8 October

Luc shopping!
Sausage tree!
Giant water lillies
Trees
Old house!
Market
Buying veg!
Market
Shopping mission!

MONIQUE:
Today we have to say goodbye to all the friendly staff of Klondike. We enjoy a last large breakfast of omelettes, pancakes and nice things. I tell the boys to savour every moment because the next week mom is cooking and there will be no bacon and eggs!

Our driver for the day must have been warned because he arrives with a large station wagon for all the luggage – little did he know! Callie is on a mission again and insists that we take a detour to stop at Pridemart in another town (slightly off the road) so that he can do some clothing shopping! And all along he has been telling people I am the big shopper. Allan, the driver, persuades him that there is one in Port Louis – so we set off to Port Louis, which is only a short drive because of little traffic. Poor Allan opens the door when he starts telling us about how wrong the Hindu religion is – he is Islam himself. This gives us the opportunity to talk about what we believe in. It is a very strange conversation. He says that we believe the same Bible and the same things, but when I ask whether he is sure he is going to heaven when he dies, he says no.

We then give him the Message. I also tell him about the Iranian man who was converted so radically from Islam when Jesus appeared to him in a dream. This shocks him tremendously. Afterwards Callie said that he will only hear what he wants to hear, but at least one day he will not say he did not know, because we told him!
Well, I think he wanted to get rid of these “radical” Christians, so he dropped us off at the famous Port Louis Waterfront and told us that we can walk from here to the market and China Town. We skip all the fancy shops in the Waterfront and head straight for the market. The Port Louis Market is very famous for fresh goods and then also the many stalls where you can buy baskets, Tshirts, souvenirs etc. At this stage however Callie is still on mission Pridemark.

This group sells all the rejected designer brand goods at less 70%. We finally discover it on the 1st floor of the Central Market. Within Callie is lost – amongst Tshirts, jeans, ties.... We do not find great children’s clothing and I do not have the energy to go through the rows and rows of female clothing. I must add – here you find many of the designer brands, but to figure out what number you need to get and then to que to try and fit on – just too much for someone on holiday. But we endure it all, because both Luc and myself have never seen Callie in such a shop mode. Nearly two hours later, we had enough and manage to pull him out of there with a very large bag of clothing. In retrospect – he got two pairs of designer jeans, three Reebok shirts, two designer work shirts and much more for only R 1500! So, I guess, in the end it was worth it
We shop some fresh goods in the market. The fruit is very expensive – and lots of it is imported from South Africa! Luc haggles for a Barcelona shirt and shorts – and manages to get it down to ½ price! We grab a few rotis on our way back to the taxi. By this time the heat and my feet are killing me! But the men are on a high because they got great bargains – even two pairs of sunglasses for the price of one whilst running to the taxi! And they call me the shopper!

Our next stop is the Pamplemousse Botanical Gardens. This was builtby Pierre Poivre in 1767 and is one of the oldest gardens in the Southern Hemisphere. Allan drops us of at the gate and drives off – I think this is still plan of his mission to sort out these Christians, because we get told that the entrance is on the other side. We have to walk nearly a kilometre, around the park, to get to the entrance. Believe me, at this stage we are not happy chappies. But, Callie is on a mission again – we will see the park.

We book a guide to take us through the park and this is a good choice. He is very funny! There is a large spice garden and he shows us the nutmeg trees, where you have a male and female tree. You cannot eat the nutmeg seed as it is as it is very poisonous. But he says, you can give it to your mother in law! He also shows us hundreds of fruit bats hanging high up in the trees. Coming from Africa we recognise many of the trees like the sausage tree of which the fruit weights 7 kilos. Our guide says if it falls on your head you are either dead or you will speak a strange language that no one will understand! The giant waterlilies are stunning, so also the lotus flowers. There is also a budda tree that is older than 300 years! We laugh at him when he shows us a large shrub with a pretty purple flower but a rough leave – it is called the “Mother in law’s tongue” and he says it is the same everywhere in the world. Then he adds that he has a great mother in law – when she sleeps!

We take a detour through Grand Baie, mainly to do grocery shopping for the week at the UMart. It is an enormous grocery store and we are overwhelmed with the choices. We pay an absolute fortune for luxury items like imported cold meat and stunning cheese! All the shopping leaves us with another problem – where to put it, because the big station wagon is now to small.

Trou Aux Biches, where we are staying is only 3 kms from Grand Baie, but we are right at the end of the town – which makes it more like 6km. Our villa complex is relatively isolated and far from the rest of the town – so I can see lots of walking or taking the local bus. The villas is stunning. Two bedrooms, beautifully decorated with stunning views over the pool and the sea. As I heat up some noodles we all agree that we are already missing the great dinner at Klondike. Luc is the most impressed because he has a flat screen in his room!