Better Than A Stroller

Brotherly Love

Surprisingly enough, all of Pau's visible injuries he caused himself. On Day 1 he scraped his chin on the wall of the closet as he tried to climb inside to hide. On Day 2 he chipped his front tooth on the floor doing some gymnastics. None of the pokes and pinches and shoves I gave him show at all. (Unless they are captured on film.)

Our (Girl)Friend

This is our adorable friend Sofia. She was visiting Bird Island from her home on Mahé.

We really enjoyed playing with her and she made every meal much more fun.
As soon as Papa said it was time to go eat, Pau would begin to sing, "So-FEE-aah!"

The Birds, Part I

Our "Chalet" in Paradise

This is the place we spent the best week of vacation. Bird Island. Population: 30 humans, 22 Seychelles giant tortoises, and hundreds of thousands of birds. We happened to be there during high bird season when various birds (and sea turtles) are nesting and laying eggs. The palm trees even had coconuts!

The view of the Indian Ocean from our porch.

This was where Pau and I slept. We got to sleep under mosquito tents, eventhough there weren't any mosquitos.

We made ourselves at home right away. . . . turning our beds into boats. . . .

and taking our clothes off to run around. No cars, no roads, no phones, no computers, no mosques. We hardly wore our shoes the whole week! 

In case you were thinking that this sounds like a quiet place to be, it is NOT. Those birds talk ALL NIGHT LONG.

Hello Bird Island!

Glimpses of Victoria, Mahé

Papa's Seychellois Haircut

Before

After

Seychelles Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum in Victoria (the capital of Seychelles, located on Mahé) turned out  to be a fantastic place to spend some time. We had arrived on the morning ferry from Praslin and had some time to look around before our afternoon flight to Bird Island. We saw specimens of all kinds of land and sea creatures. I was fascinated by the fact that they were dead yet still on display for us to see.

After Pau picked up a few glass specimen jars and tried climbing on the taxidermied turtles, the museum lady invited us to go upstairs to the kids' area. So we did.

First Encounter

We met our first giant tortoises in this small pen outside a souvenir shop near our hotel.

 I fed them leaves, which they liked.

I could have watched them for hours.

Guapo

Vallée de Mai

Coco d' Mer

The Seychelloise are very proud of their giant palm, the Coco de Mer which is endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse. The mature Coco de Mer fruit (aka the Love Nut) grows on female palms and contains the largest seed in the world which, most importantly, is shaped like the nether regions of a female body. The mature fruit is 40–50 cm in diameter and weighs 15–30 kg (the record holder weighed 42 kg). We got a chance to see them up close at the Vallée de Mai World Heritage Site at the National Park on Praslin.

The seed makes a good drum.

This is the fruit growing on the palm.

Interestingly enough, the male flower also looks like a body part that grows up to 1 meter long.

 

Morning Fixes

Finally, a cappuccino.

Finally, a table I can chew on.