Spencer at Sea: The Dodo prevails long after extinction

I arrived in Mauritius on October 14th for two days. I visited the Shree Vishnu Temple where the gentleman gave me a tour of the temple and explained all of the God & Goddess shrines. I participated in the service and learned about several Hindu traditions & rituals. Hinduism is popular there because 80% of Mauritians are Hindu. All of the souvenirs are Dodo Birds even though they went extinct in the mid 1600s after British Colonization. From t-shirts, to key chains, to postcards, everything is about the Dodo Bird. After visiting the market I returned and got ready to go out for Tuyeng's 21st birthday! We had dinner on the harbor front where I had kalamari. After enjoying drinks and the weather we went to the casino which turned out to be a men's club so we left and ended up going bar hopping and dancing until heading back to the ship via water taxi. We had to take water taxis, really run-down boats that the locals drive, from the ship to the actual harbor since we were at the industrial end but it was fun.

The second day, Ali & I went to a cafe on the water and bought real coffee since the ship's coffee is syrup mixed with hot water. We then went to the international convention center which holds large Bollywood events, political conferences, and car shows. The previous night was a 1000 person wedding so they were still tearing that event down. The convention center was massive and the tour was led by the sales executive since the general manager, Kalaish had a last minute meeting (I met him last January at Cornell). Ali & I then returned to the harbor and went to the craft market and I got a calzone and martini for lunch before boarding the ship for Asia.