It is not surprising that the Mauritian poet Malcolm de Chazal, who died 40 years ago, wrote: "The future is in front of us and the past behind, but on both sides, what kind of time is there?"
Something of that enveloping incognito, between openness and detention, meekness and voluptuousness, is breathed on the island where he was born and lived who also stressed: "Light is never dirty, except in the eyes of man", and raised this palpable greguería over his landscape: "The pink colors are the milk teeth of the sun."
Mark Twain, who drew up his
Diary of Adam and Eve
(1906) after stepping on these island lands, declared: "First Mauricio was created and then, in his likeness, paradise was created."
Like him, many traveling writers have attested to their fascination with such a concentration of beauty in such a small and remote space, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
A symphony with the gaze of turquoise waters, virgin beaches, lush forests, lake valleys, volcanic lajiales and smiling waterfalls.
Thus, Darwin, Conrad or Lewis Carroll, among others, have left testimony of the same orchard that inspired Baudelaire, on his trip in 1845, those lush opening verses: "That scented country that the sun caresses", crossed by "palm trees from which laziness rains in the eyes… ”.
Reopening to tourism
Mauritius is opening up to tourism in two phases. Currently, vaccinated visitors have to stay in the resorts certified by the authorities and, from the 14th day of their stay, they can explore the island if they have passed three PCR tests (carried out on arrival, and on days 7 and 14 ). In the second phase, as of October 1, travelers vaccinated and with a negative PCR performed in the previous 72 hours will be able to travel to Mauritius and move freely around the island. More information: mauritiusnow.com.
Indeed, in just 58 kilometers long by 47 wide, a landscape as varied as its own country is condensed. Uninhabited until 1638, when the Dutch occupied it and named it in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau, and later colonized by France and the United Kingdom, the island has been populated by people of very diverse origins. Half of its population is of Indian origin and the rest, a profuse range from Africa, Madagascar, China and Europe (with France at the head). Most are, at least, bilingual, since French is almost as common and official as Mauritian Creole, although a good part of the population also speaks English. "In the big celebrations, my house becomes the Tower of Babel", comments Virginie Melwani amused,a thirty-year-old tourist guide with features and a skin color in which all this mixture of ethnicities and races shines. He recounts how his maternal great-grandparents arrived in a boat from southern China, while his paternal ancestors arrived from India, and that the desserts of family events, based on the vernacular language, are whispered in Chinese, in Hindi , in english, in french, in
Creole
Malagasy (Madagascar Creole) and even some dialect of the African coast. The rich Mauritian gastronomy participates in the same mixture of flavors, in which there is no shortage of French touches, noodles and spices such as curry along with a delicacy of tropical vegetables and fruits, especially pineapple and papaya.
Despite the high population density, with more than one and a quarter million residents, most are concentrated in the capital, Port Louis, and other urban centers, in such a way that the feeling of spaciousness, aroused by exuberance, is never mitigated. forest and lake plains; a maritime and earthy light, dotted by isolated rocky areas, with those sparkles of the incipient pink that Chazal refers to. More arid and drier in the south, more humid and leafy in the north, it is only a difference of nuance in places so full of vegetation and color and with an intertropical climate, humid and warm at the same time. A cohort of hydrangeas, fiery flamboyants, and slender, swaying casuarinas often bow to the traveler from both sides of the road; they are a hospitable carpet in the middle of the open landscape. Heading south this intensifieswith beaches less crowded than those of the north, ending in volcanic cliffs and lagoons walled in by mountains.
A must-see in the far west is the Le Morne peninsula and the adjacent rugged and fertile region of Chamarel.
Privileged views of the entire south of the island then await, next to the gorges of the Negro River, with a natural park furrowed by waterfalls and the famous rocks sculpted in stairs, apparently visceral, organic, as if they were the work of some Gaudí of the Jurassic.
enlarge photo A pond in the botanical garden of Pamplemousses, on the island of Mauritius.
SERGI REBOREDO alamy
Cultural alloy in Port Louis
The capital of Mauritius offers the appeal of its lively streets, picturesque markets and Hindu temples. Sheltered by the highest peaks, such as Le Pouce or Pieter Both, which exceed 800 meters in altitude, Port Louis shows in its maritime orientation a peculiar cultural and architectural alloy, where, for example, the authentic neighborhood goes hand in hand. Chinese market, the colorful central market -which fills the pituitaries with the smells of spices-, the Jummah Mosque (a jewel of the 19th century with the door carved in solid teak) or the colonial complex of the Citadel, the Government House, the Plaza de Armas and the Post Office building, from where one of the first postage stamps on the planet, the Blue-Mauritius, was issued in the mid-nineteenth century, with a seabed next to the bust of Queen Victoria.
On the outskirts, in the steep and elegant residential neighborhood of Moka, is the
maison
Eureka, an iconic Mauritian colonial house. Built at the beginning of the 19th century, the mansion became an attractive museum in 1986 with furniture jewels from around the world - a French mogan cabinet, a tamarind table brought from India, tableware with British emblems, Japanese porcelain or a Chinese gong - guarded by its 109 doors. Further north, and towards the interior of Mauritius, is the famous botanical garden of Pamplemousses, from the 18th century, one of the most important in plants of the subtropics in the world. Dotted by beautiful lagoons, along with the totemic teak and various elephant-trees are concentrated camphor trees, bottle palms, lotus, ficus, giant water lilies ... A propitious place for Baudelaire to inspire in him his emblematic poem
To a Creole Lady,
when he caught a glimpse of her and, captivated, he sneakily pursued her "under a canopy of trees all scented."
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