As for the last week in Mauritius we did lots of fun activities. This past Sunday we attended an Indian wedding which I had never been to before. We attended the ceremony part, not the crazy dancing parts that everyone thinks of as an Indian wedding. But we did get some yummy rice that we had to eat with our fingers! It's pretty difficult to eat rice with your hands...the actual ceremony was in some sort of Hindi dialect so none of us could really understand but it was nice to experience a different kind of wedding!
On Monday we went scuba diving!! This was my first time diving, and I was pretty nervous that I would suck in a lot of air and drown (among other things). But it was actually pretty easy once you got used to it! And it's pretty awesome to be swimming around under water for so long. I dunno how people go like 50 feet deep I would be freaked out! Regardless we saw some pretty cool fish as Mauritius has lots of awesome marine life because of the coral reefs. The best part was I saw an octopus! And it was squirting ink everywhere because it was scared. Our scuba guide was trying to get me to touch it but I did not want to haha overall scuba diving was awesome and I would definitely do it again!
There's this touristy park (nature and leisure park to be exact) in Mauritius called Casela that we went to on Tuesday. It's like a big zoo but you can also go ziplining and canyoning and quad riding and the like. But the most important thing I had been wanting to do while I was here in Mauritius was go touch the lions! Yes Mauritius is Africa (contrary to what the Mauritians say ;) ) but there's no lions endemic here. Oh well! I was actually pretty scared when we went into the lion cage because those animals are HUGE in real life! Luckily I was not eaten and can live to tell the tale. We also saw one of the trainers playing with the lion cubs who were about 4 months old. At 4 months they were basically the size of a labrador. I'm jealous of that guy's job though...I wanna play with lion cubs all day!
Most of the nice resorts are on the northern part of the island in Mauritius. We luckily snuck into one when we were at the beach on Wednesday. Not our fault the hotel security was lax! But we just walked around and swam in the pool a little :) It was an amazing resort I would love to actually stay there when I come back to Mauritius!
On Friday we got up early to go dolphin watching and swimming with the dolphins. We had a workshop already where they talked to us about the dangers associated with dolphin watching here in Mauritius. It was awesome to swim with dolphins, but the guy who led our workshop was right. It's technically illegal to swim with dolphins in the ocean in Mauritius, but the boats go out and do it all the time. Also, the boats are supposed to keep a certain distance away from the dolphins, but they definitely don't. The boats basically chase the dolphins down and then everyone jumps in to swim with them. I have mixed feelings about this experience because it was amazing to be so close to the dolphins but it was sad how we were swarming them. It can't be good for the animals. I guess you'll just have to decide for yourself whether or not you feel comfortable with this!
Yesterday for my last day in Mauritius we went to the botanical garden in the north called Pamplemousse and also a sugar cane museum/factory. The botanical garden was actually really beautiful and I'm not usually into those kinds of things!
Sugar cane is a big part of life in Mauritius, and the island's history is very intertwined with this plant. It's interesting to see how big a part sugar cane played in the shaping of Mauritian history and making the island what it is today. We also got to taste some sugar and some rum so that's always nice ;)
I will miss the white sand beaches of Mauritius, but those beaches would be nothing without the amazing people I met over there. I love you all so much!!
