Tropical paradise or is it?

Wed 11/10

Today is our first full day in paradise, I mean Mauritius.  We get up much later than our usual 5.30 starts. However Paul's phone and computer make lots of noise during the night with phone calls and emails so hard to sleep anyway.

But we wake to a beautiful day and make our way to breakfast.  Not bad.  After breakfast we go to the main bar/pool area and are offered drinks with lovely smiles and helpfulness beyond imagining.    Then I remember where we are and what the expectation is. Tips.

Just a note about our accommodation. We are on an all paid package which means everything is included.  Food and drink and accommodation.  However there are some restrictions in which restaurant/dining area we can use and free drinks start at 11am.

But there is a catch. Even though all our drinks have been free, you still have to tip the waiter, the porter, the cleaner, the pool attendant etc etc etc.  so not so free.

During our morning swim, we meet a woman who is here with her children. She has 5 all up which is unusual but she is the second woman we have met this trip with 5 children. Both work full time. i feel a little unproductive.  Today's lady is a GP from Perth originally from South Africa. We share jo'berg horror stories which is where she is from originally.

Photos below of the pool area

paul on the beach

me on a jetty at the beach

the solarium

us and a obligatory free cocktail

After lunch I had a massage and Paul had a sauna/steam bath.  My masseuse was a tall strong Indian man with great hands and the massage was good and helped to ease the tensions of the last few days. Almost as good as cocktails:

And the drama continued when the toilet flooded and there was no hot water in the shower. A plumber and another 4 staff were on hand to fix it while we went to dinner.  A special  Mauritian night which meant we had to pay (not included in the all inclusive) but the seafood was great and there was entertainment:

I cant work out how to put videos in the blog but maybe tomorrow.  We go back to our room which is a fair way away and all the plumbing appears fixed.

Another day in paradise tomorrow.