Port Lois, Mauritius March 23-March 24

Oh Mauritius. Mauritius was probably my least favorite port. We woke up around 7:30 and had breakfast and then Abby and I had a trip to Adventure Park and to Flic en Flac Beach. Rebecca, Abby, Austin, Kevin, James (from London), Martin and I were all supposed to stay over night at this apartment on Flic en Flac. We all had different schedules and were supposed to meet up there after everyone’s trips.

Anyway, Adventure Park was basically a high ropes course and I love high ropes courses. I had a blast. The first part of the park was more independent. You were in a harness and you hook yourself up to the wires and walk across these really rickety bridges that were just wires and planks of wood. The second part of the course was more high ropes, with nets and zip lines. It was amazing. We were in the middle of the jungle where the mosquitoes were really bad. Everyone put on Deet yet we were getting bit up like crazy. People were covered with 20+ bites. I covered myself with dirt to help keep them off and it seemed to work for the most part. After the park we went to the beach and separated from the tour group to find our apartment. We could not find it for the life of us. Abby and I walked up Coastal Road and couldn’t find the building people kept saying it was ten minutes in the opposite direction we walking. We walked up and down this extremely long road (probably about a mile one way) two-three times each way. We kept asking people and all of which had no idea of this place; they had never heard of it. At one point this lady in a grocery store called the postal office that said the mail from this place kept getting returned and that they didn’t think it existed. Abby and I started to panic. We finally decided to go to the police…which was at the opposite end of this road. They help us out by taking us in their police car and driving us around until we found it. I was miserable. My bad knee was killing me and I was staving. It was about 4:30 and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We finally find the place. We must have walked past it at least 4 times. Abby and I find the place and try to figure out where we check in…and there is no place. There was a number for a security guy and we called it. He comes out and tells us that it is impossible to stay at the apartments for one night; they are apartment complexes that you live in. He also told us that James and Austin had been by earlier. The finally conclusion…we were scammed. Luckily, Rebecca was the only one who put down money so I didn’t loose anything and her mom is figuring it out. It’s unfortunate because it was through Expedia, which seemed legit, yet there wasn’t a phone number, which should have been clue number one that something was weird.

Anyway, Rebecca and Kevin were supposed to meet us there at 6:30 and the current time was about 5. The security man pointed us towards the beach saying that is where Austin and James went. We had run into friends earlier who told us that a bunch of SASers were staying at the Hilton…which was all the way down the opposite side of the street. We decided to look for the boys as we walked along the beach down to the Hilton. As you were looking at the beach the Hilton was all the way down the left side of the beach…so we started walking. But unbeknownst to our knowledge Austin and James were just right of where we started walking and we missed them. Like I said I was beyond miserable. We had been walking for over three hours straight after having a serious work out at the Adventure Park. Every part of my body was aching and I still hadn’t had food. On our way down to the Hilton we ran into one of the older woman on the trip and sat down with her for about 10 minutes to bitch and moan.

Once we hit the Hilton Beach Resort and it was beyond gorgeous. And we found a few of our friends. We decided that our best bet was to squeeze into their room and help lower the cost. (It was a good thing we didn’t because they got kicked out later that night.) We change into our swimsuits and swam for about 10 minutes and then had a drink. We planned on going to dinner with this new group of people when Austin called. He was slightly drunk and decided he’d meet us halfway down the beach. So we picked up our stuff and walked back down the beat…again! Ahhh We ran into the older lady and the dean’s wife and gave up walking and decided to sit down and have another drink and make Austin walk further.

It was the first time we sat down for more than 10 minutes all day and it was about 6:30. As we were sitting there we got a call from Kevin and Rebecca who ran into the same problem we did. I kept saying…we know we got scammed and can’t stay there, let’s just go to the Hilton where we know we can get a room. They insisted we come back to the apartment as opposed to them meeting us at the Hilton. Clearly, I was annoyed. They had just gotten there and didn’t spend half their day walking up and down this street. Despite that, we hopped a cab and went and met them to find that nothing had changed and we were still out of a place to stay. We then hopped a cab back to the Hilton and because we all walked up to the counter they knew we had five people (Martin and James separated from the group) and wouldn’t give us just one room. We would have had to pay $100-$160 and no one wanted to spend that kind of money so we left. I was so unbelievably pissed that I spent the majority of my day and half walking around getting scammed. We decide that we need food. It’s 9 o’clock and I still hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I was being a bitch to say the least and I kept apologizing. I mean I knew it was because I needed food and to just sit, but I was so angry I couldn’t help but snap at people as hard as I tried. We found this restaurant that had food I’d eat, drinks, and hookah. Things were starting to look up. I got my SoCo and Lemonade and some of the best garlic butter shrimp. The food was so good I had to order a second plate.

Before we ate we ran into a friend who had a beach house and had a bunch of alcohol left over and invited us to go. But before we did we wanted to eat and find a place to stay. We ran into different friends earlier who told us where they were staying and were staying there for 200 dollars (for 3 people). The plan was for three of us to go and get the room and sneak the other two in. Well, that didn’t work so well because like the Hilton they wouldn’t put 3 people in one room…so we had to switch and the two others had to go and get the room and the other three snuck in. It was kind of ridiculous because the rooms could fit four comfortably. They were double beds but they were rock hard…no exaggeration.

