Port Louis, Mauritius

We have just left Mauritius after a quick 3 day port stop and are now sailing towards India. Mauritius was an interesting place and an had incredible amount of difference between the rich and the poor and the beautiful landscapes and the dingy cities.

Here is a little geography/history lesson for you since many people don’t know much about the island. The island of Mauritius is in the middle of the Indian Ocean and is half the size of Rhode Island. Being in the middle of the Indian Ocean makes Mauritius HOT… and when I say hot I mean HOT. Very few buildings were air conditioned and in the middle of the day when its close to 100 and there is 100% humidity you pretty much don’t want to even move. Mauritius has a population of 1.2 million people, many of whom are Indian. Besides people of Indian decent there is also a large French and Chinese population. Although there is such a strong Asian and European presence, the island is actually part of Africa. Many people on the island do speak English, but also speak French and Creole too (which is a native language.) As you can imagine since many of the people spoke English it was not difficult to communicate and made getting around the island very easy. One slightly difficult thing was the currency exchange. One Mauritian Rupee equals 30 USD, so dividing by 30 usually took me a minute in the middle of the marketplaces while I was bargaining. I probably looked a little foolish bargaining over something that would probably have amounted to about a difference of about 3 dollars (or 90 Rupees) by hey, its all an experience, right??

We arrived in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, on Monday the 27th. Port Louis is very much a bustling city with lots of commerce and a very large port area and huge marketplace. Since we were only in Mauritius for such a short period of time I didn’t really have too much of an agenda for what I was going to do, so I just went out into the city with my friends on the first day to see what I could find, so we walked through the marketplace around the city. I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw and much of the city was very, very dirty, but on a positive note the city is for the most part very safe and we did not have to worry about being robbed by knifepoint like we did in Salvador. Yes, there were people on the ship that have been robbed, but as far as I am concerned with some of the stories that I have heard if being robbed is the worst thing that happens to you on the entire trip, you can consider yourself lucky. I am of course not trying to put a negative spin on things, but if you take a moment to think about some of the things that can happen in foreign countries, being robbed is certainly not the least. They tell us to carry around a “fake wallet” that has an expired credit card and around $10 in it, so that if someone does come up to you and threatens you, you can throw the fake wallet on the ground and run the other way.

Anyway, back on topic… the first afternoon turned into evening and my friends and I went in search of some authentic Indian food since we had been getting sick of the pasta and potatoes that they serve on the ship for every meal. We were successful in our quest and had just about the best Indian food that I have ever tasted. It was so nice to get a little change of pace from ship food. After dinner we went out and explored waterfront night life, and as expected, no matter where you are in the world there will be Americans. My friends and I met some guys that were from the deep south that were working on an oil rigger off the Mauritian coast and had come into port for a few days. It was fun to share stories and get different perspectives from people that are not on Semester at Sea, but are learning and exploring new foreign countries.

Tuesday, our second day in port, I chose to go on a service visit in the early morning to the Terre de Paix children’s organization. This specific organization is not run by the government, and in fact the people that worked at Terre de Paix seemed quite insistent on making it very clear that their facility was a non-governmental organization. Terre de Paix is basically a social project that caters to children that have been removed from their homes by the court system due to abusive family situations. Terre de Paix caters to both boys and girls and many of the children live at the facility full time, and others are brought to the organization on a daily basis by other family members.
While I was visiting Terre de Paix the group was split into groups that allowed us to interact with the children on a move individual level and observe them in their daily activities. Their activities include sculpture and art, music, outdoor play games, and writing composition. While all were fun and interesting to observe, the most fascinating activity rotation that I observed was the writing composition station. Here, the children are instructed through a prompt to write on a current events topic usually dealing with national elections, national holidays or other events that are of interest to the children. While we were visiting Terre de Paix the children were instructed to write on domestic violence and what they know about the topic.

Most of the children at this station were between the ages of 11-14 and some of their stories truly amazed me. I am 20 and have never had even close to some of the disturbing experiences that these children have witnessed before their little eyes. Many of the children wrote in their papers that they have witnessed women, even their mothers, being beaten by their fathers on a regular basis. The children told stories where women were beaten in the streets with bricks until they bled. Women were sent to hospitals barely hanging onto life and children told stories of how they prayed that their mothers would survive. I was shocked to hear some of the stories that the children told, and it certainly did not surprise me that these children were pulled out of their homes due to abusive situations.

I was very surprised to hear these types of stories and the fact that the children were willing to share their stories with me, a complete stranger, was amazingly trusting of them. It occurred to me that these children simply do not have exposure to some of the very basic functions of the family. Certainly the nurturing and meeting emotional needs aspects of family life are absent and therefore these children are desperate for human empathy. On a positive note, the children are able to find this with the people that work at Terre de Paix and people like the SAS group that are willing to come and play with them and listen to their stories. The abusive homes that these children come from cause them to lack the exposure to other family functions like socialization and allowing the children to feel as though they are part of a community, and Terre de Paix gives these children a chance to interact with other children that are in the same situations as them

Terre de Paix was a fascinating experience and I am glad that I was able to go and experience what this small organization is doing to help children that do not have “normally functioning families.”

That afternoon I tackled the local marketplace and did a little bit of shopping. It was really scary to see all kinds of birds, chickens and hamsters in cages being sold right next to tablecloths, purses, and food. All I kept thinking was oh no… bird flu! The markets were amazing though and anything that you really could want was available to buy. I have been getting into this habit of buying a piece of jewelry from every port that we have visited and the jewelry in the market here was really beautiful. There is also the crap stuff like gaudy t-shirts that say stupid sayings that are supposed to be a play on words or some American phrases, so I tried to stay away from that. Like I said earlier bargaining in the marketplaces has been yet another new experience that I have been mastering like salsa dancing. In some marketplaces that we have visited it is actually considered disrespectful not to try to bargain, and the shopkeepers expect to bargain with you from the very start. I’m starting to enjoy it and play it like a game and with a little more practice I’m sure I will be a natural. (Thanks dad for the genes for bargaining!!)

Wednesday, the last and final day that we were in port, was a total change of pace from what I had been doing during the other two days and it was exactly the change I needed. I spent the entire day sailing and snorkeling with my friends in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Talk about living a tough life! It was simply amazing. I have fallen in love with sailing and have told both of my parents that when I return from this trip we are going catamaran shopping. I’m not exactly sure where we will be sailing on Pittsburgh’s mighty rivers, but I guess that is just a small detail that can be worked out at a later time. I’m not sure what it is with the water, but I have just fallen in love with it out here… I guess it just kind of draws you in. On the other hand though, as soon as our ship gets rolling with the waves some of my friends will tell you other wise about the wonders of the open ocean. Overall, it was a wonderful way to end my time in Mauritius and I am so glad that I made the decision to go. It was simply perfect.

I’m not sure that I will be jumping on any planes as soon as I get back to the states to come to Mauritius again, but it was an interesting learning experience. It also gave me a huge taste of what is to come in India and I cannot wait for our next port. Thanks again for following me on my trip and for your love and support. I hope all is well at home and keep your e-mails coming!

Love,
Leah