MTB and Garden Adventure!

Me and Marc woke up at 6 and went mountain biking in the sugar cane fields. It was literally like riding a bicycle on the broken dreams of a 16 year old stripper... I could keep up with Mark (who is 40 something) on the flats and inclines, but on the downhills, I went slow. As in "faster to walk" slow. Bombing jagged loose rocks the size of baseballs covering 45 degree descents on a rigid bike which was only a little worse than a Trek 820 was still pretty fun. My uncle had a badass full suspension canondale with a lefty fork and disc brakes (which still weighed less than my bike) and quite frequently left me in the dust.

I even gave up on the last ascent... I had nothing left to spend. I told him to keep going and that I would wait for him to get back. 30 minutes later, he comes up, still in his kit and helmet and riding a motorcycle, and asks where Ive been. Huh? Evidently he had been looking for me, but neglected to look where I had stopped riding. Oh, Marc!

From mauritius march week 1

Just look at those Manly Quads.

I also have a new nickname? "American Robot." This has been added to a list which includes "Tarzan" and Petite Raffray, which is also the name of a city here.

The next day I went to a place called Pampelmoose or something. It was a bigass garden! I ran around and took pictures. There were big trees, a garden devoted to plants with "medicinal values" and some goats. Hooray! In all honestly, the size of the trees was insane. And I saw tourists with ass cheeks hanging out their shorts.

From mauritius march week 1

Ew? Be glad I wasnt close enough to capture the sweat stains.

A guard there also insisted on taking my picture and talking to me in creole. It made me very nervous.

From mauritius march week 1

But he was nice, I guess.

Look at these lilly pads!

From mauritius march week 1

And I liked this kid.

From mauritius march week 1

Get it? Ha.

OMG INTERNET

I have been gone and aint had no intranets. But for the moment, Im back with stories to tell!

Before I forget: Im allergic to everything. I ran out of my control meds and my emergency meds for allergies and everthing is going to shit... I have hives on my arms and I sneeze more than I have clean breaths of air. I would buy more but its like 5 dollars a day... so Ill get some when I get back to the good ole US of A.

Also, THIS!

From the latest (week dunno)

I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU THEY EXISTED! THATS A "SMALL" MAURITIAN SPIDER.

Okay. now for the good stuff. I went to a city called `Curepipe to stay with my grandmother Noelle about three weeks ago. This is what the city looked like:

From the latest (week dunno)

I ate lots of yummy food, and had steak (!) that I cooked with Mauritian salsa (!) and it was AWESOME. I ran a lot in Curepipe, and went to the gym every day. There was not a whole lot to do. The Curepipe gym was awesome though; pictures of Arnold, lots of space, a African sauna, old tredmills that probably could kill you, lots of rusted freeweights, etc. The owner of the gym was real nice too. He was old! But he taught an abs class because he still had abs at 80 something.

At Noelle's I saw lots of funny stuff. Like this:

From the latest (week dunno)

And this:

From the latest (week dunno)

And this:

From the latest (week dunno)

I went to a house that my family owned at some point or something, and they made tea. More interesting, however, is this giant dog:

From the latest (week dunno)

In curepipe, there was a bike shop! It was next to A BILLION run down buildings and shantys. In the bike shop, there was a bike!!!

From the latest (week dunno)

Outside the bike shop, there was poverty and pizza hut.

From the latest (week dunno)

From the latest (week dunno)

And other fine mauritian cuisine.

From the latest (week dunno)

I went hiking into a vocanic crater, which was awesome and beautiful. There I decided I wanted to grow up to be a bear. It had just rained, and the "path" was either slippery as fuck or disgustingly muddy. But I hiked for about an hour and a half down.

From the latest (week dunno)

From the latest (week dunno)

The whole time I was looking for the Predator.

I left Curepipe to go to a place called Pointe aux Canoneerie or something. It was in the North. There, I spent my time kayaking and praying the cyclone that was coming would hit the island and be badass. It didnt, but I still got to kayak in "rad" waves. This is what the back yard of Noelle's place looked like:

From the latest (week dunno)

I met more family there too!
And I found this picture of my dad. Maybe he was cool once?

