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

Moar gym, back pain, spider attacks and a back massage

I wnt to the gym in the noth, where there were a bunch of people and no AC. but it was pretty awesome- i gots my sweat on. I hurt my back doing lumberjack tree chop things with a cable (i bet andrew knowx what im talking about) so i went to get a massage the next day.

By the biggest hindu i have ever seen. he was giant and dark and did not speak english. he was very srrs about the massage; he noted that he had been doing this for 35 years and was also a yogi. He did some reflexology on my feet and "give me energy massge fore energy" and honestly i feel a lot better today... but he did freak me out really bad at one point. He sat down next to me and tapped his palm on his lap as if to say "sit here, boy" and after a bit of arguing in french/english/creole, I sat on his lap and BLAM he used his giant budda belly to pop my back (not gay). when massaging my back, he said i had pinched a nerve in my lower spine , and then poked my right ass cheek until it was fixed (maybe a tiny bit gay. but it worked, so whaatever) . The whole experience cost me US 20$, was an hour, was kind of wierd, but he knew what he was doing, and I feel pretty good today.

Good enough to go kayaking in the bay! Booyah! I went like a mile, no big deal.

I have not had a good nights sleep since I left Denis' house... every night except for the last, I have seen a monsterous palm sized spider that looked like the face hugger in Alien at night in the house, and it has haunted my dreams. They are so big, that when they move, you can see each freaky disgusting leg move ahead and pull its filthy body a long. Last night, I woke up sweating because the power was off. I didnt know what to do so I walked around in the dark, and wondered if i should tell someone... I just went back to sleep.

What else? I'm at Mark's house with Mark, Ann (e?), his son Alexandre (quite confusing) and his daughter Mathilde (pronounced "mat-til-d"). She has a test for class tomorrow... WHICH IS SATURDAY... WHICH IS DAMN UNAMERICAN.

I also get to open another piece of mail from JESSSIIIEEEEE in a few days :)

BRB, island

im in transit, going to the north island, where Noelle, Uncle Mark, Aunt Annick all live. I packed light, so now im out of clothes. I also left my laptop in the south with Dennis, so there will be NO PICTURES UNTIL I GET BACK.


im out of clothes, and i wanted to goto the gym today, so i went out and bought some medium shirts and shorts. I MUST BE A DAMNED GIANT.

none of the clothes fit me, and it took forever to find them! i did see a guy with a haircut that looked like sonic the hedgehog... silly bollywood people. the egrish here is hillarious. there was a shirt that just said "SILENCE" and had a x through it... like "NO SILENCE! YEAAAAAA" but it didnt make any sense, really. it had a rapper on the back.

right now im at aunt annicks house.

i need a massage super bad, as my back is killing me. i also need a shave, but i left all that at dennis' house... im going to stay here at annicks until thursday, and then go to marks place for a few days, and then return to base.

the day before yesterday, i was at annick + cerriel's beach house. it was nice and pretty. they gots a regular house too, which is HUGE. ummm oh yea:

THE SPIDERS HERE ARE MONSTERS. they are the size of my palm, and i almost had a heart attack when one appeared in the car. in fact, they stopped the car, because they did not know what was wrong with me. and then another showed up in my room when i was trying to go to sleep. i tried to be the big man and kill it myself, but i couldnt get close enough without feeling sick. im not coming back here without a gun.

i thought i was afraid of sharks... but this was REAL FEAR.

Sun Burns and Thaipusam

I will tan, or i will die trying.
I frequently forget to put sunscreen on my legs, with painful results:

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

Today I ventured out with Lone to the Thaipusam festival practices by a group of Tamil Hindus. I took an insane amount of photos and video, as this is the famous festival where the people pierce themselves, walk on nails and coals, wear shoes made of nails, and drag or carry objects by hooks in the flesh.

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

It was really pretty: everyone was wearing yellow and pink, and they had made little shrine type things that they later carried from the river (where all the pictures take place) to the temple (like a half mile away).

Obama was there too!

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

Through pain, purification. Some walked barefoot, some had sandals on, and some walked with those nail shoes. I think id rather have the nail shoes than be barefoot, because it was around 100 something degrees and the asphalt was scorching. The Hindus do this after a special diet for a week weeks, and then a feast. Most people looked a little miserable, and some looked nuts while they danced and sang and skipped around. But it was amazing! I felt like a scummy tourist taking all these pictures (all the rest are on http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.killeen.raffray/MauritianSunsetAndHiduWalk) but there were a ton of other gringos there too. A few even posed for pictures, but I didnt have the guts to say "hey when youre done sticking those needles in your tongue and hanging lemons from your flesh, and youve picked up some insanely heavy thing you will carry to your holy place, would you mind smiling next to me?"

heres some video!

