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30 juin 2017

Week-end à Maurice - J2

Mon frère et moi prenons la route pour découvrir les régions du sud en passant par Grand Bassin, le lac sacré de Ganga Talao et ses temples hindous où l'on peut voir des singes macaques qui viennent chaparder les offrandes aux différents dieux, notamment les bananes!


 Mais ce que je n'ai pas dit dans l'article précédent, c'est qu'en voulant faire demi-tour sur un parking la veille, j'ai heurté une dalle de trottoir, verticale à un petit muret en face moi. Mon frère me disait bien qu'il y avait un muret devant: je le voyais à 1. 50 m en effet et pensais avoir toute la place pour ma manœuvre mais il ne me parlait pas du muret mais de la dalle que je ne voyais pas! Le choc ne fut pas bien important et nous n'avons rien vu en vérifiant l'avant de la voiture.
Donc le lendemain, nous visitons le temple - dans district de Savanne, niché dans un ancien cratère de volcan - après avoir garé la voiture dans une pente à proximité. Un temps pourri, de pluies plus ou moins soutenues et à ne pas mettre un macaque dehors (je n'en ai aperçu qu'un sur les fils électriques)! Patience, la suite arrive!!

With my brother we set out to discover the Southern areas of the island via Grand Bassin, the sacred lake of Ganga Talao and its Indian temples where we can normally see macaque monkeys; they come in to steal the offerings to the various gods, in particular the bananas!
But what I did not say in the previous post it is that wanting to operate a U-turn on a parking lot the day before, I struck a sharp paving stone vertical to a small low wall. My brother was telling me that there was a low wall in front of us: I could see it 1. 50 m away indeed and thought I had plenty of space to manoeuvrer but he was not speaking of the wall I could see but of the slab I could not see!

The shock was not very important and we saw nothing as we checked the front of the car. We then visited the temple the next day having parked the car in a slope nearby. Foul weather, with on and off rains and no macaque to be seen except one the electric wires - stay put for the end of the story!!



Offrandes au dieu représenté par le taureau de pierre afin d'avoir sa bénédiction pour entrer dans le temple:

Offerings to the god represented by the stone bull to have his permission te enter the temple:



Lakshmi

Hindu Goddess of wealth, love, prosperity

Déesse indoue de la richesse, de l'amour et de la prospérité



Sarasvati 

Goddess of arts, music and knowledge.

La déesse des arts, de la musique et et de la connaissance.



Ganesh

Remover of obstacles, patron of arts and sciences and deva of intellect and wisdom.

 Il supprime les obstacles; il est aussi le dieu de la sagesse, de l’intelligence, de l’éducation et de la prudence, le patron des écoles et du savoir.



Sai baba of Shirdi

Indian spiritual leader who is regarded by his devotees as a saint, a fakir, a satguru and an incarnation (avatar) of God.

Leader spirituel, guru indien, fakir et yogi, considéré comme l'incarnation (avatar) de Dieu.



 Hanuman

One of the central characters in the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, Hanuman was an incarnation of Lord Shiva and is considered to be an exemplification of strength, devotion, and perseverance. 

Fils de Pavana, le dieu du vent et de la déesse Anjanâ, Hanuman a l'apparence d'un singe; il est l'exemple parfait de la force, la dévotion et la persévérance.




Shiva

is the "destroyer and transformer", the Supreme being who creates, protects and transforms the universe.

 Il est le "destructeur et transformateur", l'Etre suprême qui crée, protège et transforme l'univers.



1h30 plus tard nous retournons à la voiture... consternation: elle a fuité toute son huile! Coup fil au loueur qui dit que nous devons aller faire une déclaration à la Police pour l'assurance. Adorables, ils ne savaient pas trop comment s'y prendre, d'autant que l'incident avait eu lieu la veille dans un autre district!! 2 heures passent - après avoir bavardé avec eux et, pour passer le temps, j'ai photographié la "moinaille" culottée qui entrait et sortait des bureaux comme s'ils étaient chez eux...


1:30 am later we turn to the car ... consternation: it had leaked all of its oil! A phone call to the car-renter says we must go back to the Police station to make a declaration for the insurance. Adorable, they did not really know how to go about it, especially that as the incident had taken place the day before in another district!! 2 hours go by, chatting with them and, to pass the time, having photographed the sparrows flying in and out their offices as if they were at their home...
 



... mais qui faisaient grise mine dehors à l'image du temps.

But looking quite miserable outside, matching the weather!




