hearts, a local delicacy). It was absolutely fabulous! No-No did good again!

We were back at the hotel around 5 ish and I spend the next couple hours just relaxing in my room (and messing around with some picstures…I’ve lowered the resolution on a bunch of pics in hopes that I will be able to upload them on the internet tomorrow).

No-No joined us for Christmas supper and it was another wonderful buffet! I keep saying this, but my fave meal at Merville yet. They had more fish than a girl like me knew what to do with, and sauces and salads to boot. And the dessert table! Well I won’t even get started!!! I had a few too many glasses of wine and definitely got a little tipsy tonight (as likely evidenced by my writing) but what the hell, it’s Christmas. I phoned home and talked to all the Gates’….definitely nostalgic for home. But nothing can beat sitting on the beach at 9 o’clock on Christmas evening, drinking wine and watching the ocean. It was picturesque!! I wasn’t up too late, as the day was long, but enough to get a few more drinks under my belt and stumble up to my room. It was definitely a Christmas for the record books!

Je vous manque tous et Noelle est pas la meme sans vous. Je souhete que votre journee serait parfait comme le meme. A demain!

I’m sure I’ve said this numerous times before but it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow!!! This is my first not-white Christmas and I just can’t wrap my head around it!! Today was a tour day. We ride in this little mini-bus/van thing that is deathly uncomfortable and hot as hell (even with the air on). And for being such a small island, it takes quite a while to get to the other end of it. We are staying in the north and have been traveling frequently to the south to see numerous attractions (if you could call them that). Today was a day that my great-aunt Noelle (who we call No-No) played for us. It started off at Riviere des Anguilles (which is about an hour and a half from our hotel). There we went to what was supposed to be a croq farm but turned out to be much more. Earlier in the week, No-No was telling us that we had to see the croq feedings because it was “beautiful” and “lovely”. Now French is her first language, but her English is good enough…somehow I was suspicious of how “beautiful” this was going to be.

I’ll save you the details of the feeding, but it wasn’t nearly as disgusting as I had expected. And I got to hold a baby croq! It was awesome. The croq farm was much more than just a croq farm…they had all different kinds of animals and vegetation out of the pages of National Geographic. I also got my picture taken on a tortoise! There were the cutest flipping monkeys in the world, as well as wild boars, bats and tons of birds.

Next we headed along the south of the island to Chamarel. Chamarel is the only place in the world where there are “Seven Colors of Earth”. It is literally what it sounds like…a place where there are sands of seven different colors, ranging from purples and reds to oranges and golds. Before the sands though we stopped for lunch at a cute place in the middle of nowhere (actually in the middle of their national park on the side of a mountain) called Chez Ruben. It was a really nice little Hindu place. Then we stopped a checked out Chamarel Waterfall. We could see this waterfall from a distance on our hike the other day but the view from where we were today was priceless! The pictures I took look like postcards and had it not been for the people in them, no one would believe I actually took them.

So we finally made our way to the Seven Colored Sands, but our stay there didn’t last long. No-No (who is 80 years old) took a fall and cut open her nose. It was quite a scene, with blood everywhere and many Indians standing about staring like it was the attraction. We finally got the bleeding to stop, but being since we were in the middle of nowhere, we had to drive through many little towns until we finally found a medic that could see her. The hospital was shaddy to say the least. The doctor ok’ed her to travel to Grand Baie (where we are staying) and she spent the night in the hospital there. It was one scary situation. One forgets how old she actually is because she is the most vibrant and lively 80 year old you’ll ever meet! Tensions were high but in the end No-No was fine, although we had to have Christmas Eve dinner without her.

Well it’s starting to feel a little bit more like Christmas…mostly due to the carolers that sang tonight on the beach and around the pool. It’s really quite something else to hear them singing traditional Christmas songs with their Mauritian accents. Dinner was also “traditional” or at least attempted to be, serving us turkey dinner, complete with stuffing. I must say though, I wasn’t impressed. I’m jealous of the thought of you all enjoying nice birds at home. Well not that jealous…it was 34’C here today.