After we got settled we started walking to try and find our friends beach house and surprise surprise we couldn’t. We just gave up and went to this outside bar, which was in this small complex area. It was actually a lot cooler than I realized now that I look back on it. We sat down and finally had some time to relax. It still wasn’t that much fun because people I was with were now the ones mopping. Luckily, a bunch of SASers showed up and I ended up having a decent time. I even played in a fountain with a bunch of people and accidently dropped my wallet in the water. We finally went to bed around 2 am.

Rebecca, Kevin, Abby, Austin and I woke up the next morning around 9. I woke up with my legs covered in bug bites. They almost looked like a rash. Abby had a ton from Adventure Park but her bites showed up right away and there were just about 15-20. I was covered. You couldn’t even begin to count there were so many…several hundred if I had to guess and extremely and unbearably itchy,

Anyway, we had to be on the ship at 6, but they always tell us to get there 2 hours early to avoid lines. By the time we left the hotel it was 9:30. We didn’t want to sit down for breakfast so we went to the grocery store and stocked up on food. I really wanted to go to beach. I had walked it up and down 3 times and never really got to “be” on it. But first we had to go to this piercing place that was in the complex because Austin really wanted to get his nipples pierced…ya I know strange/tacky but if you met this kid it would make complete sense and be funnier than gross. Kevin promised that if Austin got his nipples pierced he would get his ears pierced and Abby had been looking for a place to get her nose pierced. We stopped by and it was closed and were told to stop by again at 12. At this point it was 11:15 and I really wanted to go to the beach. So we went directly across the street and chilled in the water for 45 minutes. I would have liked to have stayed longer but the piercing place was open and that took priority haha. We go in and everyone is getting a piercing but me. They guy who did the piercings spoke very little English and spoke mostly French. Side note: Being on this island made me realize how much French I have forgotten and how much I’ve missed it. So Abby was the first to get hers done, then Rebecca got her third hole, and then Austin, followed by Kevin. After everyone had gone I decided I wanted to get my nose pierced. However, the guy wouldn’t let me because of my legs. He thought I ran a risk of infection because he didn’t know what sort of venom the bugs left. I was really sad. It took me a lot of courage to even decide to do something like this and then I couldn’t even get it done. I was a little disappointed. Flic en Flac Beach was about an hour away from Port Louis where we were docked. Port Louis was supposed to be really nice and had a beautiful shopping area called the Waterfront.

We caught a cab immediately after the piercings at about 2 to head back to Port Louis and walk around. But of course on our way back there was a huge accident so it was a good thing we left when we did because we would have risked being late and getting dock time. Side note…again: dock time occurs if you show up late for on ship time and it basically means once we dock at the next port we get a few hours off our time in the country. It could be the first day, first few hours, or it could mean you have to get back on the boat earlier on the last day in a port. Basically you don’t want to be late…ever. Anyway, we had the best taxi driver and he was really nice and we super helpful and luckily new some back routes that got us to the Waterfront in record time and with about an hour to an hour and a half to spare. We walked around the shopping area and then headed back to the boat.

My legs were so bitten up and swollen that I immediately went to the clinic. I was not the only one with these bites there were about 15-20 girls, all who had gone to Adventure Park. They had no idea what the bug was…all they knew was that it was an inset that was Deet resistant. At first it was just really itchy, but then I noticed at dinner (literally 20 minutes after I got back on the ship) that the bites were spreading to my back and I ran back down to the clinic. I was told to literally scrub down in Purell and then come back. I was almost in tears it was miserable. I went back down and they decided the best course of treatment was Prednisone and Benadryl to help me sleep. The Benadryl did nothing. I was up all night scratching. The Prednisone finally kicked in after awhile, but its been about 2 weeks since and I still have red dots all over my legs :(. They should go away soon though…hopefully.

Overall, my time in Mauritius stunk. Abby and everyone keep saying that they had fun, but when you really break it down it was a terrible day and a half with some glimmer of fun here and there. The second day was definitely better though.

Nothing too much happened between Mauritius and Cape Town. We had another Global Studies exam, which I thought I failed and somehow managed to pull off a 92 with a 4 point curve. Other than that things have become pretty habitual on the ship. I say I’ll wake up for breakfast but I always sleep in. I get up for class…go to class…and spend most of the rest of the day doing stuff for classes and watching tv and movies. No surprise there. Haha Abby, my roommate, and I couldn’t be more perfect for each other. We both love movies and tv, so it’s not just me sitting alone watching stuff all day. And Austin is in our room almost 24/7 haha. It’s funny because at school my room is never the party room and here, and especially lately, there is always someone else in our room at all times. It’s so fun. I’m having a blast.

When you’re in a country for so many days you actually look forward to being on the ship, getting back into your routine. It’s become home and you really do miss it.