The adventurous journey activities included Snorkeling at Blue Bay, Abseiling (rappelling) down a water fall, hiking, and mountaineering. We were divided into four large groups and rotated through each of the activities for half a day. I started with Snorkeling at Blue Bay. We were first taken on a boat ride around the bay on a glass bottom boat. Then we had time to snorkel around the reef. It was absolutely gorgeous and I absolutely enjoyed every minute in the water. We had some time to relax on the beach and have lunch before our afternoon activity. We were to meet the group that had gone hiking for lunch however their hike took an hour longer than anticipated so we were delayed in getting started on our hike. This meant we had to do a much shorter hike. (This suited me just fine!) We hiked up a hill over looking the ocean. That night we had a campfire and attempted to roast marshmallows. The funny thing was that there were no normal marshmallows to be found in Mauritius. So we roasted these fruity flavored twisted marshmallows. It wasn’t quite the same but for some who had never roasted marshmallows before it was a new and interesting taste.
The next day my group went Abseiling at Tamarin Falls in the morning. Everyone was so excited as we had heard from other groups how amazing it was. I have done some climbing and rappelling before but had no idea what I was in for. There were three courses set up, one that went across the water from the top of the waterfall to the opposite side of the lake at the bottom, and the second route that went down the right hand side of the waterfall to a ledge half way down and then there was flying fox section that you held on to a rope and then let go and fall into the water. I did the long one first and liked the beginning of it but then it got a little scary as I got to the middle and realized I was really high above the water and I still had a long way to go. At the end I had to walk across the water and then underneath the waterfall and climb back up to the top. Not an easy task along a muddy trail. I decided to stop half way up and do the flying fox into the water, which was a blast. Then I finally made the climb back to the top. It was so much fun. Then it was time for lunch as the next group had already arrived and our group was to go mountaineering. I decided not to go and stayed with the next group to watch and take pictures. It was a good choice for me as I really enjoyed watching everyone and taking pictures for them.
That night we had an authentic Mauritian dinner. This was a very interesting meal as you eat with your hands and all you have is flat bread (like pita bread) to eat the different kinds of “stews”. There was one made with squash, one with tomato and peas, and one I have no idea what it was. There was also a cucumber salad. It was delicious!
The next day we returned to our campus and spent some time finishing up our skill workshops and preparing for two days of Community Service, which I will tell you about tomorrow.
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- Mauritian Dinner
Tags: Adventurous Journey, IGE, International Gold Event, mauritius, skill workshops, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, The International Award
