MAURITIUS
Exploring the rich cultural mix
Daily Mirror
MORE, MORE, MAURITIUS
Cyan skies and turquoise waters? Check. Sweeping white sand beaches fringed by coconut palms? Check. Oh-so friendly locals greeting you with an easy smile wherever you go? Check.
Mauritius does a fantastic job of ticking off your idyllic tropical island cliche checklist.
You also get jagged jungle-clad peaks, lush lowlands and endless swathes of sugar cane that produce the rum for candy-coloured cocktails sipped at sunset. (Like rocket fuel they were, good enough reason to go in themselves.)
But no, what I found most interesting was its fascinating and unique cultural mix. Indian and African. French and British. A sprinkling of Chinese. It’s similar to the Caribbean, yet at the same time so very different.
PUERTO RICO
Budget city-break with a difference
Daily Mirror
RUM AND CROAK
Deep into the hot, humid night the salsa was still raging and the rum still flowing.
After a day wandering pretty colonial streets and citadels looming over the ocean, dining on colourful creole cuisine and basking in tropical sunshine, we were now partying until daybreak.
Not what you usually expect from a winter break, and especially not from a low-cost airline. But this was San Juan, one of the most historic yet most modern cities in Latin America – capital of Puerto Rico, the US territory amidst the sun and sand of the Caribbean.
It’s also the self-proclaimed rum capital of the world, but we’ll get to that later.