We had a bit of a late night today, staying up to tip nearly every waiter we saw. I was making paper airplanes out of 50 Rubie bills (which is about two and a half dollars Canadian). You would be surprised how grateful the servers are for this small tip…and it got us free drinks all night (and likely for the rest of the week).

Joyeux Noelle mes amis! Mange beaucoup de dinde!!

Today was a great day…exactly how all holidays should be. Nothing on the agenda and do as you please! I was up fairly early again…I’ve been struggling with a bit of a head cold since I’ve arrived. Nothing that has kept me down but mostly just a nuisance in the morning hours. I walked to downtown Grand Baie with my pops (I don’t know how many days I’ve spent shopping downtown but I’m sure many more will come). It’s only about a 15 minute walk…which in this humid heat, can feel like two days, but today was not too bad. I’m not sure whether the weather is milder or whether I’m just getting used to it. In any case, we spent the morning at an internet cafÈ and shopping at the local shops. I’m told that Grand Baie is very expensive shopping (as it’s such a tourist area) but I’m found prices relatively reasonable in comparison to Canada. It’s a bit alarming thought because everything is in Rubies and Rubies are not worth much. The average shirt is 500 Rubies…sounds like a lot I know, but it’s really only $25 Canadian. Anyways, I got the last of my gift shopping taken care of today.

We were back at the hotel by around 1ish and down at the beach around 2. During the meantime, I hand washed some clothes. The hotel has laundry facilities but they ask for your first born in return ($8 Canadian for a pair of pants, $6 per shirt and $2 per pair of undies!!). It was another wonderful afternoon on the beach. Today was the first day I’ve eaten lunch. Usually I eat so damn much for breakfast that it lasts me til supper but I guess not today. I had a tasty tomato, basil and mozza panini at the hotel. The panini (which came with fries ad a short of cucumber/carrot coleslaw) costs the same as a drink here, 5 euros. It ain’t cheap to get liquored! Which reminds me of my cane liquor (sugar cane is Mauritius’s biggest agricultural export) that I bought at the supper market for $5 Canadian dollars. I’ve yet to try it but I will keep you posted. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week are lazy, no agenda days, so maybe I’ll pound back my bottle then! Lol

Tonight was my fave supper thus far…a tropical buffet! Don’t ask me how that differs from a Mauritian buffet but it was delish! I’ve been so adventurous this trip, trying all different kinds of fish. I’ve discovered that I really like white tuna…especially barbecued. After dinner, it was another early night. Between the huge meals, the early mornings and the humid heat, it takes a lot out of a girl.

Bonne soir et a demain.

Today was the reason we are here – our Family Reunion. I spent the morning just hanging around and we left the hotel around 11 ish. It was a fairly short right to Roche Noir, which is where the good portion of my grandfather’s cousins live. They have this estate which is absolutely beautiful. It’s probably about the size of a city block (if not a little smaller) and has eight houses built on it. Each house belongs to another sibling and their family…and of course they have a beautiful beach and bay to enjoy. The story goes that my great-grandparents left the land to all eight children, so they held a short of lotto to decide who got t build where. Jo-Jo (my grandfather’s best friend and cousin) got lucky and pulled the best beach front lot. The Reunion was definitely a highlight, despite the fact that most of the family were at least a few decades older than me. For those readers who are unaware, my grandfather who is Mauritian passed away five years ago this January and to meet his cousins and the people he grew up with was absolutely priceless! The resemblance some of them had to my Poppa was almost frightening. The food was delish and the company, unbeatable. This was the pinnacle of my trip.

We arrived back home around 5ish and rested until supper. There has been a lot of resting on this holiday. Mostly I’m sure because of the heat…it sure takes a lot of out of you. We went down and caught a late supper…tonight was another Table D’Hote. The meal I chose (there was three choices all together for main courses) was definitely not the best I’ve had here, but was ok. I’m not sure if I’ve commented on the music yet, but every night the hotel has some form of live music in the restaurant and bar (it goes restaurant, bar than beach). The music last night was my fave! No sega but a duo act that blew me away. The young Creole girl sang mostly cover songs (a lot of Alicia Keys and Lauren Hill songs) and was absolutely fabulous. After the duo finished, a group took the stage. The young man singer was great as well…he would have made a wonderful drag queen with his feminine features.

