We arrived on the island and it was dark already, but what a relief seeing all the island's lights from the 747 as we came in for a landing. It was the start of the amazing race (1*) also known as T.A.R. and me and my dad was doing it as a team. In our luggage both of us had our road bikes packed into our old bull boxes witch came in quite handy.
Our first encounter with the locals made us realize we are no longer in Africa, the french Mauritians don't know how to pack a minibus taxi, so after we explained to them that we were from Africa and helped them pack our bikes, we were off. Driving with a Mauritian taxi driver at night can be quite a rush, they floor the petrol, especially in the smaller streets, and it feels like you are driving with a kamikaze pilot at times, but they get you where you want fast.
Next morning... we woke up in paradise, staying 10m from the beach it was an idyllic location where we spend days just lying on the beach, carbo loading with pina coladas and Mauritian rum. As my good friend Mark Twain said: "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius"
On race day we were taken by taxi from grand bay (north island) to the start at blue bay (south island), the island is quite big as it took us almost 2 hours to get to the start. The race route was 100km following the eastern coast line of the island from south to north, not going over the big mountains in the middle of the island.
The race started with 6 starting groups A-F with +-1000 participants from all over the globe. The scenery en route was very interesting as we went through rural fishing villages with all the locals cheering us on in french 'ale-ale!!'. My dad saw a Mauritian chasing a big lizard with a stick
over the road while i waved at the little children and took photos.
As we rode the terrain and coast changed all the time from rocky coast lines in between mountains to idyllic coral reef beaches without any waves to beaches with big j-bay waves, they have it all. We also rode past a weird section were you see strange volcanic heaps of rock appearing at random places in a sugarcane field, this was caused by volcanic activity when the island was formed.
I stayed with my dad all the way doing this amazing ride and we arrived at the "arrivée" french for finish as a team. Life was good and we spend the rest of our days tanning on the beach and snorkeling after pipe fish and other beautiful fischies in the clear turquoise blue Mauritian waters...
Da Mauritian Mummy
(1*) The Amazing Race, sometimes referred to as TAR is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
PS: The island is not flat and has quite a few high mountains overgrown with tropical trees and plants and would make an awesome location for an AR with sea paddling between islands in the calm sea and mountains to climb, they even host a mountain bike festival (http://www.otayo.com/
).
