What can I say other than Mauritius is a beautiful country? I feel like it's been ages since I wrote- even though it has only been a few days. On a side note- this past Wednesday was the first time I took my Malaria pill without gagging! I felt very accomplished. (Note to those of you going on SAS- get a malaria pill that is gel-coated, or somehow coated. I am on Mefloquine, and it instantly starts to dissolve in your mouth once it's put in- and this is undoubtedly the most AWFUL taste ever). Okay- so back to Mauritius. Port Louis! The first day involved an FDP ("Required" class trip); We stopped in China town (yes- they have one here) and went into a "medicine shop" where they had crazy things! They had an enormous bag of dried mushrooms- and I mean like... the size of an average human. I really wanted to bring one back on the ship. Then we stopped at the markets and got some free samples of things from a lovely shop keeper. We spent some times in the market- which was mainly a food market. Let me stop here and tell you that Mauritius is SUCH a colorful country and I absolutely love it! I also fell in love with a boy there- I don't know his name- but we're getting married. We also visited 2 hospitals in Mauritius, and although it doesn't sound that thrilling- it was actually very neat. In the first hospital we learned all about Ayuveric Medicine, and a girl in our group got a full neck, shoulder, and back massage! (Key note in this- ALWAYS raise your hand first). Then we stopped for lunch- Everyone prepare yourself to laugh, as well as be in awe.

We literally were out in the middle of NOWHERE, and there were farms, and a hew scattered houses, and then our bus went down this bumpy dirt path (no-no...not a road, a path), and BAM! There was this gorgeous house all set to serve us lunch.

The appetizer (which I did not try) consisted of "chili bites", Chili dip for the chili bites, and some pastry-like covered chicken?

I just drank water.

Then they come out with banana leaves (I was excited because our Prof said there was a lot of fruit plantations around so we would most likely be getting lots of fruit...we didn't).

Then people start coming out with tin and silver pails and bucket- stay with me here. They spoon this orange mush onto our banana leaves-aka plates; then comes potatoes and beans mixed with curry and 34786583 other spices; then there was the seaweed/baby diarrhea looking thing (It was part of the lettuce family? And steamed); then came These potato slices in rectangular shapes with some green garnish.

They then set in front of us, bowls of "fried dough" (it is not sweet like fried dough)- just bland. And that was our utensil.

Now- here's where you will be in awe. I did NOT try the curry (because I have tried it other places before- and do not like it). I DID try the orange mush, baby diarrhea, and potato concoction.

The verdict: The orange mush was pumpkin- and so good that I seriously ate it all! The baby diarrhea tasted like Spinach- I tried it, it wasn't bad, but I loved the pumpkin! Then I tried the potato thing- which tasted like potato fresh out of water, this also wasn't bad- but the dough and potato together was too bland for me. So again- I stuck with the pumpkin. But I tried things! I am very proud of myself.

Okay- so for those of you close to me, and for people named Joseph Pizzoferrato; this will make you smile. Imagine my face when I saw them bring out a huge bucket of Steamed white rice! I took my hand, and literally pushed all the leftover gunk off to the side of the leaf to make room for the love of my life; rice.

Mmmmmmm is all I have to say.

Then they put this homemade tamarin? jelly on our leaves- and I dipped my dough into it, and it was incredibly tasty!

The house at this place was outstandingly beautiful.

Common theme in all the countries:

Everyone thinks I am from Spain, Italy or Greece (not complaining about that).

Everyone calls EVERYONE gorgeous (But the reassurance is always a booster) :]

For some reason I have had at least 1 person in every country tell me that they love my voice.

Hey-I'll take it!

There is a huge Chinese and Indian influence in Mauritius- and most of the people look like they from India- only they're complexion is slightly darker, and they speak Creole (A broken French).

Mauritius is also a hot spot for European tourists and Hollywood movie stars on a regular basis. They are known for their Coral Reefs, Beaches, Villas, and of course- the famous, yet extinct, Dodo bird (of which they are VERY proud of). OH! And something like 70% of their land is sugar cane- so as you can imagine they produce a lot of it. They also produce coffee (but not nearly as much as the sugar cane). They have the Phoenix brewery headquarters here, as well as Rum distilleries on the island.

And they have a drink (which EVERYONE always seems to be out of)- called Alouda, which is basically an almond milk shake, and locals swear by it! They also have many street vendors with fresh squeezed fruit drinks! Mmmm :]

Alright let's see here- onto yesterday... Alys and I had planned to go to the Botanical Gardens, 7-Color earth and Adventure Park. I used my (what I think are awesome) bartering skills, and dot the taxi driver down to 800 rupees per person- so roughly 24 ish dollars.

