More from Mauritius

Well it's raining again so I'm back inside on the computer.

I've had lots of opportunities to practice my French here. Although the French left the island in 1815 when they were defeated by the English, French is still the primary language. Most of the locals with whom I've spoken have mistaken me for being French. On three separate occasions I was speaking with Mauritiuns in French and then began speaking English with other people in English, and the locals complimented me on how good my English was! When I tell them that I'm American they get very excited since they don't get many American tourists here, and they all ask me if Americans even know where Mauritius is. I tell them that no they don't, and that even when I tell people that it's near Madagascar many Americans don't know where that is either!

I've only met 6 Americans in 6 days. One was the deputy ambassador, and then there was a couple from La Jolla, some newlyweds from Chicago and a woman from the Marina. She and her British boyfriend had actually booked their tickets with AirTreks and changed their plans with Sarah a half a dozen times before eventually buying with AirBrokers. Aside from that they're nice people and I was supposed to go meet them 5 minutes ago, but I don't owe them any favors after what they put Sarah through so I feel no guilt. I'm also assuming that they got caught in the rain like I did and probably can't make it either.

I've also spent the last few days with a wonderful Mauritiun girl named Amy, who I was lucky enough to meet when my scooter broke down. It's been nice having someone to share some romance with, and she finds American men as exotic as I find Mauritiun women. Unfortunately it's a romance that will have to end tomorrow when I leave for Durban.

Grand Baie has also grown on me. The beaches are limited, but there are plenty of beatiful ones nearby and this is the place to come party, check email, etc. I'm staying in the town next door called Pereybere, and unfortunately the only cybercafe there has a fucked up French keyboard where all of the letters are in the wrong place. I gave up after 5 minutes.

The other thing that I really enjoy about Mauritius is that beer only costs $1-1.50 at a bar or restaurant and about 50 cents in the store. I could get used to this lifestyle.

Yesterday I finished my photos in Grand Baie and even got to take a tour of the Royal Palm Hotel, which is supposedly one of the nicest in the world (I wouldn't disagree). Recent guests include Jacques Chirac, Francois Mitterand, Boris Becker, the King of Swaziland and Emma Bunton (aka: Baby Spice of the Spice Girls). They were especially nice to me there, and were excited about my project. Rooms start at about $600/night, but if you've got the money to blow then I highly suggest blowing it there.

Unfortunately I missed the dudes with the spears through their face at the Tamil festival (Kavady). I woke my lazy ass up at 6:00 and arrived at the temple at 6:45 only to find people praying sans spears-through-face. Someone else told me that they had already left at 6 and would return around 11. I went back to the temple only to discover that they weren't actually returning to THAT temple, but another one further away. I was pretty tired by then so I decided to give it a miss. I actually remember seeing one of those guys in Kodaikanal, India.

On a completely unrelated note the German guy using the computer next to me smells fukcing horrible, so I need to get going. I assumed that he was French until I saw him on a German website.