Hello from the open sea again!!!!
We are headed to India after only two days in Mauritius. I am actually kind of glad we were in Mauritius for only a day, not because I did not enjoy the island but because of how we the students treated the culture and the facilities of Mauritius.
Day One Mauritius:
We arrived in Mauritius around 7:30 AM. We had to physically bring our passports to the Mauritian immigration officers so they can do one on one checks with us. Around 9:00 AM they finally cleared us to get off the ship and start exploring the 40 mile by 30 mile island. One, two, three…ten girls and I headed off to the beach today. We decided to take the water taxi from the ship to downtown Port Louis to catch a taxi. We then caught three taxis to take the eleven of us to a beach that was about a 25 minute drive north from Port Louis. We stopped at a grocery store on the way to pick up some towels for two of the girls and some Mauritian Rupees (not to be mistaken for Indian Rupees). It was here that I heard the Mauritian version of Michael Jackson, who actually sang MJ’s songs.
We arrived at the beach. The scenery was spectacular. The water was extremely clear, as well as very warm. The beach we went to there were absolutely no other SASers. We were alone for the day. Jenn, Amanda and I headed for a walk down the beach to find a place that served some food and drinks. We found a very nice hotel that provided us with some more fantastic scenery, great food and drinks. We kind of snuck on because they asked us for our room for the food and drinks to be charged to but we said we would pay in cash. I had a Cognac which was a great thing to have at 12 PM. The three of us sat here for a little while then headed back to where everyone else was. Jenn had bought a volleyball so we played with that for awhile. The day was pretty much just swimming and hanging out. Some guy came by and offered to take us tubing for 250 Rupees, or around 5 US Dollars, so Jenn, Veronica and I headed out. It was fun since I am now able to say I went tubing in Mauritius and in the Indian Ocean (I have now been to 3 of the 4 Oceans of the world, the Pacific, the Atlantic and now the Indian. Arctic, here I come!) After we were done tubing Jenn and Amanda went water skiing and wake boarding. I did not go since I did not feel it was the worth the money.
After some picture taking, we started to make our way back to the ship. I was supposed to head off to a hotel with Katy and Veronica and meet some others there for the night but I did not bring anything with me so I went back to the ship to get dressed for the night. Katy and Veronica decided to walk to the hotel, The Grand Mauritian, since it was walking distance from where we were. This would be the last time I would see them for the rest of the day.
The nine of us headed back to the ship to take showers and get all prettied up for the night. We met around 7:30 PM and headed out to eat at this Indian restaurant we walked by earlier in the day. (Mauritius’s main ethnicity is Indian due to the indentured servants that were brought here earlier in its history) It was a great meal and makes it that I cannot wait until I arrive in India in another couple of days. I had chicken in peanut sauce with white rice. There were some faculty here and they sent over two bottles of wine for our party of twelve (it seems that I could not resist traveling in large groups, which I do not recommend. Large groups in foreign countries is a horrible idea. No one can agree to anything and when someone comes up with an idea, at least 2 to 3 people disagree. We were lucky in the fact we went here. We even debated for about 15 minutes in front of the restaurant whether we wanted eat here or not) I also had two bottles of the local beer for myself.
After finishing up our meal, we lost some people in our attempt to head off to the Grand Mauritian. Eight of us headed there in two taxis (Jenn, Amy, Bria, Dennis, Cody, Tucker, Dallas and I [yes, for those of you who know, I have two cousins named Cody and Tucker. Yes, these two guys have their names. The strange thing about them too is that they are roommates and pretend they are cousins. When I met them about a month ago I was flabbergasted. What are the chances?] ). Anyways, upon arriving at the Grand Mauritian was the start of an a) embarrassing b) horrible and c) embarrassing night.
Let me start off this story with what they said during the “cultural p
re-port” (before every port we have a meeting in the Union, which is the auditorium where the whole ship can meet. This meeting consists of cultural aspects of the country we visit, places to see, food to eat, what the people are like, etc.) The cultural pre-port for Mauritius is as follows:
“Get ready for Spring Break.”
