October 25th

Yesterday, we readied, and had breakfast. Our hosts had something to do and left around nine, as they were leaving their granddaughter, Claire, came over to us and shyly said, “Bye bye,” in English. It was sweet! We washed our last load of clothes (we didn't dry because we could not figure out the dryer's error code), loaded up, and left.

As we were driving to Le Tampon. We spotted a Coiffure Shop that was open, and empty. Jeff got his haircut… ooh lala, it is short. He may not need one for six months!!! Then on in to La Tampon, we found a laverie automatique (a laundrymat, sounds more prestious in French). I tended the dryer, while Jeff got a Sim card for my phone (we have one week left and they have a one week card. Next we went to a grocery store for lunch stuff.

Now the fun part for Jeff, he drives us up Cilaos. Our destination for our next Airbnb for two nights. But the “fun” part is driving up to it. Our previous host said the area is beautiful in the morning and the drive has 400 curves. It is a stunning drive and we meander along a large ravine, actually crossing along the ravine bed a few times, and snaking along one side of mountains to the other side. Quite often there are areas that catch falling rocks, which means a one lane road. It can be a little hairy, scary!! There is also construction on the road along sections, with or without flagmen! One area there were men rappelling down the side of the mountain letting down metal netting to catch the falling rocks. Not my cup of tea, but it was facinating to watch as we waited our turn to go on the now one lane road. We did stop somewhere along the way at a picnic area for lunch.

We arrived at our place and unloaded. We watched the cloud play and early “sunset” due to being in bowl mostly surrounded by mountains. Supper was pasta with last of chorizo, onion in a garlic sauce.

Today, we awoke and went out early, doing a easy loop hike called the Botanical Circuit. We did see a 'white olive tree' all covered in a Spanish-typt moss. Sadly all the signage for the flora and fauna was in French and the print would not photo for Google translate so we just trekked and enjoyed a few butterflies, and a few birds. Also unfortunately the sound of a bunch of helicopters polluted our little hike. These are tourists ones flying around seeing the views. but it was a good small trek. Finished we loaded up and went to the grocery store for stuffs for breakfast and lunch (we forgot our list, so we winged it).

Back to our place we had a blue cheese omelette, pistachio yogurt, and peanuts. It was an odd combination, but worked. I had coffee (we forgot juice for Jeff). Then we took a small siesta.

Now we drove, taking the road to its end and getting out at various viewpoints. Again, it's still a lovely day, but clouds are starting to accumulate compared to full blue skies this morning. The road whittles down to very small, in a small community. But the wild thing… buses still come up here!! It is about the craziest bus line service we have ever seen. At the “end” of the road we finally see what seems to be a turn around place for the bus. Amazing. Anyway we turned around and followed the road back, getting out at couple other places – two for the views, the other a picnic spot for lunch. We had a nice gazebo-type picnic table. After lunch decided to continue to the other end of another road. That ended on the main road that we used to arrive in Cilaos yesterday – we went back on it and to town.

This area is very spectacular, and if you are a hiker, trekker, or just a mountain person – this should be a place of interest! The almost 360 degrees of mountains is breathtaking. There are a few waterfalls. Added bonus, the highest peak in the Indian Ocean is here!! Piton des Neiges, or Snow Mountian is 3,071 meters, which is 10,075 feet elevation!!! It rarely has snow but it can be cold, and is a 10 hour round trip hike (they recommend doing it in two days with a overnight camp). The highest elevation we drove was 1,325 meters (4347 feet), that we saw.

Supper was smoked duck, a potato hash, and cucumber salad with bread. Our jaunt in this area of Reunion has been fun; exciting for Jeff (sorry, Mario Andretti); and very, very beautiful.