Total (well, almost) Eclipse of the Sun

Tomorrow is a big day in Mauritius. There's going to be an annular solar eclipse, the likes of which haven't been seen since 1901. It will be visible across southern Africa, Madagascar, Réunion, and Mauritius, and scientific type people, including Merv, have known about it for some time.

We should get a pretty good view!

Even though appromiately 90% of the sun will be covered, it's obviously very dangerous to look at it. Most people only found out about the event this week when the media started covering it, and there's been a mad rush to try and find the special glasses you need to be able to view the eclipse. There's a Facebook page that completely sold out, re-ordered, and promptly sold the new stock in a couple of hours. There's a scientific centre advertising glasses for sale, but numerous people have gone there, only to find they don't have any left either. Importing stuff takes a while, and since the eclipse is happening tomorrow, there are a lot of disappointed people.

Can anyone get a pair of these to me by tomorrow lunchtime??

The science centre has some filtered telescopes for people to go along and view the eclipse, and they are setting up some telescopes on the beach at Flic-en-FLac as well. I dread to think how long you might have to wait to actually be able to look through one!

The biggest problem this week though hasn't been the availability of glasses; schools are panicking about what to do with all the children as the eclipse will be happening right around the time they get let out of school. Some schools are using it as a great educational opportunity and are equipped with glasses and a large enough room to keep all the children in, so they can take turns to go and view the show outside. Others are just keeping the children inside all day - the eclipse is between 12h20-15h44 - and watching live on the internet, and others, including my school, are letting the children go home at lunchtime.  Sadly, they're not letting the teachers go though, so I won't be able to test any of the alternative viewing methods that have been floating around on the internet for the past few days. :-(

Summer travels part I.

I somehow made it through my first six months of teaching - well enough that they've given me a permanent contract and my own classes from next year - so we decided to celebrate by doing some travelling over the summer. 

Since we moved to Mauritius, I've spent a lot of time in Dubai airport, usually in the middle of the night. I took a non-stop flight once from Paris and hated every second of it, so now I try to always travel with Emirates and have a stop in Dubai to break up the flight a bit. I'm definitely in the minority amongst my ex-pat friends, but for me the chance to stretch my legs, brush my teeth, and have a quick wander round the duty free shops makes all the difference. The only problem is that you never have time to actually leave the airport and see the city. As Merv and I were travelling together for once, we thought we would change that.

We had already planned a trip to England with Emirates so we just created a break of 3 days between the flights and booked ourselves a nice hotel. We stayed on the banks of the Dubai Creek, in an area which is pretty much still a building site, but was close to everything. 

View from our room on the 22nd floor

My absolute favourite thing about the hotel was the bath. I couldn't work out how to fill it at first because there were no taps, but I eventually found a button with a picture of a bath, and when I pressed it, this happened:

Yes, that's the water pouring down from the ceiling!

The other cool thing was the swimming pool balcony. I'd packed for a holiday in England so didn't have my swimming costume, and just had to admire it from a distance.

Because we had limited time to visit, we went for the super touristy option of a sightseeing bus which did routes around the old and new quarters, as well as the marina and the artificial palm islands, which we'd seen so many times on Emirates in-flight adverts. It was extremely hot, but fortunately the bus had a covered, air-conditioned part at the front and we had a great view.

To get to the bus, we had to cross the creek, which we did in a traditional little boat. Everybody sits on the raised part in the middle and it felt a little wobbly, especially as we navigated our way through the hundreds of other boats on the creek. I'm sure they knew what they were doing though, and we didn't fall in!

First stop on the bus was the Gold Souk; passages of jewellery shops with more gold than you can imagine - over 25 tons at any given time. Most of it was a bit bling bling for me, but it was definitely worth seeing.

Dubai, we were told through our sightseeing bus headphones, is always trying to set records: the biggest, tallest, longest, most expensive, most luxurious, and this is certainly shown by the skyline. There are literally hundreds of skyscrapers, each one taller than the last.  It's kind of cool though, as a lot of them keep some elements of islamic design which I really like. It's all those interesting shapes and never-ending patterns. 

The tower that breaks all records is the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at almost 830m. We didn't visit because the queues were huge (we should have booked online in advance!) but we took some pretty photos from the outside. After all, if you're at the top of the tower, you can't get a good photo of it, can you?!

We weren't the only ones taking pictures!

By night, from a taxi, could be better.

