Wednesday, October 26, 2011

My Sound Of The Day


Imagine you are watching the circus show PFFFFFFF from the company Akoreacro. The soundtrack of the show is mostly Eastern European jazz but all of a sudden two of the artists on stage do this.









I have seen this show last friday and i liked it so much that i would have seen it a second time this week if it wasn't sold out, i recommend it.


La suite!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cop Watch


I rarely am in contact with law enforcement agents except customs agents when I travel but when it happens it is always memorable.



I was driving from work on my scooter last Wednesday near Cap La Houssaye when two police officers waved me to the side of the road. One of them approached when my scooter was stopped and said “what do you give me?”. It seems that in his mind it was mandatory for me to give him something, I was in a good mood so I said “I will give you the scooter’s papers” and I gave them to him. He asked while he was looking at the papers “do you have ID?” “No… ah yes I have a photocopy of my passport”, I handed the copy, he looked at it and said “what is your nationality?” I hate stupid questions so I answered “it is written on the paper”, he gave me the paper back once he was done. He was clearly not satisfied so he added “you know your paper doesn’t mean anything” “if you want you can follow me to my place where I will show you the real deal” “it doesn’t work that way you have to have your ID with you at any time” it was of course wrong but he was a cop and he knew everything better than anyone else. “I always carry a photocopy of my passport with me and you are the first to be bothered by this” “if you take it this way next time you will have to go to the police station and you will get the full monty”. I had no idea what full monty he was talking about but the law is pretty clear on the subject: in the event he could not determine my identity where the ID check was performed, he had to bring me back to the station and provide me with everything necessary to prove my identity. Entering my passport code in his database would do the trick in 2 seconds or allow me to contact someone who would confirm my identity (no need for him/her to bring my ID, the statement is enough). The code of criminal procedure is pretty clear, he could detain a maximum of 4 hours and then would have to release me; there is no mention of full monty in the code of criminal procedure.
He let me go saying that next time it would be different and me answering that I would not be walking around with my ID. This was a nice moment spent with a police officer: how to piss off people when one has nothing to do.

La suite!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Hot Damn


There is nothing like a good dive to set your mind straight.



I went scuba last Saturday in the morning at « la Passe de l’Ermitage », it is a great diving spot where you can often see turtles. My last dive was four months old so I was anxious to dive again as soon as I got back to Reunion Island but a lot of them have been cancelled because of the swell of the sea. Most nautical activities have been forbidden because of the sharks but scuba diving is still allowed, sharks don’t like the sound of the bubbles the divers release when they breathe. We were lucky to cross path with a mother whale and her little one before getting to the diving spot. Each person who had its camera was quickly in the water to try and get a nice shot of the whale. The whales couldn’t be easily approached, as they were getting closer to the front of the boat they dove underneath it and reappeared at the tail of the boat, it was quite impressive.



I felt right at home as soon as we started the dive. We passed 6 or 7 turtles, some would swim away and some would stick around; “la Passe de l’Ermitage” is famous for its turtles. It was great to be back underwater, I was not used to not having my digital camera with me. We wanted to end the dive by going near the coral reef to try and find the eagle rays, they like to stay where the waves crash on the coral. I could feel the current getting stronger as we got closer, we were in some sort of canyon that was protecting us in part but we moved too close as soon as we saw the rays and got caught in the current. And just like that the aquatic stroll became a fight for survival. We found ourselves where the coral forms a plateau, waves were forming and crashing just above us, there was at most 2 meters between the plateau and the surface. The current was very powerful, getting out of the water would mean being crushed by the waves, our only choice was to stay in the water and try to get out of the area. The current was taking us back and forth, we had to wait for the right moment to start moving to avoid getting tired. It is a good thing to grab the corals when the current is strong and move in the direction you are trying to reach. This allowed me to move away from the dangerous area but the current was so strong at some point that I got dragged backward totally unable to grab anything my poor fingers desperately trying to hold on to something. The diving instructor and I hold hands as the current grew even stronger, we could see in each other eyes how scared we were. He was always making sure that I was ok, oddly my breathing was as steady as during the beginning of the dive even though my heart was about to burst out of my chest. In the end we managed to get out the area with the strong currents and went back to the boat after the mandatory decompression stop. I think that we were stuck in that area for 3 or 4 minutes that lasted an eternity. I went back to the boat with a huge headache that I kept for the most part of the day. We all looked at each other once out of the water and started talking about what was going on in our minds as we were stuck in the currents. I was quite surprised and relieved at the same time to see that I didn’t panic, I will probably never forget this experience. The dive instructor told us that he had never been caught in such currents and added that if he could he would have given me diving level 2 without the exam. This is one hell of a way to start diving again in Reunion Island.

La suite!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

My Sound Of The Day


Not much to say except that i like this one a great deal: Deadmau5 And Greta Svabo Bech - Raise Your Weapon.









La suite!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Much Ado About Nothing?


There is a shark scare in Reunion Island these days and it doesn’t look like it will stop.



