Thursday, August 03, 2006

Mauritius

"Welcome home. Mauritius will enchant you, will uplift your soul, making you feel that you belong to the chosen few. Every visitor enjoys personal attention. Every encounter is an opportunity to discover a friendly face. Behind each smile lies the promise of a unique..."

Wow these are some pretty big words here. So Fitena, if I come to Mauritius, will it do this for me? Does it do this for you? What if my soul is already uplifted? What if I already feel like I belong to a chosen few?
The island is well known for its exceptional natural beauty; "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius", as Mark Twain noted in Following the Equator.

And while the island itself might be inexpensive compared to what I am used to, it would cost $2,912 just to get to Cape Town South Africa, as there seem to be precisely zero flights to Mauritius on Yahoo Travel. But Air Mauritius flies from Cape Town.

This is so nostalgic for me, it used to be that I would spend hours trying to find the best price to get me outta the country. I did ok, 200 bucks to Paris, 400 bucks to Costa Rica.

But the more I read about Mauritius, the more enthralled I am with this place. It sounds like a world away from the world. Am I getting all googly eyed here Fitena, or what?

Places I learned about Mauritius:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius

http://www.answers.com/mauritius


http://www.who.int/csr/don/Regional_Chykungunya_largeb.jpg

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mutoc.html


Fast facts:
2 seasons, very mild temps, humid
English is official language with French and Urdu and Hindi and another one I can't spell
Originally settled by Dutch, resettled by French then again by Brits
Emancipated in late 60s
Sugarcane is major crop but has diversified economic base
All but 1% deforested but the government set up environmental protections in early 90s
Overall country is properly nourished, healthcare and life expectancy are all good
Surrounded by coral reefs

Bu I can't get there from here according to Yahoo, and I couldn't afford it if I could. And if English is the official language, they certainly don't need an English teacher.

Sniff.
Next time remind me to talk about cargo cults. They are a trip!

6 comments:

Fatma said...

Correct facts! But for the languages. Actually, though English is the official language its only use as a teaching medium and is almost not spoken at all among the inhabitants. They use a broken frenc language called creol. This is the popular language! And worry not, there is a need for english teachers! And yeah, it'll treat you rirght, you're not being googled eyed!

Fitèna

Unknown said...

Man Fitena, this place sounds amazing. Can't believe you have been keeping it secret. Pictures of Mauritius please!!

Megan said...

Yea, I want pictures too! I think I might be moving there as well now!

Anonymous said...

http://www.lumieredesiles.com/

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~ramtohul/

http://photos.moris.org/gallery/albums.php

http://pages.intnet.mu/kronick/photos/

Enjoy.

Unknown said...

thanks aadil, I was showing Jeff trying to convince him that somehow we could afford a couple 3000 dollar/piece air tickets while showing the pics...but for some reason, he just wasn't buying it!

Hmph.

Anonymous said...

Tell him you will visit Mauritius all alone if he doesn't come and that you will share my room and stay at my house. ;D