Grand Boucan

Every year in June, Reunion Island has a huge Mardi-Gras like party called Le Grand Boucan. No one seems to know why this party exists, but apparently it's the biggest party Reunion has to offer. As I was in the US this time last year, I had no idea what to expect. Usually when Reunion does big parties I try to stay away...can you imagine the traffic/parking/crowd chaos on an island the size of a large city with one major road and eight hundred thousand cars? Luckily for us, Grand Boucan happens to be just outside our apartment...granting us front row, crowd-free access to the show. So obviously, we threw a small VIP masquerade party. 

All weekend, carnival rides, snack stands and construction workers invaded our tiny little street, preparing for the arrival of about 10,000 people. The parade is the first official event of the day...and this year, the theme was "Extra-Terrestrial."

The parade is lead by a giant float called the Dodo, which they burn on the beach at the end of the night. This year, this lucky guy was King Dodo. 

Richard had been sick since Friday, and I'm relatively claustrophobic, so we opted to hang out chez nous and not descend into the throng of thousands. Our friends arrived to join us around six. 

We snacked, drank and laughed for a couple hours. I kind of recently swore off alcohol after feeling like crap the morning after having a mere two glasses of wine with our wasp dinner. I figured I'm getting old and needed a detox! But I couldn't pass up Alien Super Party atmosphere, so Richard made me a rum punch...

Then we all ventured into the madness and made our way over to the ocean for the burning of the Dodo. We snuck over to the beach next to where the action was in order to avoid the crazy mass of people...but it turned out to be super windy there, the show was a half hour late, and a freezing Elena and I were ready to run back home...when...

...this amazing firework show started, and I was so happy we stayed. I think this is the closest I'm going to get to the 4th of July this year ;-) 

On the walk back, I started to feel horribly sick, so I stopped back at the apartment with Richard and by the time he got back out to the group, they had been flung somewhere out in the current of partying drunk people. I hope they had a little fun!! 

I, on the other hand, spent the night going from cold to hot with constant nightmares running through my sleeping little brain. Thankfully, our gracious house guests cleaned up the party for me this morning, and I was able to reschedule my immigration appointment for tomorrow. Also on the bright side, staying in bed has given me lots of time to catch up on my pinteresting and, of course, to write this blog. I can't decide if Richard's germs are to blame or if I really need to give up alcohol permanently...

Now it's time for some chicken noodle soup! I wish my Charlie dog was here to snuggle with me!!! 

Gypsy Nights and Great Friends

Things have been changing. 

It all started about a month ago when suddenly I stumbled upon two beautiful, intelligent and interesting girlfriends who live close!! I didn't even realize how much having friends close by would change my entire outlook on life.

Elena is a Russian photographer and model who I had heard of (and wanted to meet) since my first month in La Reunion. Lucky for me, she was looking for a blond girl to do a shoot on the beach, and a mutual friend set us up. We immediately clicked, and since the beach shoot, we started working out on weekdays. Every time I leave her house after a work out, I feel completely refreshed.

I found Rachelle, my Utah lawyer friend, online on some ex-patriot page (I was desperately trying to find other native English speakers here to be my friend!) We meet once a week for coffee to discuss politics, books, and how we can become rich on Reunion Island with our English. We just recently joined a dance/yoga/hippie class on Saturday mornings, which is quite possibly one of the highlights of my week! I was especially happy to have Rachelle with me when the dance instructor told everyone (in English) to use our "desire fingers." I think we cried in silent laughter for the next ten minutes, then we mutually agreed never to point our "desire fingers" (?!?!?!?) at each other...

The best thing is that both of my beautiful new friends have schedules that allow them to hang out with me during the day...making my daily life a lot less lonely!!

This weekend, thanks to our good friends Christian and Julie, I was able to bring all of my loves, both new and old, together to meet each other over plates of fried wasp babies.

Elena and James


Rachelle and Phillipe

I have a whole table of friends!! <3

This picture of the blood sausage looks horrifying but I assure you it was pretty good.

The next day, Julie, Christian, Richard and I had a little gypsy-themed slumber party on the beach.

After the sun set, the guys started the fire and we grilled what i suppose the richer gypsies would eat...crayfish, giant shrimp, sausages and veggies. 

The stars were bright and twinkling, the food was delicious, the ocean was roaring, and I even taught them how to make s'mores for dessert. It was utter perfection.

Being old, we were in bed by 10:30. The pounding rain woke us up at two. Thank goodness we were under a tarp! The wind wasn't blowing so we were safe and snuggly and happy to hear the rain. I went back to sleep and dreamt that I saw a giant butterfly fluttering to us. It was amazing and we stood there in shock by how big it was. It danced over between us...and landed on my arm!! I felt so honored and thrilled. Then it looked at me straight in the eyes, and somehow I knew that it was here to guide me to a spiritual awakening...

I woke up to more rain, shuffled around a bit, and fell back asleep.

This time, I was in a basement with my old best friend. A pigeon came in, and now it was he who was going to take me to my spiritual awakening. He took my hand in his beak and started flying...and I started floating next to him. I was scared I wasn't going to make it, that I was too heavy...but soon we were flying up to the ceiling, and then through the ceiling up into the sky...

It rained on and off until we finally woke up around 8. We put on some coffee.

And that's when a REAL gypsy came to the party! So this guy just shows up, says nothing, takes off his shoes and comes to the table. He ceremoniously sets his knife and rosary down before us, like we're knights and he's a messenger from a neighboring village.  He takes off his raincoat and is wearing a torn pillowcase for a shirt. He says hi, sits himself down, and says "Wow, it's so refreshing to see other people living off the land. There aren't many of us left..."

Then he inhales dramatically and says how great the flowers smell...that he can tell they are from Reunion. (They are fake, I bought them at a Chinese store for 3 euro.) We give him some bread,  and some cookies, and some jam, and then he asks to make some more hot coffee, has a banana and an orange, and then asks for a blanket because he's cold. We give him a blanket, and he starts singing. He talks to us about some random gypsy things, like living in the moment and forgetting the past, and then he starts singing again and falls asleep. We pack up, eventually bidding him farewell and letting him keep the blanket.

You know you did a gypsy party right when you start attracting real gypsies.

This is the happiest I have ever been in my life.
I am grateful.
And I feel so unbelievably lucky to have such incredible people to journey with!!