10.15.09
Happy ½ Birthday to me! Yay! In addition to it being my half-birthday, we also docked in Mauritius this morning. About 0700 I went up to Deck 7 and watched the pilot boat. It was the first time I actually got to see the guy jump from the pilot boat onto to the ship. It wasn’t nearly as exciting as I thought it was going to be. I ate breakfast with Julia and Sam. Mauritius is a lot more mountainous then I was expecting, but it was formed by volcanoes so I guess I should have been expecting that.
Mackenzie was supposed to meet me at 0700, but I have just given up on our early morning rendezvous. I found her in her room about 0830, which was the time the ship was cleared. I waited for her and Kristin to get ready and then Katie joined us and we all set out into Mauritius.
We were looking for the market and ended up getting lost in Port Louis. We bought bananas off a street vendor and then the next thing I know we are at the market. It was awesome. There were so many vendors. I really didn’t buy anything because it is all made in India and I want to wait. Mackenzie, we have decided, needs a leash. She got roped into so many shops and tried so many outfits on. The whole thing started when a man told us that he had magic pants. Magic pants? Really? Needless to say that got our attention. Mackenzie volunteers to try these magic pants. It turns out that magic pants are basically a piece of cloth that you tie and they become pants. She bought the pants and then he put a saree on her. We basically had to drag her out of the store. When we finally got her out of the store, I turn around and another guy has draped a pashmina around her. We got her out of that and I turn around again and she is modeling hats. It was slightly ridiculous, but very fun. Besides just clothes, they also had fruits and vegetables. There were so many varieties that I had never seen or heard of before. I wish we could bring fresh food on the ship because I really want to try some of it.
We headed back to the waterfront to have lunch. We looked at a place called Shooters, but it did not look so good so we settled on Pizza Hut. Yes, as Dad pointed out to me, I am half-way around the world and I eat at Pizza Hut. It was so good. And I just need to point out on the ship we pay $5 for a pizza that is not nearly as good and at this pizza hut we got a pizza, garlic bread and drinks for $3.50. And I don’t eat pizza hut at home so it is kind of something new…..yeah I didn’t really convince myself either.
After lunch, we explored the waterfront area. We found a mall and then a smaller craft market. It was much better the people didn’t hassle you as much. We shopped around a little bit and I bought some small gifts. Everything in Mauritius has the Dodo bird on it. The dodo bird is/was the only indigenous animal to Mauritius, but then the Dutch came in and ate them all so now they are extinct. Way to go Dutch people.
We stayed in the waterfront until 1430, but then we got a water taxi back to the ship because Katie, Kristin, and Mackenzie all had a children’s village visit so I just headed back with them. I ended up grabbing my laptop and jumping back on a water taxi and going back to the waterfront to find an internet café. Just a note on water taxis: They are these boats that has a motor that is barely strong enough to propel themselves across the water – much less when they are filled with 30 students. They also sit really low to the water and it is slightly nerve-wracking when traveling with expensive electronic equipment. But my laptop and I made it safely to the waterfront. I walked around a bit by myself and it was nice to get away from everybody for a while. It was a very freeing experience because we are in such tight quarters on the ship and then we get into this foreign country, but we still run into a ton of people we know. But anyway, I found an internet café and stayed there for a while. I planned out my semester next year at WKU and chatted with a few people on skype.
I headed back to the ship around 1830 to meet up with everyone and the head out to their villa. It took me forever and a day to get back. Mackenzie and I had planned to go to the villa and then get up the next morning and get a cab back so we could go to the adventure park. I really, at this point, didn’t want to go and luckily neither did Mackenzie. It was going to be way too much of a hassle. So we said goodbye to everyone and grabbed dinner on the ship. We met up with Jennifer and Rosario and then we all went back to the internet café. I skyped everyone I could think of. I talked to Mom, Dad, Pam, Alana, Memi, Nate and Brian. I was so happy! It was fantastic to get to talk to everybody! I tried to call Ebonee and Sarah, but neither of then picked up.
We all headed back to the ship around 2230. We all came back to my room and played pish-posh and watched High School Musical, which Mackenzie and Rosario had never seen, but Jennifer and I are pretty much obsessed. Mackenzie had always made fun of HSM, but now that she has actually watched it she loves it – go figure.