Oh, hello Maurice!

At the end of May, I looked lazily at the visa in my passport which was set to expire on June 1st. "I wonder if there's anything I need to do for that," I yawned to myself. I approached the woman at the Prefecture in St. Denis with mild disinterest, handed her my passport, and waited for her to tell me to get back to the beach day. Her eyes said to my eyes, "You're an irresponsible idiot." What she said out loud was--(in the French version of a Texan drawl)-- "Ma'am, ya'll need to make like a wild fire and get out of this country bah tomorrow. You have a nice day now."
After pleading with passport and visa officials who confirmed that if I didn't leave the country immediately, I would go to prison or risk never getting a visa in Europe ever again, I put the peddle to the metal, went home, and bought myself the next plane ticket out.

Mauritius, or Maurice as it's known to the French, is our little island neighbor. It's only a half hour flight away, but you might as well be going to the other side of the earth for all of the talk. The two islands spend considerable time distancing themselves one from the other. It's your standard infantile rivalry: people from Reunion are "lazy" and people from Maurice are "just plain self involved." For the record, stereotypes seem silly when you consider that both islands have similar climates and histories. But ah well, they are different---long live island pride!

All that was legally required of me in this situation was to prove my absence from Reunion Island on June 1st; I had the right to return anytime after as a tourist. This will go down as the most expensive passport stamp I'll ever have. I decided to declare a "Visa Vacation" and make the most of this forced visit. After all, there are worst problems in the world than being required to escape to an exotic tropical island.

I stayed with Jose and Ayesha, the parents of my Bates friend, Tanya. Kind souls that they are, they let me crash at their beautiful home with no prior warning. "Hello, this is a stranger that you have never met before and I am beaming in to your island. May I please sleep at your house." The answer was an unequivocal yes that came with full extensive Mauritian touring benefits, the best Indian Ocean cuisine of my life, and surrogate parenting. Really fantastic people who pulled out all of the stops.
Mauritius is India meets tropical in the same way that Reunion is France meets tropical. It has a strong Hindu culture peppered with a local French-English creole tradition. Everyone is extremely generous and hospitable. The tourist infrastructure is much more built up than Reunion's which means that it's nearly impossible to find the lost, savage corners that exist next door. But this is all for a reason: the place is a beach paradise.