Mauritius cont...

What can I say? It was a vacation island. After walking around the first morning we arrived I was bored after an hour. The people were very friendly and different, at least origin-wise from what I am used to in Grand Rapids, or anything thus far on the voyage. There is a huge Indian (from India) population. The Indians came as indentured slaves when the British took over the colony from the French (Before the Indian slaves came the French had brought Africans to work the sugar plantations). So ethnically it was very interesting. My friends and I ended up renting a condo about a 7 minute walk from the beach. So I pretty much just relaxed for a day and a half (but felt guilty that I didn’t try harder to find something to do) on the beach. I ate some great curry dishes which makes me even more excited for India. The last day in port Jesse and I went to the Botanical gardens, where most of the plants were not native to the island. It was interesting but even more exposed the fact that not much is native to the island. All the native trees (were chopped down by the dutch) and the native dodo bird are gone. All the flora, fauna, and crops were brought to Mauritius by the passing ships. Even the people were imported! Its kind of strange to say but really it is the truth.