From the latest (week dunno)

When I left, I went to the "Raffray Family House" for a family birthday. It was massive, and my parents got married there. I have about 20 pictures of this place, so here is the drive up:

From the latest (week dunno)

My cousin with a turtle:

From the latest (week dunno)

(I like turtles)
And me swinging on a vine:

From the latest (week dunno)

Then, I went back to the south where I lived with a nice girl named Melissa and snorkeled at Denis' house constantly. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! I SAW A SCHOOL OF LIKE A THOUSAND FISH COME OUT OF THE REEF!!!! I also found a tunnel in the reef and SWAM THROUGH IT AND IT WAS THE MOST BADASSED THING EVER!!!! Snorkeling is the shit.

A few days later, I went back to the north and kayaked with like 10 members of my family through a mangrove swamp. It was very cool. Today I went biking... but That story is for tomorrow. Also, I have a rash all over both arms (?)

THE END (for now????)

CRAP

I have no internet. My base is moving to a new house, and with it, the internet goes. So the 4 or 5 people who read this will have to check back in late march, when i post the word document and hundreds of pictures i have been taking. highlights include: proof of the spider infestation, a hike into a former volcano, kayaking in cyclone winds, etc.

I exist

I promise. My camera is full of stories, my brain is full of stories, and my tummy is full of food. `i however have no time today, even though today is my first internet day in 4 or 5 days or something, to show off what i did. Im going to hydrate, run, nap, call some girl i am supposed to meet, mail Jessie her package, and maybe go to the south (i like it there).

Tomorrow, maybe!

V day and week four

This week I went and saw a canon. which shot at ships n stuff.

From week four or something

the tour guide was awesome and let me climb on everything and play with things and try out my french (im getting pretty good).

From week four or something

later in the week, the tide was real low and people were walking out on the reef and fishing. i took a break from playing guitar on the beach in my boxers, which is what i spend 90% of my time doing, to take pictures and climb on rocks.

From week four or something

Speaking of rocks, I LOVE CLIMBING ON THEM! Nothing feels better than drinking three beers and going out during low tide barefoot and running/ jumping on the cool, black, smooth rocks. It is awesome.


On Valentines, I got food poisoning.

Which is horrible, because I have one more week at the gym and I wanted to go every day.

I ate tuna, and I started to feel funny; I turned really red, started itching, and was very dizzy... no bueno. When I got home, I continued to itch like I had mange, and then started vomiting. I felt weak and bad and it frustrated me because, damn it, I want to go run to the gym. I woke up today feeling better, but still pretty tired. Im going to drink a couple of cups of coffee and try to run to the gym, eat there, and run back. It is really fun, I love looking at everything and smelling everything when I run here in Mauritius, and weightlifting ("doing gym") is fun because I honestly dont know exactly how much I'm lifting. For example, I'm pretty sure I warm up with around 150-180lbs on bench. WHO KNOWS???? It will be a surprise.

I went surfing yesterday and caught a wave. I don't think I would be a good surfer: I don't like to "hang ten, bro" or "chill" or anything like that, bro. When was the last time you heard someone say "I like to surf" and "I need to shave my head and replace my Dead Kennedys album" in the same sentence?

ANYWAY I missed out on posting on Valentines Day. So heres what I wanted to post!

From week four or something

It says "Love you!"
Sort of. Isn't that cute?
Happy Valentines!

Big Boi On De Town

I went to a mauritian bar tonight.

It was an hour walk because I refused to hitch hike... Sometimes, you cant overcome your ingrained sensibilities.

To the bar:

I drank a bit at Denis' after Esben left, so I started my walk pretty happy... this turned to fear when I realized I had to cross a ton of bridges with no light. But it was fun, too (thank you, alcohol). The whole walk was about an hour, but the danger kept things interesting. Imagine walking home from down town, but there is no sidewalk and everyone is going 70 mph.

