November 2024 - Mauritius - Del II

 The second week we rented an apartment studio on the East Coast, in Trou D'eau Douce. We had the upper floor on one of the buildings, with two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and a garden-facing balcony. The complex offered some breakfast option at an additional cost, but we didn't know that when we arrived so we ended up making our own breakfast that week, mainly sandwiches, yoghurt with cereal, and fruit. While we had direct access to the beach, it had a lot of small boats close to the shore since it was one of the drop-off points going to/from Île aux Cerfs, an island just off the coast which was a very popular day trip destination. So we didn't go swimming there, but rather drove just five minutes North to Palmar public beach, a very long, pretty beach with pine trees and few tourists. 

Fried noodles at one of the local restaurants, chili and garlic sauce in the containers

Palmar beach, as well as a big part of the East Coast, has a reef off the coast where the waves break, which makes for calm and child friendly waters near the beach as well as excellent snorkeling opportunities. The size of the beach meant it was rarely crowded, though some parts of the area filled up with locals during the weekends. The locals often go for full days or even weekends by the beach, bringing tables, chairs, tents, barbecues and lots of food - and of course, all of their family and friends and music. It was really nice to see - generally, we found the East Coast to be less touristy, and it was a nice experience to feel like just that - a tourist and a visitor among the local population, rather than the population mainly consisting of tourists.

In our village there was a nice mix of restaurants and local food places, but for some reason many of them were closed on many of the days when we were there. Except for one or two restaurants that had their opening hours online, it seemed to be very random which ones were open on which days, and sometimes we had to go around looking for a long time or even go back to place we didn't really like just to get something to eat for dinner. We did manage to score some excellent ones though, and a lot of fish, fried noodles and boulettes.

This week we also took the opportunity to go on more excursions:

First we went to Sept Cascades also known as Tamarind Falls. This route consisted of a series of waterfalls, and was very popular among tourists who went on tours where they rappelled down. We went for the walking option and had a really nice time, and of course took a swim as well. As you might expect, the view was fantastic. The only lunch restaurant nearby that we could find had only set menus, which we were skeptical to first since it felt a bit much, but we got to try several local foods as well as a really nice dessert of coconut tapioca pudding with peach ice cream. We also went to Alexandra Falls, located in the Black River Gorges National Park where we were almost alone on the hike. We saw some monkeys as well in the forest by the parking lot, which was a fun addition.

The next day we went to Île aux Cerfs, which is the main tourist excursion to make from this area. The boat prices vary a lot even though it just takes 10 minutes; we opted to book from our hotel to ensure that we would be picked up and dropped off at the public beach near our accommodation. Once we arrived at the island, they tried to sell a range of activities, including glass bottom boats, water rings or paragliding, and a boat tour to the GRSE waterfall, all which we opted out of. We were more interested in finding a quiet spot on the beach, but we had to walk quite a bit to get away from the crowds. It was nice, but we found the beaches on mainland to be much prettier. Nothing special, definitely okay to miss. We also brought lunch with us which we bought in the village on mainland, since we had heard the food options on the island were few and expensive. We had roti with curries, where the tomato one was fantastic. We bought this for lunch on several occasions since it was very cheap, the only downside was that the carton packaging somewhat disintegrated during the day from the warm curries, so it was not super easy to eat. Still very good!

Then we visited Bras D'eau national park, a nature area with surprisingly few tourists. A walking trail in the forest, nice an calm and plenty of different landscapes. After a hike, we went to a local village where we saw a hindu temple, had lunch at a local food wagon and accidentally ordered a huge seafood platter (although it was very good). They also served sea urchins which seemed to be very popular among locals, although we didn't try it.

