Monday, October 13, 2008

Delo, partou, partou!!!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Davinia has been and gone, and I think its safe to say that the Creole spirit took a hold of her, gave her a good shake and left her wanton. Not to say that her stint here wasn't fraught with its fair share of glitches, one of the most memorable being the household flood that greeted us one Friday morning a week or so back.

Funnily enough, there is a severe water shortage in the Seychelles, the result of which is that the water is turned off at 6pm and resumes at 6am. On the Friday morning in question, we'd had a booze fuelled night before. As usual, I had to wake up early to go and do my mosquito thing with Simon and the team. Upon being roused by my alarm I spotted a crisp, red, 100 rupee note floating across the body of water that had filled our room. This was no mini 'oops I've left my bath on and theres a wee puddle kind of flood', you know the sh*ts hit the fan when stuff is floating. We had all our electricals, phones, dissertation material, clothes, you name it floating or immersed in water. The look on Davinias face when I woke her up suddenly was priceless - she it was slightly crazed and wide eyed. It was hilarious. When I actually broke the news that there was a flood she froze and then proceeded to do a root cause analysis of how it happened.

Im no emergency disaster relief expert but my strategy to just 'get the water out' seemed quite logical to me. I did wonder what planet she was on when she suggested 'sorting things out' before my cousin Claude woke up, considering the whole flat was submerged in a good few inches of water.

On the Sunday after the flood crisis we had a family party for Davinias' birthday. It was quite fun indeed. The DJ's selection of 'pti man' music didn't go down well with the old folks, but once he wacked on some sega (traditional music) it was like a scene from that film 'cocoon'. The old timers got a new lease of life. Even the tee totallers within the family threw caution to the wind and were knocking back punch and seybrew :-) We danced loads and finally had to call it a day when it got a bit later and a mysterious beam of light shone danced from face to face. It was Titante. Apart from wanting to know who was still there and doing what of course, she also suggested it was time to call it a day.

The day before Davinias departure we took a trip to La Digue, one of the inner islands. It has a totally different feel to Mahe, with its small population of 3000 and travel mostly restricted to oxcart and bicycle, the mini isle oozes tranquility. It also has some of the most stunning landscape. We stayed with family friends who typically of the seychellois were very hospitable. Our host Ronny made a barbecue from scratch, before chucking on some 'bourzwa', and making chicken, octopus curry, various chutneys and salads. It was lovely. Within Seychellois culture, the men learn to cook from a young age, and cook bloody well. It is one of the most appealing facets of the lifestyle here. I do wonder how I'm going to cope when I go back to the UK, I might actually pay attention when my mum cooks for once and try to learn how to cook the staples, Kari coco, pwason griye and la dob...



A small mishap with tickets led to us being stranded on the island, and with Davinias flight the next day, we were a tad bit distressed. My friend Ronny was going to take us over to another island with his boat, but luckily we managed to hitch a ride on the 'Praslin Dolphin' a cargo boat destined for Mahe. It turned out to be a blessing. We had great seats aboard the top deck and a view to die for. The sea was calm as we sailed while the sun was setting. The crew were very kind, giving us sugar cane and guava to munch on (Davinia ate the sugar cane like a bush girl from the amazon but it was a nightmare for me so had to chuck it in the sea when I thought the captain wasnt looking).

Just a quick update on my doggy Bush: - We had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks back when he was very poorly. We'd just returned form my cousin Ruths birthday and she had decided to escort us the 5 metres from her house to ours so that she could give Titante some cake. We were greeted by Bush looking lacklustre and weak, and he seemed to be struggling to breathe. Ruth works for the SSPCA (kind of the like the RSPCA) so she is used to assisting with vet like duties. Upon seeing little Bushie distressed I whimpered 'Ruth do something!' and on cue, Ruth does her thing and tends to Bush, force feeding him salt water then giving him sugars, which promptly made him regurgitate something I don't ever wish to recall in my memory again. He's back to his normal self and stinks like hell but we're all happy. I can't help but tickle his tummy and shake his little paw when I see him. Today he said good morning (with his tail) and I even didnt mind the jumping on me and licking of my legs. I think I'm converted! (to cute little dogs, not the feral beast with scary gnasher types...

It's my last day here, and I'm running around like mad (well picking up the phone every so often and asking for favours) trying to get my last bits of data. For me this jaunt to the motherland is only the beginning. I've had a wonderful time, made some true friends and have fallen in love with my liquorice allsort family, warts and all. Everyone tells me they think I'll be back soon. I think they may be right. In the meanwhile, look out for my forthcoming peer-reviewed paper on the status of Aedes albopictus within Seychelles, it should be published in the Lancet next year. NOT!

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