A few days ago a French man approached me on the ship and we started chatting. Before we arrived in Mauritius he invited me to join him sightseeing. I was being my cautious self as usual and my brain was telling me hell no!!!! Eventually the French guy persuaded me to join him as he said he wanted company and he was willing to take me to my destination which was the lagoon flight station in the south of the island. It wasn't going to cost me anything and if I wanted to contribute to his car rental expenses it would still be cheaper than a tour. For whatever reason he changed the itinerary which annoyed me. Luckily the changes didn't affect my lagoon flight because they cancelled it due to the thunder and lightning the night before. The day was also overcast so it would have been difficult to see the underwater waterfall clearly and a waste of 189 euros. I still however wanted to see the best of Mauritius which were La Morne, Chamarel waterfall, Chamarel seven colours of the earth, Grand Bassin and Ganga Taloa. So tgat went out of the window because the French guy decided the weather wasn't good for driving. Instead he went to Pamplemouse botanical gardens and even paid for my ticket when I refused to go. He insisted that I would enjoy it. It was ok but it was just a big garden. The lili pads were nice and lotus field was interesting but because it rained for a few minutes the mosquitos came out and ferociously bit us. We eventually moved on to Eureka house one of the plantation homes owned by slave owners. I really didn't want to go see this and this time I insisted he go alone and I would meet up later. I pottered about Bagatelle residential area snooping in one how the rich people of Mauritius live. They have lovely big homes with even bigger gates to keep people out. Bagatelle was at the bottom of the mountain and the views from the houses were spectacular.
It was 2pm already and we got the car at 10am. We spent alot of time waiting for the French guy to go back and get his wallet because obviously he forgot his wallet. He said he wanted to hire the smallest car but went forna bigger car as it was the same price even though the bigger car was a manual and he drove an automatic. Plus manual car meant he would have to use his left hand to change gears because here they drive on the left like back home. The amount of times I had to yell at him to straighten up the car was numerous. We could have hit many parked cars and ended up in one of those deep ditches several times. He had the nerve to flip his finger to local drivers who beeped at his awfully bad driving. I asked him again why he chose the big car he couldn't drive properly and as he is French he didn't get my ironic question. Finally we headed to one of my destinations on my list, Flic en Flac beach. The name alone was enticing. The beach was public and it was in a small seaside town. The sea was warm and so calm not even a wave was felt during the whole time in the sea. After a couple of hours we headed back to the ship. We wanted to get back before it got dark but obviously the French man got lost as he couldn't find a way to the port. If I was on foot I could have made it. Him driving made it impossible because of one way streets which we went up and was met by a huge bus the other way. That was fun. He kept asking people the way and for some reason they didn't know or kept telling us to go the opposite direction. Even the car gps couldn't locate the port. Now it was dark and was raining heavily plus no street lights. An hour earlier I had to remind him to turn his lights on. After going the wrong direction three times and him getting stressed in French, I told the French guy to stop the car and calm down momentarily. He still insisted we were lost. I said we are jot lost, we know where the port is we just can't get there with the way you are driving because he can't drive unless he is following a gps it sems. As the gps was not showing us the way, I took out my phone and clicked on Google map and the rest is history. We were so happy to see the ship. He parked as close to the ship as possible and thanked me for being a great copilot and mentioned how calm I was throughout the whole time. I legged it back on the ship after saying goodbye and found myself at the theatre entrance. The Mauritian folk dancing was about to begin and Valerio the entertainment director ushered me in even though I said I just got back and needed a shower. I think he just wanted the theatre as full as possible fornthe local entertainers. So I sat down and watched the show still damp from the beach and the rain hoping nobody sat near me could smell me.
After the show, a shower and dinner I was still feeling a little deflated as not having seen the best of Mauritius. As my lagoon flight was cancelled and my visit to Prarie Beach too because of the venomous jellyfish in the area because of the storm the night before, my budget was still untouched except for the lunch and cigarettes I bought the French guy. It was the least I could do. I found a tour that encompassed the best of Mauritius and I booked it and for £60 it was affordable. As I headed back to my cabin with ticket in hand I bump into the French guy. He enquired about my ticket and semmed enthusiastic as I explained. Guess who was on the tour bus the next morning, the French guy. He joined me in the front seat and we proceeded to enjoy the day.
For some reason the first stop was a model ship building shop. I didn't care for it except theynhad wifi. I quickly connected and uploaded my photos and downloaded everything I needed before heading to the Black River Gorge for some beautiful views. Then it was to the holiest site for Hindus on the island, Ganga Talao where two huge statues of Shiva and Durga loomed over Grand Bassin. I got blessed at the temple and appropriately marked on my forehead. We saw some naughty monkeys too. Then we went to Chamarel waterfall and then saw the beautiful dunes of seven colours caused gy the oxides in the earth duento the volcanic activities. The dunes were pretty especially because it was so sunny. It was completely different from yesterday's weather. We had a winding drive down to La Morne beach even with the local rally car racing at the same time. For about a minute we had a police escort. La Morne mountain is significant on the island. Morne means sad and it is a sad story. When abolishment of slavery was just announced on the island, the news hadn't got bank to the slaves. The slaves ran to the mountains to hide and as they saw the white men pursuing them not knowing they were there to tell them they are free. With determination of not being captured to be slaves again, they all threw themselves off the mountain. Since that day the mountain was forver known as La Morne. At the foot of that mountain was a beautiful beach where we spent the next couple of hours. Then we hewded back to the ship. I managed to convince the guide to drop me and the French guy off at the waterfront. I wanted to explore Port Louis for the last couple of hours. I visited Chinatown, the city's largest mosque, the waterfront area, and Appravasi Ghat even though it was closed. Everything was closed on Sunday but the nice security guard let me in the compound to at least see the landing site of the Indian immigrants who were brought to Mau
It was an important historical site. The best thing about walking around on a Sunday was there was nobody around especially the tourists as they were on the boat. It was just me wandering the streets of Port Louis...plus the French guy.
We headed back to the ship as it was leaving in 30 minutes. As we got to ship I noticed the only non taxi car there was the French guy's rental car. He was flabbergasted as he thought it would be picked up in the morning. He said he couldn't start the car as the batteries were dead because he forgot to switch off the lights I reminded him to turn on last night. I really couldn't help myself from laughing. So he said he left the keys with one of the agents from the office. I was still laughing. I spwas eating dinner as the ship sailed away and I could see the French guy's rental car was the only car on the port parking lot so I waved goodbye to it and to Mauritius.
