Mauritius, Part Two

I slept really well last night, although I was wide awake at 0530 this morning, which was just before the sunrise. It rained a little again this morning and I was so excited again. (Being from L.A. I don't get much of that.) I read a little and had coffee on the balcony overlooking the bay. I did break down and bring a melitta for brewing my own coffee, so I wouldn't have to rely on the nescafe served at the hotel. Mauritius does have one coffee plantation and is the grounds that I had were any indication of their quality, I think I'll stick with Peets. They do have a really good vanilla tea that is served with breakfast, along with great fruit. I also noticed that hardly any of the tourists speak English. Majority are French, but I hear lots of Italian, too. And a surpising number of Chinese and Russians here. Last night I was talking to the security guard at the hotel and he asked about American politics but I switched the subject. I found out that Mauritius won a bronze in boxing in Beijing, their first medal ever and the security guy said the boxer works for his same company so he was excited about that. He also said they had an American stay at the hotel but it was two years ago and he was a contractor who was living in Zimbabwe; he's probably not in Zimbabwe anymore. The official language of Mauritius is English, but everything printed and on TV is in French. Everyone speaks French, but they can switch to English quite easily.
Today I made it to the world famous botanical gardens. I know, who's heard of the Sir Seewosagur Ramgoolan Botanical Gardens? Well, its the top tourist attraction. I liked the giant lily pond and leaves, otherwise there wasn't all that much to see. It was very pretty and big, but a little overhyped. I had to take three busses to get there, mostly because of reduced Sunday service, but everyone was nice and helped me get where I was going. Getting back took much longer, and I stopped in the next big town to have lunch because I was so hungry. After that I napped, then read and went swimming and snorkelling. They bay is protected by a reef at least half a mile out, so its very calm and everyone snorkels and swims but its not crowded. The public beach is next door so that was busy, but people cleaned it up and it has public showers to rinse off after being in the salt water, so it was pretty nice.
Tomorrow I am going to the capitol, Port Louis, to see more sights and maybe head out for a bike ride. The hotel has a free kayak to borrow, so I am very happy about that.