The minute those five words were spoken I knew that we would have an interesting time in Mauritius. I am not saying that we should not have our fun, but the extent some SAS students act in some of the countries we have been already (on a city bus in Spain, students were getting drunk and were yelling profanities in Spanish, speaking at the loudest they can. The girl who told me this said a local came up to here, knowing she was an SASer [who was not a part of the drunk group], and began to yell at her in Spanish saying that she will never ride a bus again with Americans, and that she hates Americans. Yes, we are college students. Yes, we are away from home. Just because all of these factors are here, we are STILL representatives of the United States, and of ourselves. When you go abroad you can have your fun, but the extent of how people take advantage of this trip sickens me. Back to what happened.)
We arrived at the Grand Mauritian like I said, but we were greeted by a security guard. He started asking twenty questions. “Why are you here?” “Who are you here for?” “What are your plans while you are here?” This was already a sign that we were already in trouble before we arrived. I told him who I was there for, which was very stupid. After a few more exchange of words the general consensus of the conversation was, “You’re SAS? Well then you can leave.” Earlier that day, two guys from the group I was supposed to be with arrived plastered (all found out later from a few friends that were a part of the group) with bags in hand. The group was about seven strong and we were planning on fitting the seven of us in one room. The hotel manager caught on apparently to our plan and confronted the two hammered guys. The two guys acted as if they were not staying there and started to argue with the hotel manager. They said they were staying next door at the Intercontinental. This entire argument was invalid to begin with since everyone had bags, showed up at the Grand Mauritian with everything as well. So the hotel manager asked “Why are your bags here then?” To which they replied, “Non of your f***ing business.” So they decided to head to the beach which everywhere in Mauritius is public. The hotel manager thinking they were going to head back into the hotel to sneak into the room, stationed security guards at the entrances to the hotel from the beach in case they came on. That was the end of the story since the people I heard the story from left the group for they were thoroughly embarrassed. Had I known this story, I would not have used the name of the girl who was the leader of the group and who the two wasted guys were a part of. I apologized to the hotel director who told me a little bit of this story (at this time not knowing it was my group) and told me he had to change his shoes into running shoes since I guess the two guys decided to come back on the property again. I apologized for the extremely horrible behavior that the SAS people had caused. I was embarrassed beyond belief. I had never been that embarrassed. The hotel director had stereotyped me into what the other SAS people were.
The hotel director offered to take us to the Intercontinental next door the the Grand Mauritian. One of the security guards took the eight of us over there in a golf cart. I sat right next to him and started to ask him questions about SAS. He said that EVERY SINGLE HOTEL knows about SAS. I jokingly said I want to guess it is a good one. He was a fun guy to talk to and said yes, it is a very good one. SAS people are banned from some of the hotels in Mauritius. It is a sad thing to know this disturbing thought, and after seeing what happened at the Intercontinental I want to assume that we might be banned from there as well.
