The Other Side of Paradise

So Mr. Pardon has decided to continue English lessons with me until I leave on November 18. This is awesome for many reasons, especially the unexpected money. (Yay now I can afford to buy my ticket back again!) It is slightly un-awesome, because I had to cancel my driving lessons, and my French is beginning to suffer now that I spend all day speaking English. I barely even have time to do my French homework for my class on Thursdays. Also...I was kind of running out of creative ways for us to learn English, and the last few days have literally almost bored BOTH of us to death. After yesterday's lesson, I told Mr. Pardon that we have to wake up and do something new. I suggested that for our next lesson, he should take me somewhere very "Reunion" and explain to me in English something about the culture or history.

We went on our first adventure today in St. Denis, visiting two Cathedrals and walking around the city running errands. As we discussed the city, I realized that I have never actually shared with my family and friends back home the "other side" of this Island. I post a billion pictures of beautiful beaches, sunsets, mountain hikes, and dense, story-book forests...but the every day life here is something I've never really shared. It's not beautiful. And because of that, it is...

Dodo is the official beer of Reunion-brewed here in St. Denis.

Cow parking is next to car parking.

In front of the beach.

Some apartments.

The street behind the church.

People live/work here. 

Abandoned House in the middle of to two newer homes. 

 Abandoned house next to a newly renovated church.

This is a school. And not an abandoned one either!

The streets of St. Denis

It's a strange juxtaposition. The graffiti and the old ruined buildings make you think you're in a dangerous area. But it's not like that here. Almost everything is covered in graffiti, and most of it is considered art. The old abandoned buildings (almost every other house) for whatever reason are never torn down, and instead they stand all disheveled next to "newer" structures (which are still maybe 30 years old). Things are just old here. There is no rush to paint everything all white and pretty again. Here, buildings wear their histories like scars they are proud of.

Reunion is very unique. The cascades, the mountains, the ocean water so clear you can see 60 feet below are definitely a huge part of life here. But Reunion has another face, and that is daily life in the villages. I think many Americans would immediately write the place off as poor and dirty, admittedly as I did when I first arrived. But if you get to know some of the history, you can see beauty in the mess, antiquity in the oldness, and a very rich culture that runs deep. At one point, the American in me dreamed of getting my hands on some government funds, tearing down all the old stuff and rebuilding St. Denis into something beautiful and new, like a Miami or a Key West. But to do that would be to erase years and years of people and stories. And I believe that is worth so much more than the neon lights of department stores and the American version of perfection.