What it's like in Mauritius

This is a rainbow on the beach where my aunt lives. It was so pretty, but it was kind of gloomy outside that morning.

These are two of my cousins that are also staying in Mauritius right now. The older one is Jonathan and the younger one is Kevin.

Almost everyone in Mauritius rides motorcycles just because it is easier to get through traffic.

These are cow feet, sold at the market... the sad thing is: the meet is fresh, and I mean really fresh... the cows are brought there alive in the morning and by the end of the day, they are being eaten if they haven't already been eaten!! :(

This is a FRESH chicken... :( Kinda gross, I mean I would never eat that... I mean it's got the head and everything!!!

This is my mom and I at Rochester Falls.

This is the pool that I swim at in Beau Bassin.

Parasailing

Hey everybody!!!

Here are some more pics:

This is me parasailing in Mauritius. We also went undersea-walking that day!!!

Well I will have to make my mom upload some photos bc it takes 4ever!!!

7-star Hotel

Here are some more pics:These are some poor, stray kittens in the fish market. There are a lot of stray animals here! It is so sad to see all of them!!!Here are some of the colorful fish at the fish market (this is in Mauritius). You know Finding Nemo? You know that fish I think his name was shark and he was in the fish tank w/ Nemo? Well let's just say he's not in the fish tank anymore.... :( But I don't have a pic!!!

This is one of the famous 7-star hotels in Dubai... and yes I did say SEVEN!!!! I didn't even know it was possible to get 7 stars.... I though you could only score (1-5) ... but I guess not... And outside the hotel they have a pool.... WITH TURTLES!!!! That's what it takes to be a 7-star hotel: have turtles in the pool!!!

And there is also the Atlantis Hotel which is on the Palm Islands (it is 7 star too) but some people say it is a 9-star!!!!!! I went inside... but only to the lobby!! They have a giant aquarium inside!!!

Well I'm out to see some graves and the Botanical Garden!!!! But make sure you read further down too bc there's a really funny joke!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures & Personal Notes

...this was my cab driver in Dubai.... A MIDGET WITH ANGER-MANAGEMENT!!!! no kidding! this was one of his costumes bc he was part of the 'entertainment' on this Dhow cruise that we went on... it was WEIRD!!!! When we were driving he sped A LOT!!! he kept honking at people... it was crazy!!!!



That wasn't the only bad experience for driving in Dubai.. we went on a Desert Safari and the drivers are supposed to be wild when we go dune bashing.... but when we got back to the gas station... he hit 2 people!!! He didn't hurt them or anything, but still... HE HIT THEM!!

Purty sunrise huh????? Well off to parasailing, but I will try to post more 2nite!!!

EVERYONE(and i do mean everyoNE!!!): What's your favorites? Like: color, animal, game, etc.
SAMI: You've read My Sister's Keeper right? and 19 minutes????
KELLY & STACY: Still figuring out how to post a comment? Ask Sami or Sarah!
SARAH: EEP! !! I'm so excited: do u like electric yellow and orange????? (btw: should I explain senior year!? hahahah jk!!!) [and remind I have a story for u about this guy at an airport wearing a certain shirt] hahaha!!!
LINDSAY H.: Hey Linds!!!! I miss studying chem with you!!!!! hahaha!!!
JACKIE: Hey girl! Love ya! Hows MN treating ya?
SWIMMERS: Can't wait for high school season!!!
SANDWHICH CONVENTION FOLK: I miss our sandwhiches!!! We need to schedule a convention for when I get back! Hahaha!!!
(btw: the color ur message is in is the color that most reminded me of u!!!)

Post back soon!!!

Excursions

Today, I am going parasailing and walking underwater... (looking like an astronaut) ... i dunno what its called.... sorry I haven't been putting lots of pics, but the internet is really slow here and I can't type with fake nails.... but after today I will sit in front of the laptop until those stupid pics get loaded!!!!! hahaha! Anyway, I hope all is well in Minnesota! Keep me posted... if anything is weird over there y'all gotta let me know!!! :) hahahaha! well off to the beach! ptyl (post to ya later!!) hahaha!
-heather

Joke

A man walks past a mental institution and hears people chanting,
"Ten, ten, ten!!"
So he peaks through the hole of the fence and he gets poked in the eye,
then he hears, "Eleven, eleven, eleven!!"