So we arrive at the Intercontinental. About 70% of SAS is here. Most, if not all, had been drinking the whole day and we continuing to do so as I arrived. Everyone was at the bar that is located on the beachfront. We walked down for maybe five minutes then headed to the deserted bar upstairs since they had closed the bar on the beach. (After finding out later, they closed the bar because people were throwing glasses at the bartenders) We got to the bar and the bartender thinking we were part of the other group, was being short with us. After one of the girls told him that we were not part of the group downstairs he began to open up and started cracking jokes with us. I asked him if he had anything special he makes. He told me to wait, opened up the refrigerator, stuck his whole arm to get a bottle from the back of it, and brought out one bottle. In this bottle it had kiwis in, what I am guessing, vodka. He had also added some hot peppers in it. I asked him what is in it, and he said it is his secret. I got two. Boy, did they have a kick. After about ten minutes alone with the bartender, getting to warm up to us and teach him that not ALL SAS students act like those downstairs, the other SASers found the bar. The friendly bartender immediately went from being the most interesting, funny guy you could talk to, to a reserved, unfriendly guy. He took his secret concoction and put it in the back of the refrigerator. Someone asked what if they could get what I had since it looked good, and he said no. Side note: this hotel was magnificent. It was one of the most beautiful hotels, resort, that I have ever seen. As it was put by one of the people I was with, “I was waiting for George Clooney to show up.” Now after this side note, some guy came inside, upstairs to this bar, without his shirt and shoes. There were some foreigners up there on their honeymoon, and the one guy asked him if he could kindly put his shirt on, to which he yelled back, “IT’S OK, IT’S MY FIRST TIME DRINKING. I DON’T KNOW WHERE MY SHIRT IS!” The foreigners left soon after. So did we. We left to go outside and go to a spot where we could have drinks by ourselves. There were people walking around half naked, going into the pool area with their clothes on, people having sex on lounge chairs right in front of the hotel in full lighting. We decided to leave soon after going outside. We walked back through the hotel to go out front and hail a taxi. After walking through there were girls sprawled out, passed out, on the fancy couches in the reception area. People had their feet cut up from stepping on the broken glass they had thrown at the bartender and they were bleeding all over the white marble of the reception area, they were also bleeding all over the couches. None of this, is made up. All of this, were seen by my two eyes and those of the group I was with.
Now, I am not saying I do not like to have fun and I do not wish for others to not have fun. However, there comes a time when events such as this become a supreme gesture of disrespect to the people of an establishment, vacationers, and a proud culture. I was ashamed to be associated with SAS at this point in time. I plan on talking with Dean David, who lectures us about making sure that we are kind to the people of the culture we are visiting. The example that we set forth here on Mauritius, does not put SAS in the best view and more importantly, we as Americans. I cannot put into words of how embarrassed I was for how we acted.
There was the first day in Mauritius. I did not end up getting to sleep off the ship as I had planned, but alls well that ends well. The second day in Mauritius I went to the market in downtown Port Louis. This area had been untouched by the presence of SASers. This was a pure example of the culture in Mauritius. They sold fresh produce, shirts, model ships (like the one I am working on at home), artwork, and many other artifacts. Dennis, Dan and I decided to hit up the food market first since we were all pretty hungry. Dennis and I had a sandwich in which you tell them what meat you that was sitting in a metal dish. The woman then scoops it into bread. I asked for the hot sauce. It was awesome. The best part? It was only 75 cents in US Dollars. Dennis and I looked at each other and said, if we get Traveler’s Diarrhea, we will get it together (we did not get it by the way). After doing some shopping, the three of us headed back to get some more sandwiches, but the little shop had closed. Heading towards the exit, there was a stand that was selling a drink out of huge plastic containers. Not the best idea as an outsider to do but he offered a free sample. I could not deny it. I drank one sip, looked at the others and said, “We are getting this.” The three of us ordered three glasses, (the three together costing less than 70 Rupees. It is 30 Rupees to 1 USD) I can try to explain this drink. It had the consistency of a milkshake, but it was not a milkshake, although he added a scoop of ice cream after pouring. I have no clue what the taste was, it was a cross between vanilla and other flavors. They also added baby boba in it. It was great. I wish I had some right now. After we finished we headed back to the ship for the barbeque they held for us. Another note: standing in line to get on the ship, about six people as I was there, were so trashed they could not stand up and we escorted back on the ship by staff. (if you are caught drunk, you are disciplined)
That was my time in Mauritius. I know I have not finished South Africa, but I thought I would post this first while it is still fresh in my mind. If anybody who reads this blog and looks to go on this program, if the voyage you set sail goes to Mauritius, make sure to not repeat what happened. Although, I seriously doubt SAS will come here again, even though this has happened in the past as well. Hope all is well to everybody.
Until my next post,
“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”
-Scott Cameron
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