Mauritius

Hello all! Before we embark on the NYC Week I would like to share some excellent writing with you! My friend Max kindly put into words is on little escapade. Enjoy the writing, admire the photos and simply escape for a little while...

To most of us cynical, fast-living, pasty-faced Westerners, peace of mind and multicultural vivre-ensemble are lofty, vaguely hippy-ish, if not laughable, concepts, pretty much as remote as the vision of a tropical paradise. However, on a small island lost somewhere in the Indian Ocean (the nearest piece of land is another tiny island a mere three hour flight away, before hitting Madagascar and then the mighty African continent), these notions and idyllic setting are very real. Churches, mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, crucifixes, veils, red dots and saffron robes peacefully coexist (I kid you not) under bright sun, radiant skies, surrounded by white beaches and pristine turquoise waters and coral reefs. I think it would be impossible to cram a more varied swathe of the human species into a smaller, more beautiful, plot of land. Yet this most diverse microcosm is immune to sectarian strife, and violence is unheard of. Seriously, the few cops there must be bored out of their minds.
Discovered by Arab sailors, visited by the Portuguese and the Dutch, passing through French then British hands, the final destination of Béké, African, Indian and Chinese migrants, Republik Moris is one of those bizarrely insular, yet global, experiments. Although most of its inhabitants have never left the island, they have come into contact with a greater variety of cultures than any worldly European or American traveller.
The locals are almost too hospitable to bear for rude city dwellers such as myself, and too prompt to proudly show off their shiny new strip malls and factories that come with the curse on our planet that is globalisation.
But what we want to see and experience is the richness of local flavours and magnificent scenery, from the bustling markets of Port-Louis, through the hinterland of jungle, dunes and waterfalls to the magnificent beaches of Flacq and L’île aux cerfs.

Among the many surreal and memorable experiences, two images remain forever seared into my brain: a Hindu funeral procession, with the garlanded corpse paraded on a donkey cart from village to village, and unabashed macaques eating offerings of the devout beneath the gigantic Mangal Mahadev statue in Grand Bassin.
One piece of advice: make sure your roundtrip ticket is non-exchangeable, non-refundable. You might get that inclination to never leave.