Our next excursion started with a visit to Grand Riviere South Est Falls (GRSE), the waterfall which is most often visited by boat from Île aux Cerfs tour. However, we drove and parked just 200m away, to walk and see it from above which I highly recommend. It was a really nice waterfall, and if we had known we probably would have brought swimwear and stayed a bit longer. There was also a family of monkeys jumping across which was a nice treat to see. We saw several boats below, waiting their turn to go to the front of the waterfall, and try to take their picture in the swaying boat while getting a light shower from the waterfall. And we were quite happy that we weren't one of them! After, we went to La Vallée de Ferney where we did quite a long hike. When we got back we bought some homemade juice drinks - passion fruit, and tamarind, which was a very nice way to cool off and replenish some energy.

The next day we did some more relaxing. We mainly stayed on the nearby beach, and just did a small visit to Mare La Chaux, Flacq, an old sugar mill in a nearby village. It was completely empty, and not much there really but it was a very photogenic space and we saw some pretty flamboyant trees. We also went to a local market, which seemed mostly empty except for a fruit/veg section, and a food section. We picked out some local juice, some roti with curry, and several deep fried snacks with different vegetables in, which was very good! The rest of the day was spent on the beach, and we got a nice treat finding several trees filled with flying foxes.

Our last excursion we saved for the final day of our trip. Our flight wasn't until the evening, so we did an early start and set out for the South West corner and Le Morne Brabant, one of Mauritius main tourist attractions. While we unfortunately couldn't hike to the top of the mountain and have a chance to see the famous underwater falls, we spent some time at the beach, and walked along a long beach filled with resorts to get a nice view of Le Morne. Then we drove onwards to Blue Bay Beach; it's also a quite touristy place but the location very close to the airport was very convenient for us. There are plenty of food options there, but unfortunately not so much shade except for the far corner of the beach, which we sought out to escape the heat. We spent last few hours there, did one last snorkeling and some relaxing before going to the airport and heading home.

Overall the way back went quite smoothly, A slept almost the whole first flight but was a bit restless during the second flight. And of course, a lot of hours to pass at Istanbul.

Generally we had a very nice vacation, I could definitely recommend to go - although as we have now been once, I don't feel it's a place we will return to. And that's all for this time!

November 2024 - Mauritius - Del I

 Time for a new destination and new adventures. As we find our priorities and planning for travelling changes a lot with a kid, Mauritius is probably not somewhere we'd pick just for the two of us - however, given the kind-of-reasonable travel time (3h + 10h flights), lack of tropical diseases, and small time difference (3h), this is where we ended up to get a dose of tropical-ness and escape from the Swedish almost-winter. And, I will say it was a good choice!

In total we spent two weeks on the island, and this first part will be for week one. Probably on the shorter side since we spent many days just relaxing on the beach or by the pool. This first week we had booked a small hotel in the North West part of the island, in the area Grand Baie. While not the most touristy area on the island, there were still plenty of hotels and a bunch of restaurants to choose from, while the local street food was slightly more sparse. Our hotel offered a nice breakfast with some local food options such as crêpe with smoked marlin, omelet with shallots and chili and fresh fruits and juices. We had a nice ocean view from our balcony, a warm swimming pool and a path directly down to the beach. Plenty of cute lizards and geckos and some curious birds visited our balcony (and sometimes room) along with the occasional cockroach and spider (much preferred the lizards, but they didn't really bother us so it was okay).

"our" beach

local birds very interested in our breakfast

the breakfast in question

During the first couple of days, the weather was a bit unstable (rainy and windy) due to a cyclone which luckily got downgraded to a storm before it passed a bit off the coast of the island. It was still good enough that we could spend mornings and afternoons at the beach and by the pool. While A had been unfortunate to catch a fever the day before we left, when she recovered she absolutely loved going swimming in the warm water (ocean around 26 degrees, pool slightly warmer) as well as playing on the beach, so it was easy to enjoy the days and take the opportunity to relax and get some well-needed rest.