Croyant en avoir fini, nous reprenons la route en suivant le loueur pour qu'il nous remette un autre véhicule. Un coup de fil l'arrête en bordure de la route 20 minutes plus tard: il fallait retourner au poste pour que je souffle dans "le ballon"... 24h00 après les faits!! MDR!! Oui mais ils n'avaient pas l'éthylotest qu'ils ont dû faire venir de Curepipe... à 1/2 d'heure du commissariat! Une vraie rigolade, heureusement qu'il faisait mauvais et que nous n'avons pas eu de regrets côté photo!
Finalement nous y avons passé plus de 4 heures!
Nous récupérons la nouvelle bagnole et décidons de rentrer à la pointe de Flacq. En route, visite rapide d'un autre temple, très "kitch" et très coloré, histoire de faire quelques clics:

Believing we were done, we take the road and follow our renter so that he'd give us the new vehicle. A phone call stops him 20 minutes later: we had to back, I was to blow into an ethylolest 24 hours after the facts!! LOL!! Sure but they had no kit available so they had to get it from Curepipe about half an hour from our Police station! A real laugh, fortunately the weather was still drab and we had no regrets photowise! Finally, over 4 hours later, we get the new car and head back to pointe de Flacq. En route we stop to take pics of another hindu temple:






Une masure dans un patelin:

Hovel in a village:
 



Le ciel s'est dégagé entre temps et les paysages se dévoilent:

The clouds finally break up and lovely landscapes unveil:



 Devant la maison de nos cousins, la plage nous attends:

In front of our cousins' house the beach awaits us:




Un pêcheur avec son poulpe passe et se retourne, le temps d'un clic!

A fisherman goes by with his catch: an octopus:



Prochain article: la mangouste surprise et plus!
Next post: a surprise mongoose and more!

15 commentaires:

  1. je vais zapper la mangouste je crains le pire !
    que d'aventure avec la voiture...
    beau reportage instructif.

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  2. Two things are amazing about this, Noushka - your bizarre sequence with the car, and the fact that your post resembles tourism rather than wild life! I don't think you have ever posted so many pictures of buildings, temples, people.......Glad everything turned out well in the end. Have a great weekend. David xo

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    Réponses
    1. Well I though someone would notice these 2 facts and it had to you! LOL!
      So to answer your question, my blog is also my note book too as well as a showcase for my wildlife and travel pics.
      And secondly, that day 2 was quite memorable and I didn't have an opportunity at fauna photos but in the next post, I'll ctach up ;-)
      Thanks for your fun comment, David!

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  3. Hoi Noushka.

    What a great look you give of all this beautiful.
    Beautiful colored temples.

    Groettie from Patricia.

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  4. Merci pour ton aide Noushka , je suis en vacances mais à mon retour je vais voir avec ma protection juridique ce que je vais faire
    Quelle aventure à Maurice MDR des images magnifiques comme toujours

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  5. David beat me to it, his words are almost exactly what I was going to say. A very unusual post for you but also extremely interesting. Have a great weekend, warm hugs Diane

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  6. Hi Noushka and what a different but very interesting post to usual, some wonderful images of the Hindu Gods. Unfortunate with the car, can happen to any of us. What a difference at the end when the sun appears. All the best, John

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  7. Dearest Noushka,
    So glad that you were not all by yourself but with your brother; facing such difficulties!
    What a nasty surprise indeed and than the lengthy way of handling things in Mauritius.
    But you managed to share some very exotic photos with all of us.
    Sending you hugs for a relaxed weekend.
    Mariette

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  8. Bellisimo ese mundo, tan lejano, que nos acercas con tus imagenes...

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  9. Hi Noushka,
    The second day you will not forget easily. If they speak French in Mauritius just like in Madagascar you were lucky. When you had to explain the problem in English and they didn't speak this language it would have been a bigger problem I guess. With the experience you describe you at least have a story to tell :-D."LOL"
    The statues and buildings remind me of India. Hindouism clearly is an important religion at the island. Although the weather wasn't bright your pictures are great again. And sparrows feel everywhere at home it seems.
    Greetings, Kees

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  10. Hi, Noushka. Your experiences with the car, and all that followed, are almost bizarre enough to base a comedy movie on, although I suspect that there was nothing to laugh about at the time!

    I recently commented about your excellent landscape photography skills. I now have to suggest that you offer your services to travel brochure companies. ;-D

    It has also made me smile that your only wildlife images are of the humble sparrows.

    Lindsay and I were both amused by the temple that appears to have an ornate tea-pot on its roof!

    With my very best wishes - - - Richard

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  11. Bonsoir Noushka
    Un vrai weekend d'aventures. J'aime bien l'environnement hindou avec tous ces temples colorés et ces nombreux dieux. Le monothéisme, c'était bien avant, avant.....
    Bon weekend

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  12. tu parles d'une aventure !!! drôle mais quand même quel perte de temps !!

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  13. Another striking post, Noushka! I enjoyed the photos in the muted grey mist. The soft background was a perfect foil to the colorful gods, goddesses, and temples. It was really interesting to see the faces of the people making offerings to the stone bull. Loved the little sparrows waiting out the weather. I'm sorry that you had to deal with car troubles. I'm glad your brother and you were okay, but at least you were inconvenienced during poor weather. Safe travels, my friend!

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THANK YOU for your kind words!
Considering the "Translators" do not translate properly, I WRITE ALSO IN ENGLISH FOR MY FOLLOWERS' COMFORT...

PLEASE RETURN THE FAVOR:
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS IN ENGLISH or SPANISH, many thanks...
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