 

 

 

 

 

The malls in Dubai are amazing. They are full of shops from around the world, including lots of French, English, and American stores I hadn't seen for a long time. Sadly Merv isn't the best shopping companion, so we only had a quick look around before moving on.

One mall had a giant aquarium:

 

There's even a ski slope complete with fake chalets and crazy inflatable bubbles that you can roll down the mountain in.

 

In the evening we went on a dinner cruise down the Dubai Creek on a dhow, another traditional Arab boat. There were lots of them and some had very pretty lights, like this one. There was a buffet dinner, drinks and entertainment. We saw some sword dancing and a crazy spinning man who I later found out was a whirling dervish. It was fascinating but made me feel a little sick watching him for too long!

  

We only stayed in Dubai for 3 days and although we did see quite a lot of the city, I didn't realise how much there actually was to do there. We could have taken trips to the mountains, to the sand dunes, the racecourse, and many more places. We also didn't go at the best time of year as some tourist attractions like the Miracle Gardens and Global Village were closed because of the heat. While it still wouldn't be my first choice of holiday destination, I'm really glad we had the chance to visit and would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes shopping!!

School and holidays

Today was my first day back at school after the half term break. In the six weeks I worked before the holidays, we had two public holidays which fell on Mondays and gave us a three day weekend, and two days where the school was closed because of torrential rain warnings. Add that to the fact that classes finish at lunchtime on Wednesdays and Fridays, and you can understand why I feel like I only just started!!

The first of the public holidays was to commemorate the abolition of slavery on 1st February. Slaves were brought to Mauritius by the Dutch in the 17th century, and by the time the British arrived in 1810, 70% of the population were slaves. It took the British 25 years to abolish slavery and cost them £2 million in compensation payments to the plantation owners. 

The following week was Chinese New Year. I know that in other places around the world, it's inappropriate to call it that, but in Mauritius that's the name everyone uses. I didn't go to see the festivities because it was raining, but we did see a dragon doing the rounds a couple of days later. They visit all the shops run by Chinese Mauritians, dancing and letting off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. We have some Chinese children at school who brought in lots of prawn crackers and other goodies to celebrate. My favourite part of this holiday is "gâteau la cire", a sticky cake made from rice flour, sugar, water, oil, and orange zest. It's an acquired taste; most people I've spoken to think it's revolting, but I really like it, especially the gooey ones.

Yummy!

This one was a bit hard, could have done with a few seconds in the microwave, but we don't have one.

 

 

 

Yesterday was the biggest Hindu celebration of the year; Maha Shivaratri, or the Great Night of Lord Shiva. It's the day when Hindus from all over the island walk to Grand Bassin carrying "kanwars." Originally they were bamboo poles with pots to hold water, but nowadays they can be pretty fancy - I've seen them covered in flowers and statues, flashing lights and all sorts.  It often takes several people to carry or push them, and they're worked on for weeks before the pilgrimage. 

When the pilgrims arrive at Grand Bassin, they fast, pray, make offerings of fruit and vegetables, and collect holy water from the lake to take back to their home or local temple. I've never been there during a festival, but you see a lot of the pilgrims on the roads, as well as the resting stations, manned by volunteers, which spring up all over the place. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the roads this weekend, but the cars that did venutre out were pretty much guaranteed to get stuck behind a group of pilgrims at some stage of their journey.

There was a policeman guiding this group

Kanwar

This is the closest thing Mauritius has to a motorway. It's a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 110 km/h but that doesn't stop people riding bikes or crossing on foot. I'd never seen groups of people this size though. They seemed oblivious to the cars speeding past.

There are also people who make the journey by car, discreetly, with a loudspeaker on the roof, or a giant poster like this hanging off the back...

 
Friday is another celebration, but sadly no day off this time. It's Mauritian Independence Day, celebrating 48 years of freedom from the British. All the school children have to learn the national anthem, in English and French, and there will be a flag raising ceremony and an official speech at school. I was asked to rehearse the anthem in English with my class of 6 years olds, but considering I didn't know it myself, I would have struggled. Fortunately one of my Mauritian colleagues stepped up and we've been singing "Glo-o-ry to thee, Motherland" all afternoon. It's a good anthem, uplifting and patriotic. You should check it out on You Tube.

I think that's it for the upcoming celebrations, and rainy season is coming to a close. We're going to have to go back to working full weeks until our next holidays! It will be tough...