For lunch we usually either went to the local super market to get fresh baguettes, cheese, fruit and vegetables (and some croissants from the bakery next door) to make sandwiches, or went over to the public beach to buy something from the local food wagons. Common street food dishes included fried noodles (mine frites), boiled noodles (mine bouille), fried rice, samosas, magic bowl (bol renverse - rice, meat and veg in gravy, and a fried egg placed in a bowl and then turned upside down onto a plate) and more, with seafood, egg, chicken and lamb being the most common types of protein (often in combination). Depending on the day of the week, sometimes other specialty food wagons would open up to serve boulettes ( kind of dumplings) and farata (roti/flatbread with some filling and rolled up). 

boulettes

bol renverse

As you can tell from the food names, the heritage from being a French colony is apparent in being one of the main languages spoken as well as some food items, while one of the main food influences stem from the big immigration of Indian population during the 1800s. As it was for a while a British colony as well, they are driving on the left side of the road which of course takes some getting used to.

During this first week we mainly did one excursion, to the Pamplemousses area where we visited the national botanical gardens, a big park with lots of different kinds of trees, as well as water lilies and lotuses. As with most nature areas trying to attract tourists on the island, there was also an enclosure for giant tortoises, once native to the island but now seemingly imported from Seychelles. While A appreciated any kind of animal we would show her, me and Valle were more excited about the (wild) chameleon which came walking across the path and we had the opportunity to admire briefly before it was unfortunately spotted by a guided group of tourists and then put on display on a stick.

Another rainy day, we drove along the North coast but didn't find any particularly amazing sights. We also spent an afternoon in the capital, Port Louis, where we went to the famous Central Market and walked around for a bit. The market was quite nice in that it felt like we were in South East Asia again with a very similar vibe. It did however feel like they sold almost exactly the same things, with the exception of all the dodo-related souvenirs as Mauritius is indeed the island where this bird existed once upon a time. When we walked around in the city, heading from the market up to the cathedral, there were a lot of local food places that looked very nice - if we hadn't already had lunch, we would have loved to explore these local eateries that felt much more authentic than the tourist oriented restaurants near the market and the waterfront.

For dinner in the evenings, we alternated between the available restaurants and had some very good Indian, Thai, and local food. We always opted for fish, seafood or vegetarian and had some really good curries.

That's about it for week one! Tune in for next post, where we did some more adventures and excursions being based on the East coast.

April 2022 - Panama - Santa Catalina, El Valle de Antón, Panama City

Our next destination after Boquete was Santa Catalina, a small village on the Pacific Coast with only a few hotels, hostels, restaurants - and dive shops. Santa Catalina is known as the entry point to go to Coiba National Park, whether you are a scuba diver or just beach hopping for the day. Others come here to surf. Since it was a bit 'off', with few and irregular buses heading there, we decided to take a shuttle. It turned out though that we were only three people going with this shuttle, so it was actually a car rather than a minibus which felt quite luxurious. The hostel was owned by an Italian man and doubled as a café during mornings and pizza place during evenings (though the coffee and bread was better than the pizza).

After going for a lunch, we waited for the dive shop across the street to open, and then headed there to fill out forms and sort the details. We had originally booked only two days of diving, planning to have our third day just to chill on the beach, but after those two days we asked to extend for a third day of diving. Because it was really nice. While we again found ourselves in the "in-between" season where nothing was really in season (no whalesharks, no hammerheads...) we really enjoyed the diving here. We got to see a few different types of sting rays that we haven't seen before (some of them huge!), lots of white tip reef sharks, lots of octopuses, a few seahorses (!) also a kind we haven't seen before, some new types of "fluffy" nudi branchs, and LOTS of turtles. Unfortunately, we don't have any cool photos of these creatures as the underwater casing for our camera was leaking. You'll just have to imagine it.

