The Temple By The Beach

8 December 2017

Life has been quiet, we're enjoying the sunny days of Mauritius, and we tend to just walk around our part of the island and explore little places, or hang out at the mall and people watch, and of course try various cuisines that are popular in this multicultural society.

There are often people fishing on the couple of small piers or docks.  I haven't seen anyone catch much of anything.  But I really liked the way this man matched his shirt to the water.

From our balcony, we can see a small peach colored temple or shrine not too far distant.  So after having lunch at my favorite neighborhood French bistro, I decided it was time to find the peach temple.

Turns out that it isn't far away at all.  Actually, it's down a side street opposite one of the shops where Richard buys his Coke Lights.  (I'm becoming addicted to Orangina Zero, but that's even harder to find.)

There were some men hanging out at the beach near this little temple, and one man spoke English quite well.  He explained that yes, this is a Hindu temple, and it is here by the sea.  I could go inside and look around, but I told him I just liked the colors of the temple against the blue sky and aqua water, and asked if it was okay to take photos.  Not a problem, he said, and he introduced me to the caretaker (who had been napping on a bench).  I said I could tell it was a Hindu temple because there was a statue of Ganesh right there.  And that I didn't see Ganesh at the Tamil temple closer in town.  He said that he attends that temple, he is Tamil, and that there's a statue of Ganesh but that it's inside, not outside.  Aah, I replied (not knowing what else one could say).  I didn't want to get into a long discussion of what the differences were between the temples, so we just had a little chat and that was it.

I should add that it was just a little unnerving to walk down this side street and see the multi-armed woman statue - from a bit of a distance, she looks very realistic.  For just a moment, I wasn't sure if she was a real person dancing (or two people), or a statue.  Just a moment of freaky.

There's a pretty beach nearby, but the water in Grande Baie is a bit murky.  Gorgeous aqua blue to turquoise, but there's a lot of boat traffic.  And I'd guess the wave action in the enclosed bay tends to kick up much of the sediment, so that the water looks cloudy all the time.  I know, we're so spoiled - we like the crystal clear water we find so often.

Anyway, today was more exciting.  Friends from the USA were on a cruise of the Indian Ocean, not realizing that we were also exploring this part of the world.  They found out from our post on Facebook that we're on Mauritius this month, and so we made arrangements via email to meet up for a lovely lunch.  Had a great time catching up, and it was wonderful to see them as well as meet their friends who were also on the cruise.  

Whatever did we do before the internet?  We must have passed friends all around the world, not knowing where everyone was travelling!!!

As I said, we've settled into our little routines here in Mauritius.  It truly is a beautiful corner of the world, and we're having fun.