Mauritius for one day

Spent a day there between South Africa and India - here are some highlights:

Went to an SOS Children's Village. What's cool about it is that there are 8-10 children in different houses with a house mother. They cook meals together, have house chores, and all the houses are within a little "village" (the one we visited was 7 houses with a courtyard in the middle for playing). There were 97 kids there, all for many different reasons. There are a few social workers assigned to their cases, to help integrate them, and the community is set up to help them adjust to "real" life outside of the village, so they can feel ready to leave when they turn 18. The kids were a pleasure, and although we didn't speak the same language, we had fun taking pictures, playing games, and playing on the playground!

hehe - they tied thread around flies - free entertainment!

After that a few of us checked out downtown for a few minutes (it was a Sunday so there wasn't much going on) and decided to go to the beach for an hour. I was so happy to jump in the Indian Ocean that I swam in my clothes. It was warm, clear, and very salty which made it easy to float. There was a lot of coral, and soft white sand. Very beautiful beaches there!!