Wonderful Day

We know we have not posted in while. We went to 7-colored earth, called Chamarel, Rochester Falls, and La Vanille crocodile park on Sunday. And yes, I drove the van and I had my right foot all the way down but the van would go at crawl speed. Lots of winding roads but I made it there and back no problem.
Monday morning, we got up at 4:30a to go swimming at Quatres Bornes. Since we did not know the way we allowed ourselves 1 hour but we got there in less than 1/2 hour. Heather has had 3 training at 3 different pools. On the way back, I got lost and somehow got back to Port Louis.
Tuesday my van would not start at 6:30a and I had to take a taxi to Belle Mare plage to meet my brother and his family at 8a and I could not call them since their phone has no connection (Canadian phones!!!). We went to L'ile aux Cerfs (Deer island), it is an island off the east coast next to Touessrock hotel. I hear the rate at the hotel is $1,500 per night (but it is all inclusive - food, drinks, water activities, tennis, golf,...) We hired a boat to take us to the little waterfalls at Grand Riviere Sud Est (Grand River South East) and they took us to l'ile aux cerfs, then they took us to another island for grilled chicked and fish, then back to l'ile aux Cerfs and then back to the beach where we started from. We then went to a restaurant for local type food. We stayed at Palmar, which is close to Belle Mare.
Wednesday we woke up to a beautiful sunrise on the ocean and we could watch local fishermen trying to get fish from their little boats. It was low tide; so, we got a couple of puffer fish, a starfish, some kind of shell, a clear flat fish (don't know what it is called - we named it "flubber"). There are lots os sea urchins, eels, and some kind of other snake like creatures. We then went back to Port Louis and Heather and I went to Adventure of Sugar Cane where you can visit all the machines they use to make sugar. Of course, there was a souvenir shop with all kinds of sugar. We had lunch there and it was a little spendy in Mauritian standards.
Heather will post the pictures later. - Caroline

Pictures

Okay my camera was fixed so here are the pics!!!

This is my mom... and some pots in Dubai

These are Jherkins... they look like pickles, but don't be mistaken because they are NOT!!! I had one at the hotel we stayed in, in Dubai for breakfast... NOT GOOD!!!

Sorry I'm going out, but I will post more when I get back!! :)

Swimming

Heather swam with a group of kids who are in the Trust Fund for Excellence. We had to get approval from the Minister of Youth and Sports in addition to the president of the Mauritian Federation of swimming for Heather to practice with them. The government picks them up from their home and take them to practice for 2 hours before school, then take them to school. They then get picked up from school to be taken to another 2 hours of practice before they take them home. They are selected around the age of 11-12 and they have to commit to it or they get kicked out of the program. They even get a sum of money from the government every month. Heather liked their practice better than the one she went to last night with a swim team.
Traffic was a pain though! I am driving my cousin's van and the stick is really hard to shift gears and you constantly have to shift gears because the traffic. You also have all the motorcycles and bicycles going in between cars, not to mention the pedestrians who take over the streets. I really miss my van from home.
Between the dog fights in the streets, the prayers from the mosques, the water running at the bakery across the street, it is hard to get a good night's sleep. Heather seems to be able to sleep through it all though.
Heather is really enjoying the shopping.

Daily Update

Bonjour!!!
So I still don't have my camera :( so no new pictures yet! But when I get it back I will put on the pictures asap!!! Anyway, today I had my first swim practice here in Mauritius. It was good, but it was weird having the practice so late... I was swimming in the dark!!!
Before I went to swim practice we stopped by the ROXY factory. My mom new the guy who owns ROXY here in Mauritius so he showed us around the factory... I also ended up buying some swimsuits and some surf shorts, but it wasn't that expensive because the guy gave us a good discount since he knew my mom. Not that I don't have enough swimsuits already, but a girl can never have too many!!!
Au Revoir!!! -Heather

FART Story

oh i have a funny story... just so u know, i talk in my sleep:
so i guess my mom had a bad cough while we stayed at a hotel in Dubai. She woke up in the middle of the night and was coughing (I was still sleeping) and I sat up and said, "Was that a fart!!??!!" hahaha so my mom told me that I said that bc I didn't remember! hahahah!!!
-Heather

Internet Access

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted, but the internet access at my granparents house wasn't working. Also, my camera was kind of broken... but I have it fixed now. I am starting swimming tomorrow with a swim club called CNS. I will practice 5-7... but I don't know how often. I will try to swim as much as possible, but I don't know how often I will actually end up going.
Today I went around Port Louis and up to a beach inthe northern part of the island. It was a little bit rainy at the beginning of the day, but it cleared up after a while. We had pizza and pop on the beach and picked up some sea shells, but we didn't go swimming because we are waiting for my relatives to arrive. My cousins will be coming and we will probably go surfing and do some things with them.
I will probably be able to post some pictures soon because the guy who fixed my camera will be bringing it back soon... I hope!!! So then I will take pictures of the beaches for everyone to see!!!
Today I went to visit the pool that I will be swimiming at... and my mom drove!! She hasn't driven a manual in a long time so it was kind of a bumpy ride!!! But hopefully she will get useed to driving the car soon so that we can get to my swim practice faster. This is because my mom was driving on a 90 km/h road... but she was only going 40 km/h!!! I think she will get faster though! Anyway, I will try to update soon, but I never know if I will be busy or not!
-Heather

Airports: London & Dubai

Well, looks like we still have some internet time... While we weren't blogging my mom tried to use facebook, but everything was in arabic so she was typing backwards and it was all messed up!!! Anyway, I will try to get some pictures uploaded, so here they are

This is Caroline while we were riding the shuttle bus in London to the new terminal for the United Emirates airlines.