A typical day scuba diving here would look something like this: early breakfast, head out on the boat around 8am, drive to first dive site (1-1,5 hours), then a break on one of the nearby beaches, second dive, longer lunch break on another beach, third dive, boat ride back, shower, snack, hammock time, dinner. And the best part was that these beaches were among the most beautiful we've seen on this trip - picture perfect paradise type beaches with palm trees, beautiful sand, crystal clear turquoise water...Spending a few days here was really amazing. And though we didn't see any of the big stuff we were kind of hoping for, we did get an acrobatic show by some dolphins our last day. Our very last dive unfortunately didn't turn out great - as we descended we ended up in a school of thousands of jellyfish - yes, the kind that sting! Not dangerous, but giving enough of a burn that it was quite uncomfortable swimming the first part of the dive. Once we got out of all the jellyfish, the current was too strong and in the end we had to cut the dive short. When we came back up on the boat, we all had very red lips and burning/itching hands from the stings. Well, it was an experience, as you say!

flying dolphin

Our very last longer stay for this trip was El Valle de Antón, a small town surrounded by the ridges of a very, very old volcano. We picked this destination for our last top due to the proximity to Panama City and the fact that we would be there during part of Semana Santa, Easter week - we wanted to be close to the city to be able to get there easily even if there weren't any buses running during Easter (there were, but we weren't 100% sure). We stayed at a cozy hostel where we could take some free yoga classes (!) and where some of the volunteers hosted a Panamanian Easter dinner with traditional foods such as baked pumpkin, chicken rice, beetroot salad, and some banana-cheese-chocolate roll for dessert. We spent our days hiking (sometimes with a cute, fluffy private guide!), and afternoons reading. 

This was also where I got to spend my birthday. I started the day with yoga, and then we went for a steep (but pretty) hike. The previous days we had lunch at a nice Colombian restaurant (with excellent arepas among other things) though on this day we went to a local place for a huge portion of arroz con camarones (shrimp rice), and then went for ice cream. In the afternoon, we went to some hot springs where you first started by doing a face mask with special mud - and then washed it off and enjoyed soaking in one of the (not super warm) pools. In the evening I had booked a table at probably the second fanciest restaurant in the area. The restaurant belonged to a hotel which was about 2km outside of the small village. We thought it might be very crowded since it was the Easter Friday, but when we came it was nearly empty and seemed to mainly be residents of the hotel eating. Although they unfortunately couldn't serve us any artisanal beer or nice cocktails due to the dry law (not being allowed to serve alcohol during Easter Friday), the food we had was really amazing: corn cobs, cheese fondue with patacones, grilled veggie salad, sweet potato tacos - and for dessert, sopapillos, some sort of fried dough filled with lemon cream and topped with chocolate sauce and cinnamon. Not a bad way to spend a birthday!

 

The next day we hopped on the bus(es) to the capital - Panama City. On the bus ride to the hotel we passed the bank district and watched the skyscrapers in gold and glass panels from the window. Not the most fancy hostel (our "private bathroom" was only private in the sense that we were the only ones using it - it wasn't actually situated in our room), but good enough for two nights. After a quick lunch we decided to take the long bus ride out to Miraflores, the famous spot for watching ships pass through the Panama Canal. Of course, this must be one of the main sights in the city, but we were still surprised to see the amount of tourists there. The actual museum part was closed when we were there, but for the $10 entrance we got to spend around 30minutes as a big ship was being transported through.

In the evening we managed to find a nice food truck selling burgers - our veggie burger had a patty made from rice, coconut and black beans! - and some nice local craft beers. Our last day, we went to Casco Viejo, or San Felipe, as it's also called, which is the old colonial quarters in the city and offering some cute, fancy coffee shops, monuments, and stalls selling souvenirs and Panama hats. We also got a nice view of the city skyline. We stumbled upon some Easter celebration outside of a church, and randomly ran into our friends Alex & Sarah, who we met in El Salvador (and in Honduras). We enjoyed a fancy coffee, had a pretty amazing lunch at the fish market - pescado de la hembra (breaded fish covered with shrimp in coconut sauce) with patacones, of course - and lastly, called an Uber to take us to the airport...

And this concludes our three and a half month backpacking trip through Central America!
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