Day 5 - North Coast Tour

Ringalingaling! “Good morning, this is your 7 a.m. wake up call.” Time to get up and get ready for our first excursion—the North tour of Mauritius. Our very nice taxi cab showed up and 9 a.m. and we were off. I learned real fast that I wasn’t a big fan of their roadways. They are very narrow! And until you get to the major cities, there are no highways. Thus, you have to go through every little town (and over every speed bump) and pray they don’t run over a pedestrian or biker on the road as they are weaving all around. And this is in addition to getting used to everyone driving on the other side of the road and the driver on the other side of the car. This part became a little comical because on the way home from some of our excursions, the taxi cab would stop at an ATM so we could withdraw some money. On Jared’s way back to the car, he would open what he thought was the passenger side door and find the driver sitting there as he started getting in the car. Always a good laugh!!

Pineapple plantation and villiages

Getting back on track…we found the island to be very green and full of color. They seem to use their resources wisely. It was common to find people’s pineapple and sugar cane plantations all along the road.

Port Louis-Business area and waterfront

Our first stop was to Port Louis. This is the capital of Mauritius. From the top of the mountain, you can see the residential area on one side of the mountain, the business area on the other side, and the water front area straight ahead.

Port Louis

From there, we spent a few hours at the water front. Our first stop was going to the market. From the second we entered the place, everyone was swarming to Jared telling him he needed to but a towel, shirt, siringa, etc. for his lady. Although we kept on walking, the people never left him alone. He made a few quick T-shirt purchases for his friends and then couldn’t wait to leave there and not have people all around him.

Port Louis-The Waterfront and Father of the Nation

This statue is the called “Father of the Nation.” He used to run the country until he past away.

The place we ate lunch and we found a Pizza Hut!

One the way back from the market, we stopped to get some lunch. We were so hungry for some good food, that we bi-passed all the Maurician food and went straight for a hot Panini sandwich and cold water. YUMMY!

Port Louis-the dancers and musicians on the street

The waterfront was lots of fun. The locals were out dancing, the musicians were singing along the streets, and the mall was a great place to cool off!

The final stop for the day was to the Botanical Garden. The botanical garden was initially opened as a private garden by the French governor of Mauritius nearly 300 years ago, later to become the national botanical garden of Mauritius.

The botanical garden stretches over acres of land. It has more than 650 varieties of plants among which are the famous Baobabs, the Palm trees, Giant Water Lilies, dozens of medicinal plants, a large spice garden, etc.

Part of the Botanical Gardens included an animal section.  Jared was watching a tour guide feed the deer.  So he thought he would do it too.  Then just as we turned the corner, we found this sign.  Oops.

After a full day of touring, we jumped into our suits and hit the beach for an hour before calling it a day and going to dinner and entertainment.



Day 4 - Underwater Sea Walk and Surprise

Today was a great day. I got to sleep in! After breakfast, we played at the beach until some people came to pick us up for our undersea walk. This was so fascinating.

Jared hooked up to his helmet underwater

A helmet with a transparent visor is placed on your head. A special apparatus allows normal breathing under the water. Then some weights are placed around your waist, helping you sink to the bottom of the ocean floor so you can walk around and witness firsthand the marine life, fauna, corals, and a wide variety of fishes—all in their natura habitat.

When it came time to go under, I almost chickened out. My nerves starting getting the best of me. But once I went under, the guide took my hand and led me around and it was wonderful.

Help!  It's stuck and it won't come off!

I have no idea what that “thing” is they put on our hand that won’t come off until pried off, but it was cool.

Feeding the fish!

I also enjoyed feeding the fish and feeling their teeth prick my skin as I fed them a dried hot dog bun. I had never seen so many fish swarm to one place so fast.
This afternoon, Jared had planned a little surprise for me. As I was lounging in the sun, Jared said he was going to run to the room and go to the bathroom. He came back down and said that our room was in the process of being cleaned for the day, so he had to find another bathroom to use. Afer getting situated in his lounge chair, a lady came up to him and said, “Room 203?” Jared said, “Yes.” She smiled and walked off. A minute later she came back and said, “Sir, your room is ready.” Jared said, “Thank you, “ and she left. I thought nothing of it. But about 5 minutes later, Jared said, “Let’s go to the room and get cleaned up and play some Scrabble.” So I went along with him. When I entered the room, this is what I found!

It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

Notice the small sea shells--so deatiled.  Don't forget to notice the handsome man too!

