Tales of Tyre-racing, Makis and M'zungus.

30 septembre 2011

The Dark Side of Mayotte

Most of the time, Mayotte is postcard-pretty and the people are lovely. But it isn't "home" yet. It’s not that I don’t like coconut trees and papaya fruit, having the lagoon just next door and going to school on a scooter. I do. But some things take a...

Posté par calligraphy à 05:05 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, house, lagoon, water, dirty, electricity, postcard, pretty

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29 septembre 2011

He runs... he strikes !

It was the school cross-country race today. All teachers and staff had to be present, even those on their day off, which happened to be my case. We were sent into the undergrowth to cheer the students on and to give out water and sugar where necessary....

Posté par calligraphy à 02:12 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, food, girl, mzungu, school, teacher, boy, colour, country, cross, expensive, petrol, price, salary

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28 septembre 2011

Never ask a question if you don't want to know the answer.

Emily and the Car Saga 20th August. Search for car and scooter on used car newspapers and specialist garages. 23rd August. Find white 3-door air-conditioned 206 HDI through newspaper. Visit car two blocks away, test-drive car, the odd funny noise and...

Posté par calligraphy à 04:14 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, 125, 206, battery, car, emily, five minutes, garage, light, newspaper, scooter, tyres

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27 septembre 2011

Whales

I went on a “whale safari” with a few colleagues last week. There are often whales and dolphins in the lagoon, but not this day, so we went right out of the lagoon and up to the north of the island. The trip itself took about an hour and a half by reinforced...

Posté par calligraphy à 10:20 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: indian ocean, island, mayotte, colleague, jaws, lagoon, safari, splash, water, whale

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26 septembre 2011

Birds and Beasts

The first animals we saw upon getting out of the plane were zebus. Cow-like four-legged creatures with a bump on the back of their neck where they store water and fat for later. They stared at us, we stared at them and wondered where on earth we had ended...

Posté par calligraphy à 10:43 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: island, mayotte, flat, banana, bat, gecko, hotel, margouillat, roussette, zebu

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25 septembre 2011

Dress codes

At the airport The traditional dress here is called a salouva, and they have a turban on their head, known as a kishali, often just worn as a scarf over the head. It’s all very colourful, though probably not terribly practical. Salouvas are made from...

Posté par calligraphy à 10:30 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: mayotte, airport, ceremony, clothes, dress, girl, heat, kishali, ladies, mbiwi, salouva, scarf, skirt, t-shirt, women, wrap

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25 septembre 2011

Cooking

What happened when we went to the market ! Tomatoes, coconuts, green bananas, peppers, yellow bananas, papayas, cassavas. After having trailed as many times as humanly possible round the two local supermarkets – one of which is a large one with pretty...

Posté par calligraphy à 10:02 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: banana, breadfruit, cassava, food, fruit, glue, green, jackfruit, latex, papaya, pepper, slices, tomato, vegetable, yellow

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