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

PS: i hope i dont always sound like i have a head cold.

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

PS: ITS LIKE MADRI GRAIS... OF PAIN!!!



And hurr are some more pictures!
If you want the full story about the pilgrimage, here is the wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

This guy (you cant see in this picture but he is dragging that by two chains attacked to his back) later got a flat tire :(

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

---------------------------------

Last night I got to see an amazing sunset.

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

(dont know these kids)

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

From mauritian sunset and hidu walk

Take THAT, Soorapadman!

Mauritian Exercise

I belong to a gym which is about 2 miles away from the house. So every other day, i run there, lift for 1.5-2.0 hours, and then run home and watch the sun set on the beach. All the equipment is either completely screwed up or wayyyy too technologically advanced. Case in point: bench press= broken and wobbly, but the digital lat pulldown machine sure works! Side note: (you step on one panel to make the resistance increase, and another to make it decrease, but it only goes up to around 120 lbs, so its essentially worthless). Running is interesting, because you feel like at any point, a car is going to slam into you ending your run and your life quite prematurely... plus the wind blows REAL HUURD and sometimes it will rain REAL HUURD for very short amounts of time, so i run with everything wrapped in whatever plastic trash i find on the side of the road. But im not complaining (but what i will complain about is how horrible having to run through diesel fuel exhaust is)! It is real pretty, and I get to run around in the pretty. I saw three goats hanging out on the side of the road today, and I saw a man looking out into the street with five large dogs laying all around him (he was sitting on his steps). He was the dog master. In the gym, its customary to walk in, and then shake everyones hand in the gym. I like that! except its probably dirty, but everyones dirty, so who cares? There is also not enough kilos to do some exercises properly, but they have some weights which are in pounds (?) so any exercise involving the bar becomes a bit of a math equation that takes longer and longer the more tired you become. I learned how to say "bench press" in french, but i forgot.... i know this is boring, but im trying to procrastinate before cooking dinner.

If i had to cook and eat here, I would starve. The supermarket is so stressful and they only have either 3rd world food (which is delicious, i just dont know how to make it) or islander food (which is delicious, i just dont know how to make it). So I'd starve. To death.

Finally, I'm catching flak for drinking post-workout protein shakes. Its not the Mauritian way!

Nat Forest

I went hiking. I am tired. I went to the forest.

From mauritius week 2

it was good. My uncle Andre was there with me.

From mauritius week 2

we were high in the air. I got to the top and then climbed on this rusty thing, and it was dangerous.

From mauritius week 2

i made video.

From mauritius week 2

then i went lifting, and then i ran back to the house, where i ate pizza, drank a beer, and im about to collapse so au revoir.

From mauritius week 2

must... sleep

http://picasaweb.google.com/alex.killeen.raffray

album is called mauritius 1. very tired. today: snorkeled, walked. tomorrow: swim with dolphins, lift, run through forest. i am sunburnt, and breaking out because of the sun screen. woe is life on a tropical island (gloat gloat gloat gloat).

From Mauritius 1

srsly tho. it is very pretty here. um and snorkeling is the coolest thing ever. ummmmm quick stories.

From Mauritius 1

1. i will try to update this every day, because i have nothing to say if i wait until the end of the week
2. i went lifting here. a month long gym membership is 50 bucks. i freaked out everyone by lifting so much weight. i ran out of plates for the bench press. here, i am king.
3. i found a beautiful shell when snorkeling, and i went through all this trouble of fighting the current to take it to shore one handed and everything, and 10 ft away from the shore, a thing comes out of it, and scares the shit out of me, and i threw it back into the ocean where it can rot in hell forever. i swear it was empty.
4. we drove through a wedding... as in, the tent was in the road, so we asked if we could drive through. it felt like blues brothers.
5. the national park is insane and i plan on getting lost there.
6. my family is awesome, and i am impressed with all my cousins
7. i may come back with a retarded english accent because everyone here understands you better if you talk like a cross between michael caine and bob marley, man.
8. i went and bought nice rum, two liters of juice, a six pack, and a hair cut. price: 25 dollars.
9. i have worn a total of 4 shirts here.
10. i fucking cannot stand the insects here
11. no one is uptight about anything, and irony doesnt exist.
12. i saw little hindi girls running around with matching hanna montana backpack/ lunchbox combos
13. driving is fucking insane.
14. the maids think i am insane.
15. i cant stop saying fuck, because it is part of the culture here to say it. shit may be shocking, but fuck is a go to word. so fucking relax, my friend.
16. its pretty awesome.

From Mauritius 1

17. i have video. i was uploading it but, i bumped the computer, and i knocked out the internet, so fuck it.