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(note: this is one of my pre-scheduled posts set to appear at 5:00am EST each morning I am in a port city. I will post follow-up information about each trip once I am able to get back on the computer.)
At 9:30 am, I will take a taxi with Kristen (the assistant field office coordinator) and Emily (one of the nurses) to the beach villa that people are renting toward the north of the island. I will play it by ear and figure out if I'm going to sleep on the floor there or head back to the ship later at night. I probably will stay there if no one else is heading back to the ship because it is apparently a 30 minute taxi ride from where the ship is docked.
Update:
At 8:40 am today, I went to the Union to see if anyone would buy the ticket I had for a trip called "Sugar Adventure" (about the sugar industry in Mauritius). It cost me $46 so I was hoping someone would want to add the trip at the last minute. Luckily, the Global Studies coordinator and his wife were looking for tickets so I handed mine off to them and told them we'd settle up later.
At 9:30 am, I went to meet up with Emily and Kristen in purser's square. Emily came a bit late because she had responsibilities to take care of that held her up so by the time we left the ship to get a cab, it was about 9:50 am. We got a cab to take us to the north coast of the island to the town of Pereybere, which is to the east of Grand Baie. When we got there, we found where the people who left the day before (Shannon & John Paul, Tom & Emily, Ben, Matt) were staying and they were all just waking up from being out very late last night drinking and apparently pole dancing at a club/bar that was nearby. They all seemed to have a lot of fun the night before and told us that they wanted to go back to the place tonight. They had met up with Mark and Joanna last night as well (they decided they wanted to go try to rent a motorbike yesterday, drive around the island on that and meet up with the group after doing that - they ended up getting a big hotel room that was literally just in front of the apartment building area that the others were staying in.)
While they were still waking up, we were told that there was an apartment unit that Kristen, Emily and I could stay in. The woman who rents the places showed it to us and it had two bedrooms (one with a double bed, one with two single beds) and a kitchen area and bathroom. We each only paid $11 dollars for the place for the night.
Villa we stayed at in Mauritius
me, assistant field office coordinator Kristen and resident director Tom's girlfriend Emily waiting for other people to get ready outside the villa we stayed at in Mauritius
Once everyone got up, we made our way to the beach which was only a two or three minute walk. Ben said that he told Mark and Joanna that he would meet up with them at 11:00 am on the beach to let them know what was going on today. Mark and Joanna eventually showed up and including me, Emily and Kristen, our group was now of 11 people. The beach wasn't very big, but we stayed there for a little while and people took turns going in the water and staying behind with the stuff on the beach.
After a little while people wanted to do different things. Emily wanted to swim some laps in the ocean, Mark and Joanna were thinking about driving around the island more on the moped they got. They had also made the offer to make dinner for everyone in their hotel room (a two bedroom apartment which had a kitchen area to it) at 8:30 pm. Everyone else wanted to go to Grand Baie down the road and see if that beach was any better. I went with the Grand Baie group and we got on a bus that took us a few minutes down the road. Upon getting off and walking around a bit, people decided that it wasn't worth staying there anymore than it was going back to the Pereybere beach so we took the bus back and went back on the beach again there. Most of the people I was with were interested in just lying out on the beach so after I went back in the ocean I decided to go back to the room and take a shower and then maybe go to the grocery store down the road that people said was very close.
Upon finishing my shower, I went to try to find the grocery store and wasn't sure where I was going so I turned around and at that point, I saw the rest of the beach group walking toward me - also heading toward the grocery store. I followed them since they knew where is was and everyone ended up buying some snacks, a bottle of wine, some water and some dessert for later that night.
We went back to the apartment complex area we were staying in and had a few hours to kill before dinner. People came down to the patio area of the first floor unit that Emily, Kristen and I were staying in and we hung out there for a while. After a while, people got restless again and we headed back toward the beach to sit there for a while (it was already getting dark at that point). While there we saw three dogs (2 males, 1 female) wandering the beach and copulating with each other in the surf. Good times.