That reminds me…I’ve been in Mauritius for what now, 5 full days and have seen only a hand full of fat people (by people I mean Mauritians…there are plenty of fat tourists, some of which have no shame…especially the Germans in their banana hammocks). Mauritians are just not fat people I guess…perhaps because it’s a semi-impoverished country…or maybe because they eat so much damn fruit…in any case, fat people are just not here. Which also brings me to sizes….wow, shopping for clothes here is sure an experience. Everything is meant for little people…and not midgets (excuse my lack of politically correct language) but women who are shaped like little boys. But don’t worry about me…I’ve still managed to shop my fair share! Lol

Demain est une journee plate…rien a faire! Just comme je l’aime! Bon Apetit!

Another wonderful day in paradise; this one a little more physical than the lasts. We were up early and on the road by 7:30, heading down to the Black River Gorge National Park where we took a hike. It was an “easy” hike, as all three of my little cousins came with me. If that was easy though, I don’t want to know what the medium or hard one was like. It was 4 hours long, in the humid heat. By the time we neared the end, we were all dragging our asses down the mountain. The ground we covered was unreal, including walking down the side of a mountain. It was nearly vertical, any more so and we would have been rappelling. Thankfully for us all, we were able to take a refreshing dip in the Black River before continuing on to meet our driver to take us home. It was definitely a hike I’ll never forget.

I spend the rest of the afternoon (we didn’t get back to the hotel until 3:00) lounging my room, relaxing. Then we went down for a Mauritian buffet for dinner. You guys would all be proud of me! I’ve tried things here that I never thought I would try! A few nights ago I tried squid (not my thing) and then last night I had grilled white salmon and it was fabulous!! After dinner, there was a mini sega show. Sega is the traditional music and dance of Mauritius and it’s a lot harder than it looks (we all got to try a few sega steps with the dancers after their performance). I bought the groups disc (homemade) and it’s super good! And I shocked myself last night, staying up until 11:30 at the bar drinking. Drinks are ridiculously expensive (5 euros or more which is over $10 Canadian) but we’ve figured out how to do it. You just tip a bartender a couple hundred rubies (which is $10 Canadian) and then they serve you free drinks all night!

Anyways, off to bed now as we have our reunion tomorrow in Roche Noir. Merci pour lire et a demain!

I slept in today (finally) and was it ever great! Now that we got our air conditioning in our room fixed, it was heaven. The last few nights without air was like sleeping in a sauna and the rate that I sweat, it was not pretty (lol).

The official language of Mauritius is Creole, the national language is English but everyone speaks French. They are required to take French in school. I wish I could speak/understand some Creole. The locales usually speak in French, but once they catch on that I understand French, they start speaking Creole. Lol I wish I knew what they were saying!

So today…we made it up just in time to catch some breakfast and then headed downtown Grand Baie. I could spend every day there shopping as each time I go, I discover new streets, shops and markets. I got the cutest dress and a few gifts for people back home. Kayla bought a Mauritian hip hop disk by an artist named Otopsie, which is actually quite good. We stopped at noon to have a beer at a small bar and got the young Creole bartenders to put the disc in for us to listen to while we drank in the shade. What happened next would only happen in Mauritius – the young bartender asked us if we wanted to meet Otopsie and got on his cell phone to call him up! We left before he arrived but we are supposed to return in the next few days to meet him!

I spend the majority of the afternoon lounging on the beach. Again it was beautiful today, some 35 degrees celcius. Being downtown in this heat is nearly unbearable, as you don’t get the wind from off the ocean. We took a short ride on a glass bottom boat and saw first hand some multi-colored fish and immaculate coral. It’s like nothing else. And then it was back to the drinks. It’s not that I’m getting wasted every day or anything, but there is nothing better than a nice cold drink in the afternoon heat, even despite the $12 price tag.