The chocolate was delicious! Definitely a surprise. The part of the story that I always leave out but Jared tells everyone is this: After a shower, we decide to have a little bit of sweet romance only to get interrupted by the cleaning lady knocking on the door who needed to replace a water bottle in the fridge (that we hadn’t drank)! I ran for the bathroom and left Jared to scrounge for some covers.  Moral of the story: Don't forget to use your Do Not Disturb sign!  THE END!

Day 3 - Day at the Ocean

Every morning except for 2-3 days, we woke up to a 7 a.m. wake up call so we could be the first ones to breakfast by 7:30 a.m. Actually, Jared was always starving by then since he has been on such a rigid schedule and he didn’t want to sleep away our vacation. This was the view we say every morning coming down the stairs on our way to breakfast! BEAUTIFUL!! The weather was so warm that by the time you were done with breakfast and let your food settle for a few minutes, it was time to put on the swimsuit and go play.  This is only 9 a.m.

Glass bottom boat ride

Today we had a blast just hanging around the resort at the beach, going on a glass bottom boat ride to see all the fish and corral in our area, and riding on paddle boats so Jared could try to get a great shot at the waves.

Paddle boats-Don't we look hot!

Tonight we met a great family from the United States—Theresa and Don Lowder. They came for their daughter’s wedding on the beach two resorts down from us. Prior to them coming to our resort, we were the only people at our resort from America. In fact, due to Jared’s height and build in comparison to the Mauricians, he was a celebrity over there.

The Lowder's

Jared
I love Mauritius so much. I have never been so pampered and spoiled in my entire life. I love have so many activities at my leisure, I have been in the water every day and we have a entire week of activities still ahead of us. I wish I could never leave. It is paradise!

Day 2 - Moving to Hotel La Palmeraie

This morning we slept in and then went to breakfast. This was the first of our many days of having omelets (or fried eggs), fruit, bacon and sausage, and pasteries (which included brownies and banana bread). I must mention how delicious the pineapple was. YUMMY!! Compared to the pineapple that we are used to seeing, they are much smaller in size but they are much sweeter in taste. We couldn’t get enough of them.

Later that morning, we gathered our stuff together and had a taxi drive us to La Palmeraie—the resort that we would spend our R&R at.

Front and back of La Palmaraie

Lounging area views

Once again, the staff was very friendly and made us feel at home. After confirming our registration information, we took us to our room. Jared thought he was in Paradise! A living area with a comfy bed, television, toilet, shower, sink, running water, and air conditioning all in one little place is something he hasn’t experienced in 7+ months.

Our room!

After lunch, we me with our travel agent (that we didn’t know we had) and booked all of the excursions that we wanted to do while visiting the island. Some of our trips included the undersea walk, parasailing, walk with the lions, the north, south, east, and west tours, etc. And last but not least—relaxing time on the beach with my husband.

Dining area and ocean view

Jared and I discovered that dinner was not our favorite meal of the day. While there were only two meals that Jared didn’t care for, I—being the picky eater—didn’t get excited about most of the meals. First of all, dinner wasn’t served until 7:30 p.m. So we were always starving since we are used to eating between 5-6 p.m. Second, every night was a different cuisine—Maurician, Indian, Chinese, Italian, European, etc. While you may not think that sounds so bad, it just wasn’t cooked the way we were used to nor did it taste like we expected it to. Needless to say, I ate many tiny dinner rolls during the course of our two weeks there. However, on the flip side, we were always pampered. The waiters would pour our water, carry our food to our table, and push our chair in and out.
Every night after dinner, we stayed down by the pool to enjoy the entertainment. They had three different entertainers (plus dancers) that would frequent the resort on different nights and sing a variety of music—some in English, some in French, and some in Creole. It was a great way to wind down each night and take in the beauty of the island.

Entertainers and dancers

More dancing!

Day 1 - A Happy Reunion

Of course, our plane left over an hour late the night before, so I didn’t get there until later than expected (about 12:30 p.m.). I grabbed my stuff, hurried off the plane, shuffled through customs, and ran to the bathroom. As I came out of the bathroom, I began looking for my baggage claim area when I felt a gentle tap on my right shoulder. I quickly turned around and discovered it was JARED!! I grabbed hold of him and hugged him until he made me let go. He assured me he wasn’t going to leave me any time soon. In my mind, I kept telling him that I couldn’t believe this was really happening. We were finally together again—something we have waited 7 months to happen. Luckily, when I met my travel company to take me to our hotel, they had one extra seat in the van so Jared could come along. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WAS IN HEAVEN!!

