July 31, 2010: First weekend

Day 3 in Mauritius, yet not seen the famous beaches. I should be able to see some water today 

Anyway, there was some program for the morning. One of my colleagues was coming to download information before he is going on leave. A lot of colleagues are off in August as this is month for school vacations. So they are off to India to enjoy the holidays. I would have to find my way in the office in the next 3 weeks (no office details on the web. Hence being secretive  )

I had sent a long list of items to the land lady to provide in the house. SO I called up to check what the status on it is. She said that she had bought a few things and would come home. She brought a few containers for the home. Still to get more cooking utensils, so that I can start my cooking 

Went off in the evening to Port Louis. This is the capital of Mauritius. It is about 15 km from Quatre Borner, the place we are staying. By the time we reached Port Louis, it was 5:00 PM and everything was closing down. Port Louis has the philately museum which has 2 of the oldest stamps. Also a great waterfront area to watch for the ships and the playing of the water. Need to go again before 5:00 to PM to see the monuments and museum.

There was a kick boxing show at 7:00 PM. So spent our time out there, waited for 7:00 PM to see a bit of kick boxing and started for home. The interesting part of Mauritius is that there is lot of time in hand (which is a very dire commodity in rest of the world). This makes Mauritius life more pleasurable

As my land lady told me, take your team, enjoy everything. Don’t hurry on your things. This is an important message not just for Mauritius but for life in general. We do things in a hurry to do the next thing. I wonder if I have to come to a situation where I am not able to do anything. I hope Mauritius will teach me that – “Do nothing for some time”

Anyway this was a good lesson for the trip back. We reached the bus-stop at 8:30 when we were told that the last bus to Quatre Bornes should be arriving soon. So we waited and boarded the same. At about 8:45, the bus broke down. Even after continuous trials, the driver was not able to start the bus. He then called his office to send the mechanic. I was wondering if to take a taxi and return back. But then on 2nd thought, there was nothing urgent waiting for me at home. So decided to relax and wait for the bus to go on its sweet time. Finally we started again at about 9:30

Finally with this trip, I was able to match Mauritius for my Indian friends. I would say the place is similar to Kottayam with better infrastructure. There are no power cuts here and the roads are much better. The shops close early. Roads have deserted look after about 7:00 PM. So finally got it !!!