This is a video from the London airport at a sushi bar. The sushi just moves around and around so customers can just grab whatever they want off of the belt. But I felt kinda weird taking this video because I was just standing in front of the restaurant with my camera so people probably thought I was creepin' on them!!! (creeper=Kelly Caprio)

These were cigarettes for sale in the London airport. I just thought it was funny how the warning signs were so big, "SMOKING KILLS!!!"

This is some British candy that I bought at the London airport. It is very tasty!!! I will bring some back to MN!!!

While at the London airport for 8 hours, my mom and I were bored so we decided to do some 'people watching'.... but some would call it 'people stalking'. Here are some creeper pictures I took. (creeper=Kelly Caprio)

This was a random guy in salmon skinny jeans, a blue and white striped shirt, a blue vest, and a brown top hat thingy... such an interesting outfit..

At the airport, some people were wearing masks (bc of the swine flu... H1N1)

For our flight from London to Dubai, we took United Emirates. This airline is fancier than most... the flight attendants all had the same outfits, the same suitcases, the same purses, the same shoes... EVERYTHING WAS THE SAME ABOUT THEM!!!!!!

This was the sunset as we were leaving London!! How pretty!!!

On the airplane from London to Dubai we played video games while waiting for take-off. This is my mom playing a game called 'Centipede'... one of my dad's favorite games when he was in college.

The flight was so fancy, they even gave us hot towels to wipe our faces with on the plane!!!

Ok, the dinner looks gross in this picture, but it actually was really good. I had chicken and my mom had lamb. There were 2 salads, bread with a wheat side and a white side, water, cheese, crackers, and dessert!!!
While on the plane to Dubai, I was watching the movie 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'. Then this guy in front of me started grabing the seat and had his had on the screen... it was kinda creepy looking!!!

This is Burj Al Arab. This is the tallest building in the world.

This is Caroline standing next to some pots while shopping and site seeing in Dubai.

This was my mom and I at the Festival center which is a shopping place on the waterfront... they had waterfalls inside (in the background).

Plane to Dubai

Sorry we haven't updated in a while... it's pretty spendy to use the internet here and plus we didn't have much time here in Dubai.



This was a picture of the sunset during our flight from London to Dubai.






Unfortunately, the computer we are using at the hotel has very slow internet access so instead of uploading the pictures to the computer, we will just type. When we arrive in Mauritius we will post the pictures... I am getting very frustrated with this computer because the keyboard is all funky and I can't type!!!
We are currently in Dubai and we are staying at te Dhow Palace Hotel. It is very nice. When we first walked in they brought us mango juice while we were checking in. It was delicious!!! Here in Dubai they use Dirhams (Dur-hams) instead of dollars. When we were talking about how much to tip our taxi driver I asked my mom, "Should we give him 5 douches?"
Today, we went to the beach... I think the ocean was hotter than hot tubs in Minnesota!!! It was crazy hot! Outside it was around 110 to 115!!! The sand was even too hot to walk on barefoot. If you walk on the dry sand w/o flip-flops your feet will burn!!!
Yesterday, we went on a Desert Safari, or as my mom would say, "Dessert Safairy". We went dune bashing, went on camal rides, road 4-wheelers, got henna tattoos, and went dune surfing!!! It was fun!!!
Tonight, w are going on a cruise on the waterfront and will be leaving for Mauritius at 3AM!!! We are going to be so tired!!! But I will stay awake for the flight bc United Emirates has amazing food on the plane!!!! Esp. the dessert which was mango and coconut cream on top of a brownie... it sounds gross, but it is so good!!
Well, I think my paid time on the internet is running out.. or rather someone else's paid time... so I better post this quick before the internet dies out on me!!! Keep checking the blog bc we will load the pictures when we arrive in Mauritius!!!!!!
-Heather and Caroline

Take off

Today is take-off!!! Caroline started with a fever of over 101F yesterday and is hoping Heather does not catch it on their 2 long flights over to Dubai.

Goodbye

Left to Right: Kayli and Sydney

Sydney says, "I will miss both my mom and my sister very much while they are away in Mauritius."

Kayli says, "'Bring me home gifts! I hope you have a great time! Have your best day! I hope you like it there! Bye!"