Rodrigues

I have a dilemma.  This is a wonderful island and I would love to write an extensive blog post about it but, if I do that, I will be sitting inside at my computer instead of out there enjoying the wonderful place.  That being said, I've decided to write a quick post now and then try to write a better on when I'm on the way to our next stop at Reunion.

Rodrigues is a small volcanic island with a large limestone plain on the west side.  It's roughly an oval about 10 miles long and 4 miles wide.  It has rough mountainous terrain, with some mountains about 1,200 feet high.  The higher elevations are tropical rain forest and the lower elevations are more dry.  The population is about 38,000 spread pretty evenly across the island, with the lower west side being a little less populated.

Approaching Rodrigues from the Southeast

A 70 year old Tortoise and me having a chat.  I sat down about 10 feet away from him and he came over to let me scratch his neck, you know, after he bit my knee to see if I tasted good.

They have ENORMOUS spiders here.  It's hard to get a perspective without something else in the picture but from this guys let tips, front to back he is every bit of 6 inches long.  These are the only spiders I've seen here and there are quite a lot of them.  I asked a women what they were called and she said, "Spiders".

This place is beautiful.  It's clean, the people are friendly, their homes are nice, all with lovely gardens and flowers everywhere.  Most business are only open from 9 AM until 3 PM, then everyone goes home to their families.  I've been staying at a B&B for $35.00 US a night and a good steak dinner costs $10.00 US.  A great, grilled lobster dinner costs $65.00 US for a 1 kilo lobster...it was spectacular!  I will try to post more but now I'm going on a hike before this day gets away from me.