We slowly came around at about 9.00am after a long nights sleep….bed quality – a bit hard, but sleepable with….pillow quality – 2 big fat ones so replaced one with thinner bed cushion….so on the whole very comfortable. John made us a cup of coffee- we always bring our own with us. We went across the lawns, so I didn’t have to go up and down a huge amount of stairs, to get to the dinning room for breakfast. We were shown to a table and told it would be made up while we went to the buffer to get some food…..Unfortunatly it wasn’t, so we ended up with hot food getting cold because we had nothing to eat it with…eventually I went and got the utensils myself and a young waiter said he was just about to do it…my response “ too late” .. after this he was highly attentive and brought us nice fresh coffee. The breakfast buffet was ok, but not up to the previous evenings standard. Also even though we were a whole half hour before the buffet closes a lot of food had run out and was not replaced. I did however have fresh pancakes with pure raw honey which was dripping out of the honeycomb…..too delicious to resist…A mixture of fresh passion fruit and mango juice topped off an adequate breakfast. I must say there were more breakfast curries than there had been at the previous evenings meal….may have to resort to curry for breakfast,,,it’s a hard life !!!
After going back to the room to ablute and sort the safe out we headed back to reception and the first of the daily quota of stairs were embarked upon!
We went to see Nirmala and booked a driver/guide and car for Friday and Monday, having decided that Wednesday and Thursday were going to be beach and exploring the resort days.
Having sorted that out we headed across reception to the taxi and transfer desk we booked a taxi to take us to Mon Choisy a town along the coast in the North West Corner of the Island….we negotiated the fee of MUR 2500 ( Mauritius Rupees about £39) for the trip there and back, we didn’t realise at the time that our driver would also be our guide. With in 5 minutes our Maritim taxi arrived. Sachin was a delightful driver, he spoke excellent English and explained he would tell us all about the local villages, customs, culture and the festival and escort us at Mon Choisy
The Ganesh Chaturthi Day is a public holiday. It is a major Hindu Festival honouring Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed God of wisdom, prosperity and new beginnings. The day consists with family and friends of wealthy Hindu’s parading effigies of Ganesha made from clay or turmeric. Some of these are painted. These effigies are made offerings, sometimes around a fire pit, lots of chanting takes place, bells rang, seashell horns blown, water sprinkled, petals thrown before the effigy if taken, usually by men into the sea in an immersion ceremony. They wait for the water to dissolve the clay.
Driving north along the coastline, we saw many examples of families who had put up marquees with many chairs – almost in the style people host a wedding in the UK. We also came across lots of small parades with 15-20 people taking part.
We went past a multitude of ceremonies happening on the beaches.
Having past Trou aux Biches the biggest of the “villages” on our route. We saw a couple of hotels we had considered staying at, we were pleased we had selected The Maritim.
After this larger resort village we got into heavy traffic, which Sachin manoeuvred through with the ease of the professional he is…
Soon we were at Mon Choisy and although not easy Sachin soon found a parking place.
We walked through the wooded area which seems to hug the coastline. There were lots of beautifully dressed ladies and plenty of stalls giving food and drinks away.
There was so much joy, happiness, smiles and laughter around it was hard to know where to point the camera next…. All the women were dressed in vibrant colourful beautiful outfits and so many encouraged us to take their photos. We were offered drinks, sweet dessert pastries, sweets, food you name it we were offered it… Sachin said that they spent many days preparing food , their outfits, their effigies and their offerings. The atmosphere was truly amazing…I have to admit when we got to the beach we were totally mesmerised by the ceremonies taking place. What an honour it was to be able to witness this Hindu Festival.
The effigies are paraded onto the beach and placed facing the water
Then the families and friends dance around them. Some groups were in matching colour and outfits.
Prayers were said and gifts to the God were offered.
In some areas a little fire was lite with offerings placed by it, or a plate with fire on it passed around….
We were totally fascinated by the rituals and the chanting and singing…
When the prayers and blessings were completed the men picked up the effigies and walked backwards into the sea.
In some cases the men were anointed in yoghurt as an extra offering to Lord Ganesha.
Then the immersion ceremony takes place and the men holding the effigies go under the water pushing the effergy down. Sometimes they rise and hold it up high before going down again. This happens until the effigies either dissolves in the sea water or sink to the bottom. In some cases where the effigy took several men to carry it, this immersion took quite some time because it is often hollow and full of air, so it kept rising up again and they kept having to push it down. It was quite a sight, with lots of jollity, laughter and enjoyment. We had to laugh at some of the men’s expressions when the cold sea water hit their midriffs…..whether you’re carrying your effigy or not the shock of the cold water couldn’t be disguised !!
We spent over 2 hours just watching different groups coming and going. John went down on to the beach to get a better view of the front of the effigies.
I stayed on the slightly higher area to get a view over the heads of the crowds.
I was blown away by the beauty of this particular lady ..
Sachin guided us back to the car, on our way back we were invited to partake in different types of food, it was all totally free. However we gracefully, so as not to cause offence declined, (as seasoned travellers we are very careful of what we eat so as not to upset our sensitive European digestive system !! )…
We were also invited to take several photos…
Once back in the carpark we waited while even more families came to celebrate.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw more people about to embrace the festival.
Sachin took us past the house he has built, where at present his sister and nephew reside, until he marries.
Thank you Sachin for a really great experience.
We spent the rest of the afternoon resting in our room before going for supper at the buffet again.
Between courses we were serenaded…..for our special one to one with them we said they could choose what they wanted to play and they chose “What a wonderful world” ….it couldn’t have been more apt.
A game of cards back in our room finished off our wonderful day.
2 J's World of Adventure 