August 8-15: Mauritius

Hilton Beach Suite - Mauritius, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

Ah, time to C H I L L A X.

I remember awhile back in Peru, I was complaining to Andrew because of all the hostels we had been staying at and his response was, ‘Just wait for Mauritius.’ And after 10 ½ weeks, the wait was finally over.

We used our points to stay at the Hilton Flic en Flac and using our Diamond Status got ourselves a corner beach suite complete with a butler. The resort was grand and beautiful and was a great place to relax and unwind (yes traveling can get tiresome). Our resort also had a lot of free activities on offer such as water skiing and sailing. I tried the water skiing and after only my 3rd try, was able to stand up for a whole circuit. So exciting! We also tried sailing on a small catamaran and that was a rush. It was actually quite easy to learn and within just minutes both Drew and I were sailing Kiran (our teacher). Dolphin tours were also free and during one of our mornings, we took a boat ride to see a pod of them. Of course we also did a couple of dives but those dives were largely forgettable.

With all the activities on offer and a hammock right in front of the beach to relax in afterwards, it was a bit hard to leave our surroundings. However, we did manage to drag ourselves out of the resort and into the city for some museum hopping. One of those, the Blue Penny Museum, gave a fascinating and detailed account of Mauritius’ history. Among the things on display were the famous Blue Penny stamps worth 3 ½ million USD. When they were made, they were incorrectly printed with the words “Post Office” instead of “Post Paid” and that mistake made these stamps a philatelic’s dream. Afterwards, it started raining so instead of going to the botanical gardens, we decided to go to an old sugar mill that had been converted to a museum. Needless to say, we were on info overload after today.

On a different day, we went for another drive and headed to Chamarel or colored earth. The area boasts of the ground being covered in 7 different colors but the sight was underwhelming to say the least. After this area, we continued our drive around the island. On one of the parks, we saw a family of monkeys and I had a scary monkey moment. I had seen a cute baby monkey and wanted a picture. I approached it slowly but when I got within 10 feet it hissed and started running towards me! I hightailed out of there and made it to the car where Andrew was dying of laughter after seeing me scream and freak out. Apparently when I stood, the monkey realized my size, changed course and ran up a tree instead. Not bothering to look back, I ran a whole parking lot in panic. After this excitement, we continued our drive around the island. However, because of the rains, we decided against doing any of the hikes and headed back to our resort where the weather was windy but sunny. As we settled in to our lounge chairs, we received a call from the reception telling us to go the parking lot immediately. There, to our disbelief was our car on the other side of the lot where we had originally parked.
Apparently, Drew had forgotten to put the hand break up and our car had rolled and hit another guest’s car. *gRrRrR*

Thankfully the rest of the week went by uneventfully and we spent the rest of our days in blissful relaxation enjoying the pools and the spa treatments. Alas, after one glorious week, it was time to head to Joburg.