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

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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.

Where you at?

As my third day here dawns (its 6:30), I feel like I'm settling in nicely to this place. It is beautiful- a tropical island with giant mountains which pierce the clouds inland, red and black birds everywhere, houses which are bright, primary colors, and rolling waves which crash on volcanic rock. The culture shock is pretty bad though, but only in two cases; one is diet, and the other is the presence of a maid who does all the cleaning… all day. The diet is strange, because I’ve spent the last half year either eating high protein meals with vegetables and grains or peanut butter sandwiches. My past six meals consisted of bread for breakfast, hotdogs over rice or plain pasta for lunch or dinner, and last night I even had fried eggs over mashed potatoes. I’m not complaining, rather it was just a point where I was like “well, food is food.” I get made fun of for wanting to run and exercise while I am here, too...The maid thing is a little weirder. When you go to college, one of the ideals you strive for (or at least I did) was learning how to be self sufficient, so it is strange to be encouraged to leave out my dishes for someone else. But even more so, I HATE WHEN PEOPLE WASH MY CLOTHES FOR ME. But, I’m not going to say anything, as that is the culture which I live in now. Good morning to everyone back home at Annes Court and Farmers, to Jessie and to all my other friends! Today I think I venture solo out into the main city which I live in.

I LIVE

I AM HERE!

I am about to run out of battery life, so heres where you can see the first batch of photogs.

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

I promise to make my blog pretty when i have a minute....


OKAY HERE GOES:

the flight was ridiculous, I slept the entire time, because I figured out enough French to ask the nice couple sitting next to me if I could drink their extra wine, which was free on air France. That, plus a nap time pill, plus Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs = wake up one hour away from Mauritius. I get onto the ground, and customs is all like "hey where are you living and what is the landline number there" and I'm all like "WHAAAAA uhhh i dunno" and they are like "well son, you got screwed" and then im all like "hey no dont be like that dogg i have my uncle waiting on the other side of this here bullet proof wall" so they are like "peace out son" and we dapped. side note: english is the official language of mauritius, but everyone speaks french, not english. okay. My uncle drives me to his house. more ont he driving later. his house is cool. more on that later. My cousin is living with me, and he collapsed he lung at the same time i did.... pretty cool. Everyone in the house smokes, and they all made fun of me for bringing protein powder and a knife to murder sharks, BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SHARKS HERE. I am retarded, evidently. But everyone takes it in stride, there is no stress here, and we had a big family dinner with my uncle, uncle, aunt, cousin and cousin. we had pasta with raisins in it. I ran on the beach for about ten minutes. It is very hard. Will try again at dawn... must not be fat. I have yet to get in the ocean. EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL. All the colors are... like the direct derivative of that color. The sky is blue, not light blue or anything like that... blue blue. the fruit are purple and red, not like redish or purple ish. I saw a guy in a full spandex biking kit riding a beach cruiser up a hill. gotta go, no more battery

signing off!