New Island Life!

Hello. If you come to the blog regularly, you'll notice I haven't written on here for a reeeally long time. Sorry about that. I've been pretty busy since Diwali - I went for a job interview, went to La Réunion for a week to see my Belle Famille, went to England for a month to celebrate Christmas with my family, and I got back last Saturday and then started my new job on Monday morning! 

The new job is the reason this post is entitled "New Island Life"; not because I moved to a new island, but because life as I knew it is over. No more day trips, or visits to the beach on a weekday when all the children are at school, no more flying to Réunion to see Belle Maman (unless it's the school holidays), no more Pilates classess, and much less time for baking experiments. On the plus side, I'll be teaching English to small children, keeping myself busy and getting out of the house to meet people. 

It's only been a week so far but I'm really enjoying it. My colleauges are friendly and the children are (mostly) well-behaved and very sweet. I could fill a blog post already with the funny stuff they come out with, but I'll save that for another time.

I haven't done much visiting recently, but I do have a few photos which I've been saving for the blog. In no particular order:

This sign (Do not wash your clothes in the river) is on a temporary bridge near to the Balise Marina, a posh complex of apartments and villas which all have their own moorings outside the front door. There are some rocks in the river where people obviously did wash their clothes, but I can't help wondering if the residents are actually bothered if people do their washing, or if it's just that the owners of the development think it makes their area look less attractive. One of the big problems in Mauritius is local people and habits being displaced for wealthy developers and this is a prime example.

Another one for the funny shop names category. Sorry for the photo quality but it was raining and I almost missed my chance. It's the One and Only Hairdresser Beauty Saloon. As well as calling it a saloon, I love the fact that they advertise a hairdresser with a picture of a woman in a headscarf whose hair you can't even see.

Home of the Perfect Bread. I haven't tested it, so can't tell you if this is true or not.

Creepy creature spotted on the living room ceiling. He minded his own business and didn't land on me or anything, so I left him to it.

Hopefully I'll have a lot more to say (and time to say it) soon. Bye for now.

A belated Happy Diwali

I've mentioned before that each religious group in Mauritius gets two public holidays a year, celebrated by everyone. The 11th November was Diwali, the biggest celebration of the year for the Hindu majority on the island. I missed it last year, so this time I wanted to see how Mauritius celebrates the festival of lights. 

Merv told me that when he was little, every house in the neighbourhood was lit up with hundreds of "diya" - little clay pots holding candles -  along driveways and window sills, in front of doors and up staircases. In this celebration of light over darkness, people would walk around the streets, admiring the lights and sharing traditional sweets with friends and family. 

Our neighbourhood is mainly ex-pats and fishermen (who are generally Catholic) so there weren't a lot of lights around, and we decided to drive to some of the places that Merv visited with his family as a child. Unfortunately, Mauritius and Diwali have been modernised since then, and nowadays it's all about the electric lights. It was a bit like Blackpool illuminations which, although impressive, wasn't really what I was hoping for. I'm not very good at night photography at the best of times, but from a moving car the photos were a big blurry mess. Here are the best ones, just to give you an idea of what was going on:

A temple in Bambous

House in Port Louis

Here's one of the worst, just for fun. I actually think it's quite artistic...

As well as the lights, Hindus also decorate their houses with "rangoli," which are patterns created on the ground using coloured flour or rice, flower petals or sand. They are decorative, but also said to bring luck and are a sacred welcome place for Hindu deities. Merv's family in the north were a bit too far away for a spur of the moment visit, so we didn't actually see any of these, but luckily my friend Pascale and her daughters made some in their garden and she let me use the photos on the blog. 

The other important aspect of Diwali, and the one that non-Hindus get the most excited about, is the sharing of traditional Indian cakes. People make hundreds of them and hand them out to friends, neighbours and colleagues in little bags like we used to be given after a birthday party; a kind of Happy Diwali party bag. The most common one is the sweet potato cake. I found a recipe for on this great Mauritian food website, just in case anyone wants to try them at home. Bon Appétit!

Rodrigues mini-series part 3: Port Mathurin

Port Mathurin is the capital of Rodrigues and the island's main port. As you can see, it's a bustling place...

Almost everything on Rodrigues arrives by boat from big sister Mauritius. The "Trochetia", named after the national flower of Mauritius, arrives in Port Mathurin on a Saturday morning, after navigating the zig-zaggy pass through the coral reef. Merv made us sit and watch it for almost an hour when we should really have been eating lunch, but it did give me the chance to take some nice photos.

