Things my mother won´t like about Mauritius.
Before my mom was due to visit I
considered all the things she would enjoy about the Island and the things she
would not, here are a few things my Mom would not fancy about Mauritius:
Mauritian Mongrels:
The first and most unpleasant
subject is the amount of stray dogs that roam the streets of Mauritius. It is such
a stark contrast between SA, where dogs are loved like humans, and here, where
they are ignored like vermin unless they cause disruption, and then they are
chased. One interesting thing I have noticed about the Mauritian K9s is that
they are far more street smart than SA dogs, they know when to cross the road
to be safe and how to run alongside the road and not in it, it is because of
this that you do not see too many causalities.
Mom found that during her stay she
was not too put off by the stray dogs as they all seem to be healthy looking
and not too scrawny, I have seen a few skinny ones but most of them are just
carrying on with their lives, raiding restaurant dustbins. Mauritians consider
cats and dogs to be pests not pets and many children are brought up to fear
them rather than care for them. Our neighbour has a cat that sleeps outside
their house and they feed it cat pellets because the kids consider it to be
theirs. This little creature has figured out that two houses down live two cat
lovers that think cats should drink milk, should be feed when they ask and
don´t mind it sleeping inside. BB (Black Betty), named by the twins, has
figured out that if she gets her timing right she will get a bowl of milk, some
cat pellets (that Mom bought when she was here) and a bed on the dining room
chair for as long as she wants. She snuck in so quietly the other day that I
locked her inside when I went to fetch Ash from the airport, when we arrived
home I found a 200g packet of mince I had left out to defrost had been the
highlight of her week, needless to say she was been in the dog box ever since!
Oignons (French/Creole for Onions):
Mauritians are keen on their onions
and you find them in all their local dishes. Good thing for Ash as he is a huge
fan but, as most of you know, Mom is not keen on onions of any variation, from
spring to rings, she turns her nose up at them all. Red onions are the most
common, the ones we buy from Food Lovers Market.
Whining about Wine:
I am sure I have already mentioned
the booze situation on this side being an expensive luxury, especially the
wine. They put a 100% import excise on all booze, never mind the import cost
and trader mark up, so a bottle of wine that should cost you R50 in a store in
SA will cost R200 in a supermarket here, R300 from a restaurant and R400 from a
resort. You will find a R100 bottle of wine at the supermarket here, with this
wine however, you will find yourself with a headache the next day. Note to all
potential visitors, you are allowed to bring in 2 bottles of wine and 1l of
spirit per traveler, do not forget to use up this allocation on your way in and
any donations to us are always appreciated.
Haggling in the Markets
In the market places, as well as the
in some shops, you can tend to feel a bit claustrophobic and harassed as the
local vendors are very intense salesman. Even in Mango (An International Ladies
Fashion Store), you basically have a shopping assistant as you walk in the door
and as soon as you select something to try on they have whipped it out your
hands and taken it to a change room for you. It is very handy when you cannot
find the right size or need anything during your shop but if you feel like
browsing or just not being followed it can be a little annoying.
The vendors in the market places are
even more annoying as they constantly bombard you with offers that they use to
hook unknowing tourists from every angle for 100 stalls. The constant
harassment is not my favourite, nor Mom´s, as we are too polite to just ignore
them and then you spend the rest of your time trying to explain that you are a
resident and are not interest in cashmere or vanilla or sarongs! I am even at
the point now where I won´t visit the market (which is in walking distance from
work), as it too frustrating.
The things Mauritian´s get right!
After the slightly unpleasant things
that come with living on this Island, as you can see nothing major to complain
about, I decided to point out a few things that Mauritians get right:
Booze in the garages
Their garages do not offer a 24hour
service but when they are open they sell booze in their stores. You will not
find Johnny Walker Black or Rupert and Rothschild but you will be able to get a
cold beer or some headache inducing rum/whiskey/cane. Their convenience stores
however leave little to be desired after visiting the brightly lit beacons of
all-that-is-needed in SA´s Convenience Garage Shops.
Cake and Bread
The French influence allows for some
wonderful creations in the bakeries of Mauritius, even your local supermarket
offers freshly baked baguette whenever you need it. Not be out done are the cakes
and other baked goodies and every birthday/anniversary/celebration includes a
cake and candles. There is nothing better than breaking off a chuck of freshly
baked baguette and satisfying the craving that comes with smelling freshly
baked bread. In the office the Indian Mauritians are keen on their “sweets”,
these are almost like petit fours, and as all Indians do they love to bring
enough for all, great for trying different things, bad for the waist line.
Tourism and Friendly People
There is without a doubt nothing the
Mauritians get more right than being fantastic at catering for Tourists, from
their exquisite resorts to their friendly staff, Mauritians are able to make
you feel very welcome, like you belong. Their friendly, carefree attitudes make
them excellent hosts and even better teachers to us newbies. The local friends
we have made here have been overly generous with their time, advice and even
with gifts and food, not sure if we were exceptionally lucky or if all
Mauritians welcome new comers like this, personally I feel that we landed with
our bums in the butter.
An update on our lives here in Mauritius (As at 28th June)
Most of you will know that I have
found a job at Aspen Global, I started this week and have enjoyed every moment
so far. It is quite a complex business to understand especially the
pharmaceutical side but the people are helpful and friendly. I have a 5 minute
drive to work on my scooter as the office is in the bustling tourist center of
Grand Baie. We have the most exquisite view of the bay from our offices, even
our canteen is on the deck overlooking the crystal clear water where the sail
boats are moored. About 80% of the office is made up of local Mauritians and
the rest are a mixture of South Africans and others from all over the world,
with about 120 people in total. We work from 8 to 5, basically, with an hour
for lunch. Lunch could be spent on the deck, with the Café downstairs bringing
up sandwiches (filled baguettes) or popping out to one of the local
restaurants, there are about 20 to choose from within walking distance as Grand
Baie is the most popular tourist “village” on the Island, or you can even grab a
take-away on the beach.
Ash was recently in SA for his Board
1 exam, he seems to think it went ok but we will have to wait for the results
which will come out in 2 months’ time. Prior to Ash going back to SA we spent
most of our time indoors while he was studying. Now we are ready to resume our
fun weekend activities of exploring the island, playing Mauritian rummy with
the neighbours till the early hours, hanging out at our local spots and
relaxing on the beach.
One unfortunate situation here is
that Ash and I feel that the cost outweighs the need for DSTV at our home, so
we get our series from the internet to keep us entertained in the evenings, the
down side to this decision is that we get no live sport. Ash particularly hated
this while we were indoors and he was studying, but now that we have rejoined
the social world we will more than likely find ourselves at The Beach House or
Patch ´n Parrot for rugby or cricket matches. Both run by South Africans they
always have the right game on unlike the locally run spots which will definitely
show a football game over a rugby one as that is more popular with the locals.
Many people ask about our weather as
we are also in winter, the same as SA, if you can call this winter. It is mild
to warm during the day time around 25'C and at night it slips down to
about 18'C. The temperature doesn´t change drastically from day to day and
occasionally we have light rain spurts. This weather is a welcome relief from
the heat of summer and although I wear a jacket on my ride to and from work on
the scooter, the most you need is a light jersey for an evening out and still
warm enough to lie on the beach during the day or wander around in shorts and
slip-slops.
Hopefully I won´t wait too long
until the next update.
Love to all!
Kim&Ash
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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