Update: I’m still busy training with my new guide dog in Johannesburg. Here is another of my Mauritian experiences while I’m away from my desk. I hope you enjoy reading it!
After visiting the Embarkation Museum, our guide took us on a walking tour of the Mauritian capital city, Port Louis.
As we walked from the museum to our first official stop on the tour we happened to walk past a spice shop. My husband could obviously see the alluring array of spices and herbs outside the shop enticing people to come and buy. While I couldn’t see them, I could certainly smell them!
Almost automatically we stopped for a quick look. And discovered what turned out to be a store filled with many of our favourite flavours of food. I was reminded of the spice shop we discovered in Dubai that I mention often when sharing my travel adventures with audiences. As on that occasion I was surrounded by scents that brought colours to my mind – green, gold, deep red and orange.
Our guide didn’t seem to mind our minor detour and was happy to serve as translator between our English and scattered French when conversing with the store owner. In turn, the store owner was quite happy for us to browse the contents of his compact space that was crammed with spices of every kind. He was also unperturbed about us sampling the spices which we were keen to do, going so far as to open a sealed packet of delicious cardamon for me to taste.
In turn we repaid his generosity by purchasing far more spices than we would need in the remainder of our time in Mauritius. I mean, there’s only so much cooking you can do in two weeks, isn’t there? But we knew we would find a way to transport what was left when we returned home to Cape Town. So, we splurged and bought everything that caught our fancy.
And, after our delightful sojourn at the spice shop, we were ready to take on the food tour and entered Port Louis’s Chinatown for some delicious treats. More on that next time!