Saturday is also market day in Port Mathurin giving the locals a chance to buy their fruit and veg and catch up on the local gossip, and giving tourists the opportunity to stock up on local specialities before the flight home. A trip to Rodrigues isn't complete unless you've bought some jars of "achards" and "piments", and some baskets or trays woven from vacoa plants.

Aside from the market, there isn't really a lot to see in Port Mathurin, though it's worth going up to the statue of the Virgin Mary who keeps a protective eye on the capital and the incoming boats. 

We also saw a pretty cool statue near the port. It was designed for the Millennium and represents the artist's dreams for the future of Rodrigues:

The base of the statue shows people holding hands, symbolising unity and the importance of working together towards a better future. The second level represents sustainable development and use of machinery, while the third level highlights the importance of new technologies and means of communication to connect to the rest of the world. At the top of the statue is a "solitaire", a bird similar to a dodo but endemic to Rodrigues. On the statue it represents the dove, sign of peace and hope.

One of my favourite things in Port Mathurin was this wall, which they built around the tree instead of chopping it down!

Rodrigues mini-series part 2: Ourit

The lagoon surrounding Rodrigues is twice the size of the island itself, which explains why fishing is such an important part of the economy. On the picture below you can see the white line of waves breaking on the reef, and the clear colour difference between the lagoon and the open sea. The zig zag is a pass where the fishing boats travel in and out of the lagoon.

It's not all about the fish though; the main catch to be had in the shallow lagoon water is "ourit" or octopus. It's estimated that there are around 500 professional octopus fishermen, and 2500 more who rely on octopus fishing to feed their families. 

To catch an octopus, you need to go out at low tide looking for clues as to where they might be hiding. They are apparently clean and tidy creatures, but the piles of empty crab shells they leave outside their holes are usually what gives them away and leads to them being speared on the end of a big metal stick.

Fishing for octopus is a job carried out mainly by women. It's tiring and not very well paid, but those who do it professionally are subsidised by the government on days when they can't work due to bad weather. This means that more and more people are starting to fish, and is having a negative effect on lagoon life. The octopus population is decreasing rapidly, and the huge numbers of people out in the lagoon at low tide are destroying the coral and harming the fish. In order to fight this and protect the environment, the Regional Assembly decided to ban octopus hunting for two months of each year. Unfortunately, that happened to coincide with our visit:

In this great example of Rodrigues Kréol, you can see that fishing (lapes, like la pêche in French) of octopus is closed between 10th August and 10th October. Anyone caught with an octopus of more than 5kg without a permit can receive a fine of 2,000-3,000 rupees (£40-£60) for a first offence, and 10,000 rupees and up to 2 years in prison if you're caught more than once. During the two months where they're not allowed to fish, the Regional Assembly pays all the professional fishermen to work on the land, planting forests and reintroducing endemic trees and plants.

The image on almost every postcard from Rodrigues shows octopuses drying in the sun on a kind of wooden washing line. Since we were there at the wrong time, I didn't get any photos of those, but I found this one online from Le Mauricien newspaper:

 We may not have seen any octopuses, but I did get photos of fish and sausages:

Empty octopus line

Sausages

Fish

I've never been that adventurous when it comes to food, mainly because I don't like things with strange textures. Since I moved to Mauritius though, I've made it my aim to try everything offered to me, so although the idea of eating octopus didn't really appeal, I didn't feel I could refuse. It is the regional speciality after all. 

The first time I tried it was in a restaurant where the waitress was most apologetic that it had been frozen and wasn't fresh from the lagoon.

It was served in a big clam shell with a vinaigrette. As I wasn't sure I'd like it, and one of our friends wasn't keen either, we got one between four. It wasn't enough - it was so tasty that I could have eaten the whole thing myself! We later had it when we went to see some friends, and they put out two large bowls, one of which Arno (the friend who wasn't keen) and I finished between us!

We learned that the secret to preventing your octopus from being rubbery in texture is to put it in a pressure cooker without any water, as boiling it is what makes it so chewy. It can be served in all kinds of dishes; curries, stew type sauces, salad, and in a spicy condiment called achard. You can buy it in the supermarket in Mauritius, but I'm not sure it would taste the same if I made it at home!