Back from Mauritius

I'm back from touring Mauritius with the KZNYWB

Highlights of the trip:
- The trip to Coconut Island
- Vanilla drink from the market in Port Louis
- Chatting till the early hours of the morning
- Card games till the early hours of the morning
- Smirnoff Ice at Rs 24 (R 6) each
- Passion Fanta with Goodwill Rum
- Goosebump moments during concerts
- The bread (baguettes)

Lowlights:
- spending so much time on the bus and waiting


Someone mentioned before we left that Mauritius looks like Tongaat, and I think that is indeed a very apt description, mainly because of the suger cane and Indians (majority of the population are of Indian descent). This comparison extends to the typical Indian buses that we find in Durban (they are also affectionately named by their owners, albeit in French or Creole). The main difference is the language of the people and their mind set. A key phrase in Mauritius is "no problem" (similar to Hakuna Matata), and the people are very friendly and accommodating. They are definitely geared towards tourists.

We stayed in the Hotel Manisa in Flic-en-Flac, a town about the size of Warner Beach. Our accomodation was about 3 star, but the food and service in the hotel was very good. There were a few problems with water supply though. The hotel was separated from the beach by a road and some trees. A Spar was located up the road, as well as a State Bank ATM which I used for drawing money. I didn't take travellers cheques - only a Rupee card from Rennies. It turned out to be very convenient and is highly recommended. Breakfast and supper was included, but we had to pay exorbitant prices for drinks. A Pepsi would cost Rs 50 (about R 10) and a glass of wine Rs 75 (R 15)! Luckily there was a little shop right next to the hotel that stayed open till 10h30. People would buy beer or Pepsi (Coca-cola is not big in Flic-en-Flac) and then sneak it to the supper tables. Later we discovered that the shop actually belonged to the hotel, and they didn't have a problem with that.

The first excursion was on the Sunday, to the hotel Le Barachois on the south-east coast. It is situated in the historical area Vieux Grand Port where the Dutch first settled. The restaurant serves food from its own sea farm, although we (the band members) had chicken and grilled bananas. Rs300 for the lunch.

On the Tuesday we went to Grand Baie, the main tourist area. The bay is stunning, with clear turquoise waters and dotted with yachts. We had a very expensive lunch at the Grand Bazaar - tourist trap par excellence :-/ The rum and fruit cocktail was nice though. Grand Baie is full of South African tourists who seem to like traveling to Mauritius only to eat at Spur.

On Wednesday we stopped for a short while at the eye of the vulcano in Curapipe. The volcano is the reason for Mauritius's existence, and one has a good view of the cost. The vulcano crater itself was full of trees with a small lake in which people seemed to be fishing.

On Thursday we had a concert at the Caudan Waterfront in Port Louis. The waterfront is similar to that of Cape Town, but somewhat smaller. We didn't waste too much time there, opting to go to a more traditional market a short walk away. It has a similar feel to the Victoria Market in Durban - it caters for both locals and tourists with a food market and a goods market next to each other. The merchants are very good bargainers, but at the same time you don't feel like they are trying to rip you off. I hope the string of fresh water pearls I bought are real :-/ We had lunch there, including an excellent vanilla drink made with real vanilla pods. I should mention that you could get roti and veg curry for Rs 7! I paid Rs 35 for a large portion of stir-fried mutton and noodles with chilli.

The last and best excursion was a trip by boat to Coco Island. About 15 wind band people (practically all seven principals) were picked up on the beach accross the road from our hotel by a glass bottomed boat. Then commenced a nearly two hour boat trip. There were no life jackets or radios on board, although the pilot and his assistant were on talking on cell phones throughout the trip. We joked about "Survivor Mauritius" quite a lot on the trip to the island. And then, about 50m from the island we were promptly thrown of the boat and told to walk to shore. The water was mostly knee deep and it was very pleasant. On the island there were several makeshift gazebos with low tables. It was otherwise deserted - not even toilets. Strangely, that didn't bother me too much. We were welcomed by a guitar-playing mauritian who's repertoire ranged from Sarie Marais to John Denver, Bob Marley to Elvis. A little deeper inland people were starting to cook fish and chicken for our lunch. A craftsman tried to entice us with Afrikaans phrases like "dis nie duur nie" and "baie lekker". The food was excellent and caused no side-effects. The fish in particular was beautiful - some kind of fatty white fish. Dessert was grilled bananas with rum, which were ten times better than the dessert at La Barachois. There was plenty of Phoenix beer and Goodwill rum as well as assorted soft-drinks. A few of us (Chris, Dave and waded out towards a coral outcrop to snorkel. It must have been 200m from the shore. Luckily, were picked up by our boat and we headed for home. One the way we stopped at an anchor point and had the chance to snorkel on the reef, in the open ocean. Truly a wonderful experience. The whole day was thoroughly enjoyable and only cost Rs 700 per person (less than R200)

A big part of the tour was to do workshops with the Wind Band of the Conservatoire Francois Mitterand, which is located in Quatre Bornes.
They also supplied percussion instruments, including a MASSIVE bass drum and a full set of (apparently lead-lined) timpani. Instruments were transported by truck, and we had to load and unload often. The Conservatoire band turned out to be quite small, consisting of trumpets, flutes, clarinets, saxes, french horns, tuba and percussion. Their playing standard seemed to be reasonably high, but I think that was partly due to the teachers forming part of the band. We performed Disney around the World, Symphonic Beatles and Andrew Lloyd Webber and the flute and trumpet solos were handled by Conservatorium teachers. A small choir sang ALW with us. I was very impressed by them.

Concerts were generally good to excellent. The best in my opinion was at the Waterfront. Our final concert at the Gandhi Centre was broadcast live on tv. It was very stressful. Different from other tours, the tour covered by the newspapers and the principals (including yours truly) were interviewed by a journalist. We were shown one of the articles on the plane back to South Africa. Another difference from previous tours was interaction with Mauritian students. On the Wednesday we played a concert at a Hotel and Tourism school (not sure where exactly). The students had a go on some of the instruments and performed a traditional Sega dance in return.

As far as band tours go, I'd say it was a very good one. The food was good, the prices fairly cheap (except for buying drinks at the hotel) and, well, the beaches great. My only gripe is that when we had free time (usually evenings) we had to spend it at the hotel. On the positive side, it meant a lot more time spent with friends and the comittee.

Itinary

Saturday, 23rd
Departure from South Africa

Sunday 24th
Arrival in Mauritius
Excursion to Le Barachois

Monday, 25th
Rehearsal/Workshop at Conservatoire
Concert at Serge Constantin Theatre

Tuesday, 26th
Excursion to Grand Baie
Workshop at Conservatoire

Wednesday, 27th
Concert at Hotel School
Concert at University of Mauritius
Visit to eye of vulcano in Curapipe

Thursday, 28th
Concert Caudan Waterfront/Market
Concert at Conservatoire

Friday, 29th
Coconut Island trip
Gala concert

Saturday 30th
Concert at shopping centre, Grand Baie
Departure


I'll upload some pics tomorrow. There should also be many pics going up on the band website in the next week or so.