The main highlight was on Saturday, when we took our first trip into the wilderness side of Mauritius. We woke up early to take a tour of the southwest, which started with Ganga Talao, a sacred place of worship for Hindu people that surrounds a crater lake believed to be sacred water from the gods. The location of the shrines can be seen from miles away because of two huge statues of Hindu gods, and once at the base of these massive Shiva gods, we followed the path through a religious archway to the shrines that were decorated all around the Grand Bassin (the lake). The best part of this walk around the water? There were monkeys!!! A pack of about 15 or 20 monkeys were just cruising on the sidewalks, following us around and looking for food scraps. Some of them even had adorable babies hanging on to their stomachs, so naturally I chased them around with a half eaten coconut hoping to interact, but to no avail.
Past the monkeys and around the beautiful lake was a collection of god and goddess shrines, and a man who was blessing anyone who entered the area. He painted the dot and lines on my forehead and recited a small prayer that blessed me for coming as well as for (I think) positivity in my life. It was really cool to experience the Hindu culture, because I have never interacted with it in depth before. We learned about their holidays and special practices--such as Maha Shivaratri, which is a day when many pilgrims in Mauritius walk bare foot from their homes to the lake. This really struck me as powerful that people would believe in a higher power so strongly that they would walk hundreds of miles without sleep or food just to go to a worship service. To have that connection and live it so thoroughly in your every day life is really rare to see in American culture, so I found it refreshing and invigorating to learn about Hinduism from people who are so passionate.
As for work, there was a bit of low point this week because an NGO cancelled it's program with us for the time being. It was disheartening because we were relying on that foundation to keep a lot of our interns in jobs, but our leader says that they are working things out so that we can possibly resume interning for them in mid July. On the bright side, the other NGOs we are working with, PAWS, Environmental Protection and Conservation Organization (EPCO), and Mauritian Underwater Group are starting to provide us with quality work and ideas. A fellow team mate and I hope to get a monthly newsletter started for PAWS, as well as other building projects to improve the quality of the animal shelter. We also start presenting about PAWS's mission and purpose in elementary schools this Saturday. Secondly, EPCO is providing our interns the opportunity to research sea turtle and octopus habitats by talking to local diving companies. Lastly, I met with the VP of Mauritian Underwater Group to organize a three day beach clean up in July and also possible outings to gain first hand knowledge of the reef.
Overall, the disappointment of being dropped by the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation provided us with an opportunity to be innovative and show determination to make a difference in Mauritius. I'm optimistic about the upcoming events and can't wait to present in schools this Saturday!
If you want to follow my travel blog for more updates about my life in Mauritius, follow me at lostinmauritius.weebly.com. Until next week, au revoir!
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