2/27 Mauritius & Sea Olympic Madness

We got here around 8am. Rhina and I had a hard time getting up because we stayed up late watching movies with some of our friends. Listened to our very talkative diplomats for our briefing then off we went. They let the SaS trips off first but we were still about a half hour late leaving. We all got on –there were 2 full coach buses and 3 mini buses –and took off for the opposite coast. Mauritius is beautiful; there’re mountains all around and green as far as the eye can see, most of which is sugar cane and palm trees. During the drive, our group leader went over the general itinerary and went over one very specific rule that apparently most students were unaware of –we had to abide by SaS drinking policy and were only allowed 2 drinks the entire day. Well naturally the rest of the one hour ride consisted of people bitching about that and how they were just going to leave and blah blah blah. It was ridiculous to listen to these people whine about how they were going to give up their $130 day trip just so they could spend more money to go get wasted. Well I think most people realized what a dumb idea that would be and stayed on the bus for the rest of the ride.

We got to the initial landing, all looked out to where l’Ile de Deux Cocos was and I think everyone at once said “wow”; it was breath-taking. The water is completely clear and differing shades of blue-green as you look out. The island that we were going to was small and you could see the surf breaking on either sides of it; on the island itself you could just make out a mid-size house and a bunch of tent-like structures. So we all boarded a bunch of boats that had windows on the bottom and they took us to the island. Once we dropped off our bags in one of the bungalows –and applied sunscreen –we made for the water. Perfect. The water was around 80*F and where we were was a lagoon so there was very little current.

We played in the water for a while and then decided to go for a walk to the other side of the island; the entire walk took about a half hour but we stopped and played on the igneous rocks that rim the outer side of the island so it’s really much smaller than that. We got back and were going to go snorkeling but they told us that lunch would be happening in about 20 minutes so we decided to wait; while we waited I got to lay out in a big hammock that was hanging between two big palm trees. So amazing.

Then came lunch. So good. They had fresh vegetables for salad and a bunch of cold salads, rice, pasta and barbequed shrimp kabobs, prawns, lamb chops, and chicken. Plus we were allowed 2 drinks with lunch; let me tell you that the rum they make on this island is amazing. It’s clear rum that they flavor with real fruit; so the coconut rum has chunks of real coconut floating around in the bottle, apples in the apple-spice, etc. I ordered coconut rum with Coke and a coconut ‘punch’which was delicious. Desert was an entire buffet of fresh fruit and caramelized bananas. I tried fresh passion fruit which was a really strange texture but good taste.

After lunch we went to play in the water until the boats came back to pick up more people for snorkeling. By this point in the day, most people were smashed because even though Brad had said that people wouldn’t be able to buy drinks, that proved to be wrong; most people had taken full advantage of the bottles of homemade rum they sold in the little bar. Needless to say it was entertaining to watch about 75 people stumble around and trip over their words and each other. Finally a boat came to take the last group snorkeling. We got to the reef and jumped in; I hadn’t been able to find flippers that fit me but I had the mask and snorkel so I didn’t care. We spent about a half hour just swimming around, looking for fish, diving for a closer look at certain corals and trying to touch the fish. It was so cool because the skippers would throw in pieces of bread and the fish would be all around you. The corals weren’t the kinds with lots of anemones and bright colors but it was still really neat to see the different little fish flitting about and see the corals themselves.

Eventually the skipper told us we had to head out and we all boarded the boat to go back to the island. We got there and Brad told us it was time to go so we changed, got our stuff and boarded the boat to go back to the main island. During the boat ride back to the mainland this one girl –who was completely gone –was almost completely in the lap of the equally drunk guy next to her; next to them there was a life-long couple who just kept pressing their lips together from laughing at some of the ridiculous things these 2 were saying. The best was when the girl referred to genealogy as geography. The bus ride back was completely out of control; there were like 4 bottles of rum just being passed around with a couple bottles of Coke for chasers. But everyone was already drunk so they just kept getting more and more rowdy; talking loudly and singing horribly and standing up in the back of the bus even though Brad kept asking them to sit. He knew trying to take the rum from them would be futile so he just told them to ‘put it away’, meaning he just didn’t want to see it. I had stupidly sat in the back of the bust but about 15 minutes into the ride I seized the opportunity to switch with someone further up. Brad was being harassed by one of the drunken girls that was trying to go to the back of the bus; whenever she would try to get up, he would grab her arm and pull her back to her seat but she thought it was a game so she would grab at him or tickle him. It was sad but hilarious. When we got to town Brad had the bus pull over to the waterfront part of the city so people who wanted to go out could without having to get a cab back. All of the drunk people plus a few of their sober friends got off; as they got off Brad reminded them that on-ship time was at 8 and at least 5 of them asked what time. So of course, being the nice people we are, the remaining people on the bus made bets on who or how many would actually get to the ship on time. The rest of us went back and got ready for Sea Olympics.

And what a show; it was probably the most out of control opening ceremony ever. At least 50% of the 700 or so students were drunk which worked in our favor because we had to be spirited and loud for our ‘seas’or hallways. The opening ceremony basically consisted of everyone rallying up and showing off their mascots, flags and cheers. Everyone was hilarious! People were screaming and stumbling and making complete idiots of themselves. I felt bad for the faculty, staff, life long learners and everyone’s kids who had to put up with a room full of drunken fools that wouldn’t shut up but I think they were just as highly entertained as those of us that were sober. I’m pretty sure the opening ceremony took about twice as long as it should have because Ben (the MC) couldn’t get people to quiet down long enough to get out more than a few words. My hall was no exception to the drunken stupor; almost everyone lost their voice before we even got to the stage for our cheer because everyone kept breaking out into pre-game chants. The rest of Olympics the following day was a series of games and competitive tournaments that I mostly slept through because it was the first time in forever that I could sleep in and I didn’t intend to compete in anything. I want to go back to Mauritius or its neighboring island, Reunion, someday and enjoy more of the sand, surf, sun and rum. Amazing. Now we’re on our way to India where I’m attending a welcome reception, going on a 3 day homestay and doing a service visit to a school. I can’t wait!