The Last Days

Our holiday at the campement came to an end and we had decided to spend a couple of days at my aunt's boarding house. So, very reluctantly, we packed our bags and moved out of 'our' campement, said goodbye to Jocelyne and to the sea and off we went, just down the road to my aunt's. Cathy had her own little room downstairs and we had a lovely double room upstairs with a cosy balcony to sip wine and watch the waves, which we did quite a bit of...watching the waves, that is!

The views from our room were lovely and quite different to the campement. From our bed this is what we could see. It is a self-catering room with a little stove and kitchenette but we didn't use it as we had decided to give the food we had left to Jocelyne and just eat out for those last two days. On one evening we had a family supper with my aunt who, of course, served us a delicious chicken curry with lentils and rice. It was really nice to be with family. I had not seen them for a long time and there were some children that I had never even met.                                                                                                

 We slept well those two nights, listening to the waves which were not quite as loud as in the campement as they were not quite as close. 

The next morning we got up early to savor the view and the morning and after a quick read on our balcony, we went to have breakfast on the dining terrace.

Clement (who is tying up the blinds for the day and who has worked as a chef with my aunt for years and years) brought us steaming, strong coffee and Mauritian large, round, chewy, lovely rolls with butter and jam. I yet have to taste rolls as nice as Mauritian ones.

 The boarding house was quite busy with tourists in and out, wandering around, getting ready to do something for the day, wanting this, needing that, and generally doing what tourists do and that is being a pain in the butt! I was glad that we had had a lovely campement to ourselves for all those days and had not had to stay either in a boarding house full of tourists or an impersonal hotel. Somehow it would not have been the same.

Cathy smiles a lot, but particularly when there is food around!!!

On our last evening, we walked to the hotel close to the boarding house for dinner and to watch a show of sega dancers. Sega is the national dance of Mauritian creoles. On that particular night there was a buffet and the food was ample although not as good as we had expected and made, it seemed, particularly for tourists, so, mostly European food and nothing Creole, Indian or Chinese. At least they didn't serve chips and eggs for the UK visitors! The dancers though were full of passion and colour and danced with simplicity and joy. Later the guests were invited to join the dancers and dance the sega with them. Cathy had a ball and moved rhythmically and lithely to their music but her partner danced as stiffly as a broomstick.

Later that night, replete, danced-out, a bit tipsy, our heads full of the sega beat and colourful dresses, we wound our way back to the boarding house. It was pitch black on the street and apart from a few cars making their way home and a few stray dogs looking furtively at us, the streets were quiet and empty. Cathy went to her room happy to be getting into her bed and we sat one more time on our little balcony, in silence, appreciating the glow of the moon over the sea and filling our heads with this beautiful picture to take home with us to remember always.