From an Isle in the Indian Ocean

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After some of my past journal entries this one is going to be relatively short. As our substitute for Kenya we went to Mauritius for three days. It is a small island/ country in the Indian Ocean near the north east coast of Madagascar. From what we heard previous to coming to Mauritius it is paradise. Mark Twain made some sort of quote about God creating Mauritius and then creating Heaven after and modeling it after Mauritius. Well, we all hope that wasn’t true. Don’t get me wrong, it was really nice. Beautiful white sand beaches and clear turquoise water and plummeting waterfalls. But that seems to be where it ends. It’s just a really nice island in my opinion, nothing spectacular. This could be my still-disappointed-about-Kenya mouth talking, but I think I’m not augmenting the truth too much.

With that said, I still had a nice time in Mauritius. The island has a very interesting history in that it had no original indigenous peoples, unless you count the dodo bird whom the first settlers, the Dutch, promptly added to the extinct animal list. Believe me, the dodo spirit lives on in every gift shop on the island. Basically through the years Mauritius becomes a melting pot of people. From the Dutch, to the British, Africans, Indians and Chinese (who didn’t give into slave labor and opened supermarkets on the Island.) So it is rich in cultural diversity.

That was your history lesson, now onto what I actually did. On the first day I went on a Blue Safari. Basically that means going 35 meters below the sea in a submarine! It was really cool. I got to see some fishies and a shipwreck, which was neat. It was very enjoyable and I would love to do it again someplace else.

The second day was by far my favorite. My 7 friends and I hired a driver and a van and spent 8 hours seeing the sights in southern Mauritius. We went to some waterfalls, canyons, to a glass blowing factory, to a Hindu temple and then finally to see the seven earths. Basically the seven earths is a fenced in sand dune of seven different colors caused by volcanic eruptions. It was really neat and I hope my pictures turn out good. We also got to see some giant tortoises too. We went to a really great restaurant for lunch where I had the most amazing calamari and prawn butter and garlic dish. All in all it was a great day. We described it as going on a field trip with your best friends. It was sort of like an SAS trip, but without the 35 other people and the exact schedule. It was great.

On the last day we decided we wanted to spend some time at the beach. Taking a bus seemed to be the easiest way to get there, and after we found the bus depot and someone who spoke English who could point out which of the hundreds of buses we needed to get on, it was the easiest way to get to Grand Baie. We had fun at a little beach and did some shopping at a market nearby. We then came back to the port, had some pizza then hoped back on the water taxi to the ship (for the last time thank goodness, it was definitely one of my least favorite modes of transportation on Mauritius.)

Now we are on our way to India. I am extremely excited because we are finally going to be in Asia. The other ports have been wonderful, but India will really be the first of many ports that will really push our cultural comfort levels, and I am ready for that. Speaking of eastern culture, I would love to share with you some of what I have learned in my Religions of Asia class. My professor is really into what she is teaching. She started out as a curious mind, and then became a practitioner, so she really believes it and her energy is being passed along to us. Probably the most useful thing I have learned so far is about the elements. I am really anxious to get back and read more in the stuff I have and to look up more. Anyways, I will share what I know right now. She taught us about the elements; water, fire, growing tree, metal and earth. Sounds pretty hokey, but just keep listening. All of these elements have certain characteristics. Each person can be placed into one of these elements. You may not exhibit all of the characteristics and you probably share characteristics with other elements. Basically these elements are what the eastern societies use in their interactions and understanding of other people. Pretty much after reading them you can kinda grasp what interactions work better than others and which ones are just bad. Ancient Asian matchmaking….it makes a lot of things in my life seem to make more sense. See what it can do for you. Here are my notes:

-Water- Very secretive, quiet, tries to resist, very wise, strange taste in food, picky eater, hair grows smooth and well, don’t like to bask in the sun, vivid dreams, never too cold, although they often have cold hands/feet, starts things slow, pale skin, needs a morning drink, likes to sleep in, ability to become addicted to getting into their place of concentration, water reflects.
- Fire- Gets up early, cannot sleep for a long time, always hot, likes things that are not, nakedness is normal, very optimistic, self assured, go through things quickly, always bored, fire needs something to burn, can multitask, no difficulty starting relationships, overpowering energy, gets tired of people quickly, when fire burns everything they end up in a cold atmosphere, depression, seeks more things to burn.
- Tree- Not crazy, not withdrawn, beautiful niceness & kindness, must wake up early to connect with nature, needs to live with plants and animals, likes sweet things, good at starting things, doesn’t always finish projects, gets stuck in middle, goes naturally though the day, likes to go to sleep early, too sweet, kid, too understanding, get taken advantage of, when they need help, no one comes to help, little island of hope.
- Metal- Can get up anytime, but can get up when they need to get up, don’t need nature, product of society, so they act well in society, very organized, love to argue, gets pleasure from arguing well and winning the battle, can’t stand displays of human emotions, they are acid on metal, no emotional mechanism, likes pickles, sourish taste, can resist, controls with the power of mind.
- Earth- Most prevalent in society, like the glue that connects other elements, very inert, no ambitions of their own, not judgmental, easy going, lazy, vague, everybody likes them, earth clothing, not very distinct, not much attention to make-up & hair.

So how do you make sense of it all? Well think logically about it. What works and what doesn’t work? Fire and water for example are a pretty bad match. Fire basically continually burns water up and water continually tries to put fire out. The are opposites and have a hard time finding the perfect medium. Now water and water isn’t really great either because they are almost too much the same. No one will make the first move or lead. The best is when the elements can combine together. When each person is able to gain from each other and to replenish with their own form of energy. It is fun to think about you can draw your own conclusions. So give me some feedback…do you see any of these relationships or elements in the people you know? Or is it all bullshit? Interesting stuff. Ok, enough with all of that. Sorry, I guess this journal entry ended up being longer than I had expected. I hope all is well in your respective parts of the world. Keep me updated!

Peace,
The Butterfly Traveller

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Comments

[Janet]

interesting
Ash, I think the element stuff is very interesting. I bet that a person labels themselves differently than what someone else would label them--individuals might only see the best traits in themselves and want to be the most favorable element. Anyways, thanks for the cool post card. It made my day - things have been hard in LA. Janet, the world traveler, is a little homesick at age 22. Work is good. I am so exited that you are now going to India - what an amazing opportunity. You rock - take lots of pictures. Love, Janet