Bugainville entrance and reception area

The first night, we stayed at Bugainville. It was a nice, quiet hotel next to the beach. The staff was very friendly. While waiting to check in, they sat us down, gave us fresh cool towels to wipe our faces, offered us drinks and crepes, and made us feel at home. They even brought our luggage up to our room for us! For me, that was wonderful because I was exhausted after dragging everything around for almost 24 hours. 

Our room

The dining facility and our room #

The beach view from our room and the hotel pool

Jared

After three days of traveling, I’m finally with my wife and we are going to have the vacation of a lifetime in Mauritius. I am tired but the tiredness has almost worn off thinking about all of the ocean and exotic activities were going to do for the next two weeks. So happy not to be in Afghanistan!

The Beach - our new home for the next two weeks!

Day 0 - Travel Day

The days leading up to R&R were both exciting and nerve racking!  I couldn’t wait to see and be with the love of my life again.  But at the same time, I was so nervous and sick to my stomach.  It was like being nervous about a first date with a guy that you reallllllly liked and had feelings for and hoped that he would feel the same way back.  I kept wondering if I would still be everything to him???

Christmas Eve/Day

I have spent the majority of today taking down my holiday decorations.  And with nowhere to go to spend New Year's Eve, I decided I may as well sit down and finish my last post of the season.   

 I'm sooo ready for this season to be over!! It’s now that I don’t like it because I do. I love the goodness that comes out in everyone as there is a special magic in the air. But for me personally, I have become an emotional wreck. I had no idea that my emotions would get the most of me. Thanks to me parents and friends who have allowed me to unload on them…I hope to straighten up soon!! Lol

For Christmas Eve, I got together with some of my favorite ward families, the Platt’s, Dalke’s, and Beck’s. We had a Mexican buffet! The food was so yummy. Paige Dalke even went to all the work to make homemade Tomales, and they were scrumptious. Afterwards, we settled down and role played the Christmas story. The kids did a great job. Here they are all decked out in their costumes:


The Audience - Briennz and Angela



More Audience members - Aidy and Connor

 

The narrator, Brother Platt and the donkey carrying Mary with Joseph walking along side them

Baby Jesus being put in the manger with Joseph and Mary close by / The angels announcing the Savior's birth

The wisemen bringing gifts / The shepherds hearing the birth of the Savior

Afterwards, we sang about 20 Christmas carols in 5-7 minutes! It was really fun…The Becks had arranged all of the songs so you would sing a verse or chorus of all the well known Christmas songs. Then we all ran home to get in bed as the Official Norad tracker said that Santa was only a couple of hours from Europe and we didn’t want him to pass by our house. 

I spent Christmas Eve night at Lydia Beck’s house with her and her 6 children!

Before the night even started, Breanna lost a tooth. So not only were we hoping that Santa would show up but that the Tooth Fairy would also make a special visit. At 3:30 a.m. Breanna came into my room to let me know that not only had Santa come but the tooth fairy too. At the Beck household, it is a tradition for all of the kids to sleep in the same room. It was fun to lay in bad and listen to them squealing about the gifts that Santa had left them and wondering how they were going to stay content for another 3 hours until they could wake up their mom. Then just as I got back to sleep, Jared begins texting me on my cell phone. So much for getting any sleep!! Below is a recap of our fun morning!

The New Jammies and the toothless Breanna

Santa's delivery

The Opening of gifts

Me and Angela with her new teddy bear

I'm so glad I had somewhere to go to be around the excitement of children on this morning as Jared could not be here!  The Becks are a wonderful family and their children were very appreciative of everyting they received.  Never once did I hear them complain about anything.  Instead, they were very interested in what each other received.  Good job mom and dad Beck.
 
After my eylids couldn't stay open anymore, I came home to talk to Jared, which didn't happen as we couldn't keep a connection.  So I decided to take a nap before calling my parents and going to the DeLong's for dinner.  Then I came home and was able to Skype with Jared--much better than a phone call!!
 
I'm grateful for the REASON that we celebrate this season.  I am grateful for the birth of our Savior, His life, and for his resurrection.  Because of him, I can continue to perfect my carnal body and that through HIS grace I can return to His presence.
 
  Have a wonderful NEW YEAR!  I'm off to bed...
 
Tammy