One Day in Ile Maurice

We landed in the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean (near Madagascar) and spent the day there.  The port where we landed was Port Louis.  It is the largest city on the island but most everything was closed because we were there on a Sunday.   Unlike home, many of the ports where we have stopped are basically "closed down" on Sundays.  What a bummer: not much shopping, no museums, even most of the restaurants (and all of the "good" restaurants) were all closed.  I did buy some tea at a local market that is grown in the mountains there.  Since they also grow lots of coconuts and vanilla beans there too, many of the teas are flavored with the local spices and fruits.  I asked the man at the tea shop, which of his local teas were the best, and he said "Here, most people like the vanilla tea".  So, I decided to try both the vanilla and the vanilla/coconut tea.  I really liked the latter the best and am anxious to get home and try making iced tea with it!!  Well, now its on to India.  We land in Chennai this Sunday.  I am finally going to get to see the Taj Mahal !  The pictures below are of the port in St. Louis and some of their downtown and Chinatown areas.