We returned downtown in search of man-capris for Dad. The restaurant at the hotel will not allow men to wear shorts or man-tanks at supper, but they will allow man-capirs. Our mission was unsuccessful but resulted in some heavy bargaining for some great coral jewelry. The starting price for the three pieces I took home was 8000 Rubies but I got the girls down to 1800. Too bad for an amateur barterer.

OMG!!! As I write this, my sister just pointed out a geko on the wall in our hotel room!!!! That is just creepy and now I”ll be up all night fretting about the stupid thing She assures me that they only eat bugs but for some reason, I’m having a hard time believing it. I think I’ll phone my young cousins down the hall to get rid of the damn thing for me…or perhaps the front desk. Do you think they will laugh at me???

Une autre nuit tot parce qu’on va pour une toure demain matin aux park nationale. Bonne Soir!!

Our first full day and I’m beat.  The sun (and the humidity) sure take a lot out of you.  I was up early today (as I was in bed early last night) and went down to enjoy the feast of a breakfast the hotel puts on.  Much to my surprise, I definitely will not starve here.  After that we just laid around by the ocean, digesting and killing time while Dad was getting his first pedicure ever.  We then headed to down town Grand Baie to explore. 

And what an adventure it was.  There are tons of little shops and restaurant/bars and everything is very westernized (except the prices that is).  Grand Baie is a real tourist area so the prices are higher than they would be elsewhere, or at least so says my great aunt Noelle.  I bought some postcards and got them shipped off, but who knows how long they’ll take to arrive.  I’ll likely get home before they will.  It was such a scorcher today that we decided to take a cab to the Super U (the local supermarket that sells EVERYTHING…from clothes to beer to Christmas decorations and of course food).  The cabbie ripped us off but I suppose that’s expected of your first cab ride in a new place.  I bought a 6 pack of beer (locally brewed

We checked out the local casino (Kacino as they spell it) but it wasn’t anything that caught my fancy.  Machines only, without even one table in sight.  Given that we were weighed down by bottles, we hopped a cab home, this time bartering for a better price.  Turns out that bartering is acceptable EVERYONE here, shops and all.  Who would have thought.

Once back at the hotel, I went for the most expensive pedicure I”ll likely ever have in my life (70 euros plus tax and tip, which totals nearly 200 Canadian dollars).  It was good though and the girls were fabulous.  The locales are really nice here, although hesitate given our background and the amount of racism between the ‘grand blancs’ and the creole and Indian population. 

Then it was back to the beach and then down for supper.  Noelle joined us for supper and brought gifts and envelops for everyone…she is just too generous!  It was a nice Italian buffet toniht with a band playing (who called themselves Hot Stuff).  It’s another early night though, and likely another early morning.  I’m determined to hit the gym in the morning but we’ll see how that turns out. 

Bonne nuit a tout et je vais ecrire plus demain.  xoxo

Mauritius is WONDERFUL! 

Well we’re here and it’s absolutely beautiful.  Getting here was definitely a challenge: between the bad roads to Regina, the switching flights and delays in Regina and some important lost articles in London, we nevertheless made it.  And it only took two and a half days.  Total flight time: 23 hours.  Not bad I guess but definitely a trek across the world.

Our hotel, Merville Beach, is gorgeous!  Beaches like I’ve never seen and service to boot.  The only complaint thus far is the lack of free internet service so consequently I will only be posting every other day, although I will be writing every day.  Although no pics here in this post, there will be soon. 

We had our first meal at our hotel this evening and it was definitely do’able.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mauritian food but this was really great.  Tonight was a Table D’Hote evening (for you cooths, that means we got to order off the menu) and I had a plum stuff pork loin that was delish!  It’s an early night tonight as we’ve barely had any sleep in the past two days.  Tomorrow will likely bring more nice weather and a beach and spa day (or at least that’s what I’m hoping for). 

This post is cut short but you can look forward to more details and pics in the days to come.  I miss you all (especially Dustin and Bruiser) and will keep in touch.  I will be checking my email every day or every other day so drop me a line if you get a chance (I’d love to hear how damn cold it is there! lol).

A demain mes amis!