Saying Farewell to Mauritius

It was impossible to see everything we wanted to during our last week in Mauritius, before we left for the U.S. 

A few of our last minute unforgettable sights . . . 

French protesters blocking the freeway at Reunion Island:

Visited the Rasoanaivo family at their home near Pamplemousses:

We treated ourselves to fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice with pineapple at Bagatelle:

Geckos are a common sight on the walls of our house, but how did one get in our car at the beach?

 The mangoes on our tree are not ripe yet but at least it is finally Lychee season:

So tempting to feed the monkeys in the picnic area at Alexandra Falls:

Jonathan conquered the peak at Corps de Garde with JeanClaude. I stayed home and waved to them at the top:

Jonathan was a speaker at the first Mauritius District Youth Conference. About 40 remarkable young men and women and their leaders had a great time at Trou Au Biches:

Fun place to eat lunch after snorkeling at Ile Aux Cerfs:

It was hard to say goodbye to our very good friends among the single adult group in Phoenix Branch:

Wildlife, History, & Theology in Mauritius

In the past few days we have learned amazing things about Mauritius:

• History at a World Heritage Site called Aapravasi Ghat 
• Theology at the largest Hindu shrine in Mauritius
• Wildlife: monkeys and flying foxes!

Aapravasi Ghat was the site where half a million indentured servants were processed when brought from India after slavery was outlawed by the UK  in 1834.

Over 70% of current Mauritians are descended from the indentured, and "Arrival of the Indentured" is a major national holiday.

More fascinating history at this UNESCO page.

The largest Hindu temple in Mauritius is at the Ganga Talao, this mountain lake thought to be formed out of water from the sacred Ganges River in India. It is the scene of barefoot pilgrimages from all over the island during Shivaratri. 

We visited their shrines and accepted the priest's invitation for a blessing of health and protection, symbolized by red paint on the forehead. 

People love seeing monkeys in the forests and up in the mountains.

People are less thrilled to see the Mauritian Flying Foxes, otherwise known as Fruit Bats. Once endangered, their population has rebounded and now they are considered a pest. 

Trees are often covered by nets to protect the valuable Lychees from the bats.

These almost ripe Lychees are on the property of the Rose Hill Branch chapel where Jonathan was playing basketball 

Last Saturday the district RS organized a bus trip to the beach. 

 How's this for a setting for Relief Society activity? Palmar Beach on the east coast was balmy and the water was warm. I love how the forest grows right down to the sandy beach.

Finally, here are my two lovely piano students from the Flacq Branch: Alicia and Megan. The future of Mauritius looks promising with outstanding youth like these!

Side Trip to Amazing Madagascar

It seemed we were in another world when we spent a quick week in Madagascar. We had the good fortune to find a remarkable local guide who provided all our transportation and suggested what to see.

Outside the massive capital city of Antananarivo we traveled 3 hours on  winding mountain roads to Andasibe National Park. We saw how the hardworking Malagasy people tend rice paddies, cut bricks from red clay, and terrace their farms up the steep hills.

We hiked in the lush jungle listening to raucous screams of  lemurs, then visited crocodiles in a reptile preserve.  Canoeing to lemur island, it seemed to be raining teddy bears as the tame lemurs jumped on our heads and shoulders expecting to be fed bananas.

The streets within the big city seem unbelievably chaotic . . . 

. . . but amid the craziness we also found beauty and kindness from the wonderful people there. 

One highlight was visiting a PathwayConnect Gathering where 60 institute students participated in a worldwide devotional broadcast. 

Not enough time to see all the amazing sights; we will need to go back someday. And of course I have posted only a tiny fraction of what we saw and did in a week -- you will not believe this place until you visit here yourselves!

Many Talented Mauritians

Two fun things I did not expect to see in Mauritius:

1. an opera 
2. a basketball game

The opera was The Merry Widow, directed by one of our own branch members and performed by the community opera company, including many professional soloists. The opera takes place in Paris but as you can see it was adapted for an island setting!

Jonathan finally got his wish and played basketball with the district single adults. One of their most popular activities yet.

Some of us took a break from playing and cheered from the sidelines

And finally, here is a little Mauritian scenery, looking toward the north coast near Pamplemousses [fun fact: that word means grapefruits].

A Hike and a Hindu Festival

This is holiday time for Hindus, and we have seen decorations, fancy clothes, and parades in the street for many days. A few days ago was Vijayadashami (also known as Dussehra) and I caught their procession as it stopped traffic.

Meanwhile our little branch has also been active but not as colorful! We gathered at the local City Hall: below are four Young Adults and one older adult, getting ready for our hike and waiting for the others. We finally had a total of nine.

We hiked up the nearby Corps de Garde mountain, at least I made it to the first ridge where we could see the whole city behind us

Jonathan and Luc made it a lot higher

Then on the way down I saw some monkeys on the ridge but only caught one silhouetted in the photo

Incidentally, the mountain is said to have a giant on top, where you can see his head on the left, crossed arms, and his feet.

I also read some history of this area, which has a tragic heritage. Escaped slaves lived on this mountain, always in desperate fear of being recaptured.

Here is one account from https://www.indian-ocean.com/corps-de-garde-mountain-mauritius/

 ". . . Many maroons-turned-bandits roamed the hamlets of the vicinity. They lived a miserable life, hiding during daylight and moving in groups, coming out at night in search of food, thereby attacking even innocent people. It is told that they usually called on a village nearby and ate their fill prepared especially for them The villagers grew tired as the corvèe began to tell upon their purse so one day they laid a trap. Food was served to them as usual. But well-built and strong muscled police officers were also invited leading to the arrest of the whole lot The maroons’ lives sometimes inspired pity as they lived in perpetual fear of the military tnat might arrest and punish them according to Code Noir, a law passed by Colbert in 1685 to protect the slaves. . . "

We are fortunate to live here in calmer times, with relative safety and peace.

This is how we watch conference in Africa

In our time zone, conference is live at 8 pm to 2 am Saturday and Sunday nights, so we could not watch it during church meetings of conference weekend. 

Many of us had stayed up watching conference sessions at night. Jonathan and I were sufficiently jet-lagged having just arrived back from the US, that we were up all night anyway.

For those who had missed the opening session on Saturday, there were plenty of people at church saying things like "You missed the new announcements! Women got the priesthood and tithing is now five percent!" 

As a Branch we watched 2 sessions on the Sunday following conference, Oct  14. 

Our branch is both French- and English-speaking so they played the French version at the church, and this is the smaller English group watching at the District President's house. There were 20 of us, and we had a great potluck lunch between sessions. 

The lunch was, as they say here, So Delicious, So Mauritius! The conference sessions were also great.

This is a continuation of the Blog Formerly Known as . . .

So it turns out Jonathan is preoccupied with some Church History research and claims he has no time to keep current with this Blog, so he nominated me . . . but with my limitations this will be rocky.

However I do have a camera so we'll see what happens!