So for 24 USD we basically had our own personal driver for a majority of the day (because while you do your activities they wait for you)- Not bad at all in my book. I'm sure I could have gone lower- but it seems like a great deal to me, and after all he is a business trying to make a profit. So we literally drove up and down the coast of Mauritius. Nashid was our driver, and really cool- he liked my gnome! :] Hahaha. We went to 7-color earth first, where we saw giant tortoises and an amazing view (which you can all see when I come home). :]

The adventure park was literally minutes (if that) away from the 7 color earth- keep in mind that this whole entire time we are literally driving through farm fields, and a mini rain forest... We got to the park- paid the equivalent of 30 USD (which was cheaper than what we planned to pay for!), and started on our journey.

There are 2 courses you get to do- 7 bridges that are connected from tree to tree- and then an obstacle course and zip line (Tollanders- Think of the ROPES challenges). The bridges were really cool (you have a harness and clip yourself to a wire with rock climbing clips). The bridges were also crazy- because you often had to jump since there were enormous gaps between the wooden planks.

The obstacle course was awesome- and I have MANY awkward photos of me and Alys and our attempts to do theses gracefully. At the obstacle course there is supposed to be a guide with you throughout the entire thing... well, nobody was there- so I just took that as initiative to start :p

It's hard to explain without pictures but here we go... The first bridge was a rope net base- with no handles or anything- so you just walked across a rope net. The second was two rope nets- one on your left, and one on your right- they were vertical... and there was NO bottom.

AKA you look like Spiderman while going across this (and I am pretty sure I have become extra flexible from this course). The rope nets are loose- so they swing and sway, and you do mid-air splits (ha-ha- it is too funny).

Alys got stuck part way and fell, and ended up having a mini zip line- but then got caught in the end tangle of ropes and nets. So I hooked myself back on, and proceeded to save the day :]

Then there was the log swings- where you jump from swing to swing hoping not to fall. And at one point I was sitting on it, literally swinging. The logs were high- then low- then long and narrow, it was crazy!

then we got to a rope net that was vertical and there was just one (this was actually very easy- but I did get rope burn on my hands).

Then there was the zip line- by this time a guide had spotted us, and was astounded we weren't dead. Ha-ha- Good thing he did spot us, because I would probably have attached the zip line incorrectly. The zip line was a lot of fun- and you literally SLAM into this "cushioned" wall.

The last obstacle was so much fun- but very challenging. you had two ropes for your feet- and two for your hands. I slid across the ropes like a duck- and the tour guide and I were laughing so hard- that 2/3rds of the way through I fell, and got tangled in all the ropes to the point where he had to come untangle me. It was too funny. I then managed to miraculously get back onto the rope- but then fell forward as soon as I was up. So I did I mini "zip-line" to the end of that.

The views from this place were spectacular- I felt like I could see the entire island!

I'm sure there is a bajillion things I am forgetting to tell you.

OH! I FINALLY got an external hard drive, since the start of the trip I have 13,741 photos from various countries. I know- insane!

And the worst part is... probably 1000 pictures/videos of mine somehow got messed up- so they aren't even included in that 1000 :p

Okay so yesterday- our last day in Mauritius (:[) I went snorkeling, and rode on a catamaran!

It was awesome. I swam over coral reefs, and had 2 underwater cameras with me, so I hope the pictures turned out great. We saw a school (?) of dolphins (Which is when my camera decided to "break", and we saw a whale.

I was telling this girl that Discovery Channel gave me unrealistic expectations of sea life- because you always see them jumping, and doing all these crazy things- and of course nobody EVER sees that.

Well. The whale must have heard me, because 2 minutes later- it LEGIT jumped like 10 feet into the air! It was amazing, and none of us got a picture :[   But I guess there's a reason for that. It's stomach was facing towards us, but it was one of the most magical moments.

I loved Mauritius, but not as much as I thought. SAS glorified it a little too much- and made it seem like this luxurious, luscious island, which it is...if you're at the beach the whole time. People forgot that this too, was a country, with it's problems and downfalls like every other.

I noticed that in Mauritius, and SA dogs are A LOT more prevalent then other creatures. The dogs here were always on top of roofs, and wandering the streets. And the roosters I saw were gigantic! Like... 20+ lb roosters- it was crazy.

It was also interesting to see Chinese people, as well as Indian people speaking Creole.

This is information I learned, but I do not know how accurate it is, so take it with a grain of salt. Mauritius is about the size of Rhode Island, with a population of 1.2 million. 800,000 of that 1.2 million our tourists.

Oh! We got to take water taxis from our ship to the waterfront! It was kind of neat- but also annoying, we paid 2 USD (which is not a lot, but we do not go far, and if you repeatedly go out- it adds up), and it got extra annoying because the drivers would make you wait until a larger group of people came to go on the taxi. So one time I waited 45 minutes.

I don't think there is much else to say right now. We are headed to India.

I'm doing mostly service projects there, but it will be a lot of fun.

In 2 days we have the Sea Olympics, I'm pretty stoked for this event!

Catch you kids on the flip side!