People are scared in La Reunion, sharks have attacked for the fourth time this year. Shark attacks are not new to the island but it is the first time that they occur over such a short time period. Moreover they are localized in the hyper touristic area that is the western part on the island where no shark attack had been recorded for over 30 years. The victims are all surfers, it is well known that shark often mistake them for turtles when they are swimming to get to the surf spot. Foreigners are very often subject to those attacks and the locals usually don’t bother too much because they think that they shouldn’t have been in the water at the time they were attacked. This time though it was different because a local surfer who used to be a bodyboard champion was the victim. This last case explains why the island inhabitants and local authorities changed behaviour regarding sharks, in the past you could here sentences like “another stupid surfer who comes to the island and has no idea how things are around here” or “he should have gone to surf someplace else”. The last shark victim you the 3 surfer rules very well:
- no surfing at nightfall because it is the time sharks hunt
- no surfing after the rain because the water would be full of water the inhabitants have thrown away
- no surfing when the sea is strong because water will not be clear and sharks like it
The problem is that surfers tend to forget those common rules and what has to happens ends up happening.



The fourth shark attack had immediate results: swimming was forbidden on beaches with no lagoon. The anger of the restaurants owner and shop keepers was also immediate: “what about our profits?”. A three day compaign was organized to hunt 10 sharks (only non protected species) and only one was caught on the last day of the campaign. The mayor of Saint-Paul, city where the beach of Boucan Canot is located, was called a murderer by the angry surfers after the attack when she reminded everyone present that when she was a little girl the eldest would forbid the kids to go in the water because the sea was strong. The restaurants owner requested that sharks be hunted down on a regular basis and that the subaquatic park be removed because it was considered like food storage for sharks. They forgot to ask for the move of the DCP (a device that attracts fish) that is located in Saint-Paul’s bay and is generally installed far at sea. The surfers asked that antishark shields be installed forgetting that sharks are not the only living creatures in the sea and that those creatures may get caught up in the net and die of exhaustion. They want the city hence the island inhabitants to pay for their safety, a quick reminder: only surfer are attacked by sharks.



What can you do when you are elected and a few people are creating a panic? You have to try and reassure the people even though the origin of the problem is a lack of common sense. Closing the beaches is not solving anything and will anger tourists coming to the islands and the locals on holiday; lets not forget that shark don’t (yet?) attack swimmers. Hunting the sharks is not a solution, there will always be survivors and among them one of them may attack another surfer. Using antishark shields will create more problems. There are discussions to create a new flag to warn people at beach where a shark attack has occurred. Each group who is impacted by this situation is trying to defend his interest instead of trying to find a solution together. Only a serious study on shark behaviour in the region will provide real answers to this problem, everything else is just shouting in the wind.



Last Wednesday a man was attacked by a shark as he was on an outrigger canoe, he managed to strike the shark with his paddle but it managed to bite the canoe and through the guy in the water before going away. The attack occurred at 10:15 AM in Cap La Houssaye in the north of Boucan Canot. What is going on in La Reunion? Are sharks getting used to human flesh or human blood spilled before? Are the cities in the west of the island releasing more garbage in the sea? There are a lot of questions but answers to none, one sure doesn’t feel like getting in the water these days...

La suite!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My Sound Of The Day


After Brasil, here is a song from Cuba. They sample the song of a girl with a wonderful voice who died too soon: Los Aldeanos - Pasa El Borrador.









La suite!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Once There


When you travel to a country you have already been in, there are always things you expect and some you don’t.


Getting out of the airport was a real nightmare the last time I travelled to the country. We walked from the airport to the terminal and were greeted in front of it by a horde of shouting guys asking to see our passport and our vaccination book. No one would be permitted inside the terminal without having his papers checked. You just flew for 8 hours and the greeting you get is shouting guys, they didn’t wear official clothes so no one could no who was actually working for the airport that’s reassuring! I didn’t let the guy who had my passport out of my sight, it was so crazy that I lost him for a few seconds and when I saw him again he was inside the terminal. I walked toward him as quickly as I could with so many people around, I got my passport back after he checked that my company had filled the necessary papers.
This time, a bus took us from the plane to the terminal, no one was waiting to shout at us in front of the terminal and we could queue in front of the customs booth. There one guy dressed in white checked my vaccination book while the officer was looking at my passport.


I attended a security briefing on the next day, I was given rules I had to follow while I was in Congo. I was forbidden to walk alone in the street. I was forbidden to take a cab. I was forbidden to go outside the city centre. I was required to call a driver to pick me up each time I wanted to go somewhere. There would soon be a presidential election, I was forbidden to talk politics in public. And I was of course forbidden to talk to girls in the street. All those precautions were taken to avoid situations that could get worse. If I am taking pictures in the street someone might come to me and ask why I am taking pictures. A simple quarrel can quickly become something much worse because people are quite curious, 2 might quickly become 10 or more and in those cases one might not know what can happen. This kind of situation doesn’t happen all the time but it is normal that my company makes sure to avoid any risk.


There are some girls at the office that will serve tea and coffee to the employees. It is possible to buy some snacks from vendors allowed to enter the building. Some employees also have a business on the side, some sell clothes and others sell hair extensions that women like so much.
The topic of most discussions happening in the building is the result of the presidential election. It is a lot of fun to listen to everyone’s argument, voices become loud but there is no anger. It seems like each of them is really enjoying the debate and is never annoyed by the fact that the other do not agree. It is a real pleasure to listen to them and I will know in two months who was right.

La suite!