Mauritius

Hello America and whoever my mother is forwarding this letter/blog to-

Has anyone ever heard of Mauritius? Good, cause I certainly hadn’t before I saw it on the Semester at Sea Itinerary. The physical layout reminds me of all of the islands we visit while on our family cruises. You know the type- all the islands are exactly the same. So it would be one of those islands only it has amazing parks and this really cool mountain range that at one end has a mountain in the shape of a boob.

Throughout time the island of Mauritius was ruled by a few different nations. Most of them left because the island itself has very little resources and is pretty far from any major port. The group to stay was the French. They came into Mauritius and set up sugar plantations. At first the French brought the Africans over as slaves. When that was outlawed plantation owners brought in Indians as indentured servants. Currently, the country is made up of Creole (Its like broken up French), Indo-Mauritians (from India), Sino-Mauritians (from china) and its 2% French who are still the elite. The government here has been stable for a very long time and the reason why I tell you this is because it is amazing how many different are on the island for how well everyone gets along.

Another interesting bit of information about Mauritius. During the holocaust about 1600 Jews were not let into Israel and ended up in Mauritius. They were held in prison for five years. After the war ended most Jews left but a few stayed which is why there is a small Jewish community and a synagogue on the island.

Seeing as we are on a resort like island most SASers decided to take the Island as a sort of spring break. My friends and I are staying at a resort on the beach. I am in a family suite with two bedrooms and a group of 10 of my other friends are in a villa. Let me tell you something about traveling with people you don’t know. Its even more difficult than traveling with people you do know. Everyone has their own idea about what we should do and how to go about it. I have learned the best way to travel is to find people who just do not care, people who go with the flow and just want to learn and have a good time. If you travel with anyone else, you are guaranteed to be miserable. I am not saying I am miserable at all. I am on a beautiful Island where each doller is about 30 rupees. The fake purses are better than the best ones you can find in china town. Although the temperature reaches about 90 degrees, you would never realize it because of the wind coming from the ocean.

A funny story from last night- two drunk buffoons who I am personally not friends with but who came with our group decided that it would be fun to run into the ocean naked. Turns out a neighbor to the hotel was the president of some random African country. He was not pleased to say the least and he called the police. The guys were so drunk they had no idea what was going on, but they are very lucky that they were not arrested. I hear being in jail in Mauritius is brutal- and they hold you for a very long time. Also, for some reason everyone in Mauritius thinks that I am South African-so the police were just talking to me about how dumb the Americans were being.
I will write more about Mauritius later. Good eve.