At the bar:

I met a guy walking out of the bathroom by saying "Oops, fuck" because I bumped into him. "OH, YOURE AMERICAN! IM CANADIAN!" happened next. He introduced me to some very high class people, which made me uncomfortable, but I tried to keep the ball rolling. It was someones birthday party, and I was described as both "the random" and later, "the Raffray" because people knew my family (fucking weird). I met a distant cousin/ family friend: the birthday girl was the daughter of a one armed man who was friends with Ann, the wife of Mark Rogers, the son of one of my grandmothers sisters (I think i got that right. All I remember is that the man had one arm).

Um, so I felt horrible that I was sitting in on her birthday bash. I bought her a shot called a Spring Buck or something (she asked for it, I wanted to buy her a car bomb). Everyone was very nice. I talked to someone about the lack of mauritian fashion. I talked to someone about how I looked like the cousin of someones husband (this is where I realized people were not 25-28 like I had thought). I talked to someone about how dumb Americans are (awkward!). Mike the Canadian introduced me to a guy who I believe was named John, who introduced me to Claudene or Claudete, and I am only typing their names because there is no way I will remember in twenty minutes. Claude(ne/te) insisted she had seen me, and I thought that was bullshit until I realized she saw me doing the only thing I do every day: run to and lift at the gym. She probably thought I was insane and was going to eat her and murder her other passengers

When Claude(ne/te) left, I saw my chance, and remembering my failure to hitch a ride, quickly asked if I could tag along. The guys were thrilled, the driver was not. About twenty seconds into the drive, I realized she was pretty drunk. Thus began the most frightening/entertaining car ride ever: I thought Mauritians drove like insane people... never had I hitched a ride with a drunk one.

All in all I had fun. Would I do it again? Maybe: the bar was weird and had casio keyboard music, and everyone was happy, and I want to meet a bunch of people. Maybe not: some of the people seemed a bit higher than me on the socio/economic ladder, which was wierd... Im used to drinking dollar beers, not gin and tonics in nice clothes. I am glad I chose to wear a t shirt and shorts with a patch on my ass. You got to show these people that you are the boss. Which I am.

This week in pictures

WELL HI

I know I updated this thing earlier but now I have pictures... I have not had my computer all week because I had been traveling around the island.

First I went to the southern tip by boat. There was an island here, and I walked from one side o the other and it was cool until I got a thorn in my foot.

From mauritius week 3

Then I went to Annick and Cyril's beach house in the South East. It was one of the nicest homes I had ever been in.

From mauritius week 3

Then I went to their house in the north. It was also one of the nicest homes I have been in. There I met Jerome and John, who is just heading to college!!! Awwww. Will was there too! We went to the gym. I also tried to drive a manual car. It is hard.

From mauritius week 3

Then I went to Ann and Mark's house. They live in Grand Bai, and surprise surprise, it was one of the nicest homes I had ever been to. There I met my cousin Mathilde, who is super cool. I slept in her sister's room, as I was assured it was 100% spider free. Mark has really crazy color eyes; they are like sea foam green. I was very impressed with Mathilde (as I have been with all my cousins), as she is adorable. We went to Philip Roger's house, where my cousin Oliver and I kayaked out to the reef, which was real hard because my kayak choices were 1. A kayak which was heavy, slow and took strength to keep going or 2. A kayak which was real light and fast that I flipped every 20 feet or so. I also met my cousin Jason, who I watched a wasp sting in the face, and Joanna, who is real cool and sweet, and I hope I spelled her name right. The next day we went to Flat Island in the north, where I snorkeled around and it was cool AND I FOUND A GIANT PIRATE SHIP ANCHOR IN THE OCEAN AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant take pictures under water, so heres a tree.

From mauritius week 3

When I got back to the boat I was all out of breath from trying to make it down the 45 feet or whatever to touch it, and I told everyone that I had found it. Their response? "Oh yea, we've all seen it. There are cannons all over the place."

Well I want to see them.

Now I am back at Denis' house, where I feel the most at home. Denis and his family are pretttttyyyyy coooooool. And now I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

From mauritius week 3