Helloooooo Mauritius!

    I wanted to kiss the ground when we got into Mauritius!  I we only had four hours there, but I felt more lucky for that precious time than disappointed that we didn't have the whole day. After all, we almost didn't get to go there!

    

    

   MAuritius had several striking features I noticed right off the boat.  Just like a typical island paradise, the mountains were extremely green and the water perfectly blue. 

 There was also one particular mountain that stood out for it's resemblance to a thumb.  

   The smell was also quite striking.  The port smelled like the usual industrial nastiness, but once in town, it smelled like spices and the ocean.  The buildings were a mix of styles. I particularly liked the ones made of dark stone.  Many of the museums, banks, and other important buildings were made out of this stone.  

I spend most of the time walking around the downtown market area.  The market was small but there was lots to see.  There was SO many fresh fruit, vegetables, and spices.  You could get a whole pineapple peeled and ready to eat on a stick for about a dollar.  

This was the entrance to the indoor portion of the market.

There were also live animals (for pets, not food) and crafts in the upstairs and outdoor portions of the market.  

And some powdered dye for Holi.  A bunch of students got some and had quite a party up on the 7th deck on Holi (that's a Hindu holiday).  I was so bummed that I missed that until the next day's announcement asked those students to report to the dean's office.  :0o

BEfore we headed back to the ship, we ventured to the Waterfront Area.  This had nice stores (too expensive for me!), restaurants, and a huge craft market.  I was able to get lots of goodies for people back home there and everything was 100% hand made, usually by the vendor.  

A FRIENDS restaurant!  Cool!

This next picture I like because you an see the water drop statue in the middle.  The statue commemorates a demonstration where hundreds to thousands of people turned out to show their commitment to peace and ridding the world of inhumane conditions such as slavery and poverty.  

To get back to the ship, we took a water taxi which was really fun.  Getting myself on and off the water taxi was quite a challenge!  My legs are not strong enough to be jumping onto boats and whatnot.  I had lots of help though!  One of the professors even lifted me up like a toddler to get over a big gap between the boat and the dock.  It was quite embarrassing, but beat falling into the water.  haha

There were some great fews of the shore and the ship from the taxi as well.

Anyone know what those globes are on the boat?