Parapente

PARASAILING IS THE BOMB!! This was the best weekend ever. Saturday morning we woke up early to take the Car Jaune two hours south to St-Leu on the West Coast. Ten of us then mounted the bus to take us to the top of the hills overlooking the sea and got mentally prepared to jump off the cliff with nothing but a parasail, a guide telling us to "run!", and a camera secured to the wrist to document the event.

I was a bit nervous (not scared, but rather that excited twinge in my stomach) before taking off, but once my harness was on and I saw the wind fill the sails of the parapente, I was ready. Run, run run, wait... I'm already in the air... flying, gliding, so peaceful.

We sailed up into some very low clouds, back down, did loops over a verdant canyon, saw paille en queue (a very graceful white bird with a long straw-like tail), and glided out over the lagoon to get a look at the coral reef. Before my pilot landed us safely on the beach he let me take the controls for a minute or two. Tee hee.

Kayak à Cascade Niagra

Saturday my housemates and I rented kayaks and paddled upstream to the lovely Cascade Niagra (Niagra Falls... not so much...). It was quite a journey as there were many shallow parts- too shallow to paddle so we had to get in and out of our boats a lot in order to drag them through the stream. There were parts, however, that had some sneaky rapids. I have never fallen out of a canoe/kayak in my life, but I managed to fall out THREE, yes 3, times. Not so much embarrassing as ridiculous. The third time was a bit scarry as I was pinned under my kayak by a fallen bamboo branch and the suction of the depression in the kayak kept me from escaping. All's well that ends well, but it was scarry. I have some nice bruises to show as battle wounds. Anne, you would be impressed.

Beachin It

As with most landscapes and sunsets, photos can rarely capture the actual beauty of what was experienced. Despite this, here is a sunset at Saint-Gilles and a view of the beach at Roches Noires.

Weekly Dinner

My housemate Dane had the brilliant suggestions of eating together once a week like a family. We decided that we would each have a partner (yea for the buddy system) and cook for the rest of the house on our specified day. We have done this three times so far and it is definitely comething that we all look forward to. It is our version of like Soup Night and/or Supper Club if you know what they are. Week one was Tortilla Espanola, week 2 cheese fondue and chocolate fondue with fruit, last week was me and Sara who made spinach mousse (possibly my favorite dish ever), my Gramma Myers' amazing shrimp primavera, and the pièce de la résistance was a strawberry-kiwi tart with cinnamon. YUM. Cooking the spinach mousse proved to be a bit of a challenge as they sell neither spinach nor cream of chicken soup here (or breadcrumbs now that i think about it), so we got creative. It turned out to be delicious, to my extreme relief. The pasta was good but not as good as when Gramma makes it.

Pic Adam

My housemate Sara and I needed a hike, so we found a way to get to a good spot via public transportation (not an easy task) and hiked the very vertical Pic Adam. A short and intense 'randonnée,' when clear the views are spectacular.

Dipavali

Dipavali is the Indian/Tamul celebration of light and takes place every October. It is a fabulous parade of singing, music, dancing, street plays, floats, fire, offereings, and smiles. The colors and clothing present were magnificent! Here are a few shots from the parade I went to in Saint André.

Le Halloween

The French do not celebrate Halloween- in fact it is almost uniquely an American celebration. I learned a lot about the holiday's origins this year because I had to present on it to some of my classes. Most of you probably already know that it began as a precursor to All Saint's Day (All Hallow's Eve mutating into Halloween). I guess at some point the trick-or-treating bit began that people baked small current cakes and offered them outside of their homes on All Hallow's Eve to appease the returning spirits, both good and bad. As time sent on folks actually took these cakes around the villages before shutting themselves in at night, waiting for the spirits of the dead to pass through. My guess is they did not sort their cakes into piles according to what kind they received and then tried to trade the bad cakes (smarties and bit-o-honeys) for the good cakes (almond joy and babyruth) with their siblings.

Halloween for us turned into a party on my birthday to which 60+ people showed up. It was rockin'. I was the anti-Chikungunya, but I was in good company with a mosquito, Chikungunya, la Route Littoral, and the Car Jaune. There were other good costumes too. No Jackfruit.

La Route Littoral

Here is the main highway that lines the northern and western coasts of Réunion. La Route Littoral is known for its embouteillages (horrendous traffic jams) and its falling rocks. So many rocks fall every day/week/month/year that the route is often (at least once per week and recently every Sunday) closed, causing these awful embouteillages. Here are some shots of the repair work they have put in place to help keep rocks from killing citizens. Jonathan was La Route Littoral for our Halloween party, hilarious.