High Fructose Corn Syrup

We'll have absolutely none of that garbage here in Mauritius. Only the real deal for Mauritians.

I tried asking the locals if any of the soda here had high fructose corn syrup (aka maize syrup for my UK viewers) in it. They looked at me with blank stares. They had no idea what I was talking about.

I guess that is one benefit of basing your economy off of sugarcane for a few centuries.

But seriously the soda here is of a fine vintage. I'm not sure if it is the sugar or something special with the water. Also, it is often served in the thick, old school glass bottles of yesteryear, just like my dad likes:

Buuuuuuuuugs!

One thing that has taken some getting used to around here in Mauritius is the prevalence of bugs.

Check this out. As far as insects go, a typical day for me in Mauritius goes as follows:


6:30 am - wake up and see about 7 ants crawling on the wall about 1 foot from my head.
6:35 am - go talk to cait on skype and get a mosquito bite or two
7:10 am - swat a bug or two off of my towel before taking a shower
7:45 am - eat breakfast with some ant crawling across the table
8:40 am - get to work. ants crawling on my desk... sometimes in my laptop (the nerve!).

And so on... you get the point; there are a lot of bugs around. Even as I write this post a couple bugs flew into the screen.

It's strange because even with all of the bugs there seems to be no appetite for things like screen doors or screens on windows. Relative to Mauritian buildings, buildings in the USA are seem like they're air tight and very sealed off from the outside world.

A Trip to the Grocery Store

Just got back from a trip to King Savers, the grocery store that is about a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Not a very eventful trip but since I forgot to ask for a bag to carry my stuff back in I had to carry it all by hand.

I just picked up the essentials, you know beer (5 different types of Mauritian brewed beer including Blue Marlin, Phoenix, Phoenix Fresh - Orange, Phoenix Fresh - Lemon, and Stella), candy, ice cream, and of course garlic, catcus and gergir scented shampoo (it smells better than it sounds even though I have no idea what gergir is).

New Roommate!

Seems like I have a new roommate here in Mauritius. His name is Louis and he is a gecko that I've spotted several times since moving into my hotel in Mauritius.



















I'm pretty sure Louis and I are the third best roommate combination of all time behind the top 2 roommate combinations of all time:

1. my wife and me
2. me and my undergrad roommate, Brian

Before you try to argue this point ask yourself whether any roommate you know of ever ate bugs in your apartment to that you didn't have to get rid of them yourself. No? Didn't think so.

Me and Louis: #3