Esso (again)

Yet another interesting post. Last time I said they use 7/7 here... Well now I found another station with 24/24h. Does this mean 24 hours 7 days a week? I don't know. It's very interesting how they are both Esso stations but they use different advertising methods for their hours of operation.

Riverwalk

This is black river... It is where the Gorges trail ends, about 10 km from the start. It was refreshing and painful at the same time; the cold water felt nice on the hot feet, but the rocks on the riverbed were very very uncomfortable to step on. I would have left my shoes on, but then it's quite a battle to dry them properly!!

Gorges

This was during my second outing in Mauritius. We went to Gorges which is a hiking trail in the mountains. From left to right there's Swaley from IT, Amelia, Nubia and Nadine the accountant. All the trees on the sides are Guava; there is yellow and red. The yellow ones are sweet and the red are sour. People collect bags of them to make jam.

Golfer

David has a good short game but is afraid of using woods! We went out to play with his instructor and he used his 3 wood... He was striking the ball solid! The course is at Trou Aux Biches, which is relatively close to Grand Bay; it's only 9 holes, but it's very nice for a quick play. It is well kept.

Varma

Varma is one of the IT geniuses that this company. He's the one who usually takes me to Pakistan, which is a bakery/cafeteria that is open late at night.

Kunal

Kunal is a.k.a Bob Smith. The guy with the hand behind my head is Vic from First Funds, another company that runs a campaign with Answer Plus.

Cesar

Cesar is the driver who takes me home every night at 3am.

Sonia

Sonia takes care of all of the call recordings for the TX Direct agents... Quite a handful!

Liina

a.k.a Amy Stone

Kevila

Her calling name is Karen Jones but people call her Vanessa. However her real name is Kevila... Interesting mix.

Kiran

a.k.a Jordan Wakefield

Rebecca Williams

Marie Luce & Shifa

The one with the pizza is Marie Luce or Mary Walker for phone purposes. Shifa (Lea Johnson) is closing her eyes as usual!

Jeyna & Laxmi

Jeyna is Jeyna Winters... Laxmi is a.k.a Shelly Smith

Shifa

a.k.a Lea Johnson

Asha

a.k.a June Miller

The Staff

Here is most of our staff. Actually in the picture we are only missing Amy. From left to right there is: Bob, Rebecca, Andres, Bernie, Karen, Sonia, Lea, June, Shelly, Sam, Jordan, Jeyna and Thomas. The one kneeling down is Mary. Excellent work team!

Esso

You might wonder why I post a picture of an empty gas station... Well, I found it interesting that they say "Open 7/7" here. The station was closed as you can see; it was a Sunday at around 6pm. 7/7 means open 7 days a week, but definitely not the 24 hours!

Me @ Rochester Falls

Rochester Falls

For 25 rupees (about $1) two little kids will perform a synchronized dive from the top of this water falls! It was a bit late when we went there, everyone was gone so we didn't get to see the kids diving, and it's also the reason this picture didn't come out very well. However, this place is appearently very crowed during the day, especially on a Sunday; I guess it's a sort of priviledge to see the falls in their natural state without human interaction.

Fishing Boats

This is the south coast of the island; the Indian Ocean... I can't remember the exact place where I took this photo, but I know it's in the south. These little boats are used for fishing, they're anchored all around the coasts.

The Island

I've been talking about the island in many posts, so I thought I'd post a map of the country for you to have a clearer idea of how it is. As I said before, I live in Grand Bay which is in the north, and the office is in Port Louis.

Shyam

This is Shyam, IT Manager as well as Director. Very very nice guy, always willing to help. He is very savvy about many things; he is the one who is helping my find a proper car (they're exceedingly expensive here!).

Sandy & Kevin

This is Sandy, the other sister I mentioned before. Next to her is Kevin who works in the IT department. The picture was taken at a restaurant (can't remember the name) on top of a mountain during my first outing in Mauritius. Most of us had wild boar and chicken liver, typical Mauritian dishes.

The Sisters

Shakela and Cavita are two of three sisters I met in Mauritius; the other one is Sandy. There is a fourth sister, Amita, whom I have heard of but not yet met. They have Mauritian parents but were raised in England and currently reside there. Shakela and Sandy work in the Answer Plus office in London, while Cavita is a costume designer for theater and films. Genuinely nice women.

Sugar Cane

As you can see on both sides of this picture, there is sugar cane EVERYWHERE in this island! It's the main industry of the country. I took this picture while I was on the car going to work... You might also notice they drive on the right side here, like in England and Japan.

Pizza n Pasta

David is the owner of this place, and really they have the best Italian food in Mauritius! It's a rather interesting place this restaurant... It has a sort of petting zoo with goats, rabbits, ducks, peacocks and other ornamental animals. It's a great place to sit down and talk over nice food... Pascal, the manager, just got married this week to the bar tender Nathalie; best wishes!

Colleagues

David and Amelia. He is the director of Answer Plus, the place where I'm working currently. She is the employee manager here. Very nice people! David is from England and Amelia is a local.

Bedroom

Kitchen

Bathroom

Livingroom

New Home

This is the view from my balcony in Mauritius. It's in Grand Bay which is a district in the north of the island. Everything is really nice there, I have everything I need within walking distance: supermarket, bank, gym... The office is about 30 minutes away by car. I guess the island is not big in itself but once you're here everything appears to be so far, you have drive and drive; it seems infinite sometimes. Anyway, I love the place and feel very at ease here.

Yes Sir!

Bernie Cavanaugh... the father of my friend Kelly and my new boss. He came with me all the way to Mauritius to set everything up and train for a while as well.

The Event

Horse racing is big in this island. It's the sporting event of Saturdays, locals go crazy about it! The bookies make quite a bit of money out the infinite bets.

The First One

This was the sunrise over Mauritius from the second floor of the Boeing 747-400, flight BA 123 that brought me here. Saturday April 30th 2005, about 06:00 and just getting ready for landing.