When it got to be too dark, we headed back to the apartment complex area and people opened one of the bottles of wine. After waiting a little bit longer, we decided it was time to head over to the place that Mark and Joanna were so we gathered up all of our snacks and drinks and went over there.
Global Nomads Group director Mark and nurse Emily trying to flush the cockroach down the toilet in Mark and Joanna's rental in Mauritius
assistant field office coordinator Kristen, Global Nomads Group documentarian Ben and nurse Emily in Mark and Joanna's rental in Mauritius
Global Nomads Group editor Joanna and AV coordinator John Paul's wife Shannon in Mark and Joanna's rental in Mauritius
AV coordinator John Paul's wife Shannon and IT coordinator Matt in Mark and Joanna's rental in Mauritius
resident director Tom, AV coordinator John Paul, Global Nomads Group director Mark and Global Nomads Group documentarian Ben in Mark and Joanna's rental in Mauritius
me, AV coordinator John Paul's wife Shannon, Global Nomads Group documentarian Ben, Global Nomads Group editor Joanna in Mark and Joanna's rental in MauritiusAfter dinner and dessert and hanging out there some more, we ended up at the beach again. Mark apparently asked some local musician and dancer people who were around the hotel if they would play for us on the beach and they did. While at the beach, we ran into Joe, the videographer, who had just come from the ship and was wandering around looking for us.
a video that AV coordinator John Paul took in a gazebo near the beach where some Mauritian guys were playing music
(click here for bigger version of the video)
After that it was about midnight and people wanted to go back to the club/bar that they were at last night called Club Zanzibar. We took cabs there (back toward the Grand Baie area) and there was a lot of bargaining at the door as to how much the cover charge would be for all 12 of us. This process took at least 20 - 30 minutes and was completely annoying (luckily, I wasn't the one doing the negotiating). At one point, people decided we were all going to leave because it was too expensive and then we did end up going in because then the price we had offered was sufficient apparently. I don't even know what happened. It was frustrating and annoying and took entirely too long.
Upon getting into the club/bar, our group started dancing and there was, indeed, a pole dancing area (basically a narrow table that about 5 or 6 people could stand on - it wasn't really a "proper" pole dancing area though). Some people took turns getting up on the table and dancing up there.
resident director Tom and his girlfriend Emily dancing on the pole at Club Zanzibar in Mauritius
Global Nomads Group editor Joanna, IT coordinator Matt and me - view from the pole dancing platform at Club Zanzibar in Mauritius
videographer Joe, IT coordinator Joe and me at Club Zanzibar in Mauritius
At the bar we ran into some of the Filipino crew members from the ship as well. Essentially from midnight until about 4:30 am was spent at this place. There are photos I recently uploaded of John Paul falling asleep (apparently his wife Shannon said his friends call him "Sloth Paul" because when he drinks he just goes to sleep). One of the funny photos I uploaded is of Shannon holding John Paul's head up to look in his eyes and he is just completely out of it.
AV coordinator John Paul and his wife Shannon at Club Zanzibar in Mauritius
a video that AV coordinator John Paul took outside of the club where we encountered a drunk Mauritian guy
(click here for bigger version of the video)
I was tired at that point and along with a bunch of other people, we headed back to the rooms. I was amazed that Joe even came out to meet us because he was scheduled to go on one of the trips the next day that was leaving at 8:30 am. Joe ended up sleeping for about two hours in our room (Emily had gone back to where Mark and Joanna were staying so Joe slept in her empty bed during that time) and I told Joe that I might head back in a cab with him when he was leaving at around 6:30 am. Kristen nudged me around 6:30 am and then went to wake up Joe and he was still completely out of it. I was amazed that Joe eventually got up after much prodding and I headed back to the ship with him very early so I could sleep in my own bed there. The rest of the gang was planning on just going to the beach again after sleeping and I knew I wasn't really interested in lying out on the beach for another day. I had grading to still get done anyway so I figured it would be just as well for me to go back to the ship a little early.
