20th post - 2 days, 5 excursions

From Friday evening to Sunday evening I spent the time with Katrin again.

On Friday I went to La Plaine des Palmistes to see Katrin for free using Karos (a ride-sharing app) and with a nice conversation. When we got there we chatted a little, made plans for the next two days and then watched the starry sky. Until we finally found the star of the south , which shone directly above our house - you could think that the weekend was under a good star (picture). :)

We decided to use Saturday as a "relaxation day" because Katrin wasn't feeling physically perfect and Sunday would be stressful enough. Now you can of course interpret the term “relaxation day” in different ways, but for us it meant getting up at 6 a.m. and going on two hikes :D

First we went to Takamaka , a viewpoint. Since that wasn't enough for us for the long journey, we went on a short hike there of about 2 hours, where we came across a really impressive waterfall.

It was so beautiful, the waterfall was huge and you stood on a bridge almost directly in front of it, with green nature behind you. We hadn't expected such a great view and were therefore even happier that we had done the hike.

From there we drove to Grand Étang , which literally means “big lake” and describes the whole thing well :D For me it was a really awesome experience, because I haven't had such a large (by island standards) flat area here for a long time seen more.

It reminded me a bit of an alpine lake or something. We then walked around the large lake and decided to take a short detour to a signposted waterfall - the best decision ever.

We came across two pools, each with a waterfall, both of which were great for swimming and enjoying the cool water - a really welcome way to cool down after a long day. Because of the light, the larger waterfall of the two looked like it was made of pure glowing silver. Unfortunately you couldn't photograph it, but it looked absolutely magical!

In the evening we did some quick shopping and I ate my first eclair ever (delicious, but criminally sweet). When we arrived at the house, we showered and cooked (spaghetti without salt, but with delicious sauce and an inhuman amount of cheese). We went to sleep around 9 p.m. because the alarm clock was set for 4:30 a.m.

By the way, we once stopped on the beach to have something to eat and found wild nutmeg, super exciting.

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So we packed everything up early in the morning because it was Katrin's last day in the accommodation; On Monday your plane leaves for Germany. We had planned a lot to make the last day even more wonderful. First we drove up to Cilaos to do the Col de Boeuf hike.

I think this is my absolute favorite hike so far, because I have never seen such a beautiful path with such beautiful viewpoints. It was simply fantastic, varied and beautiful. After we arrived at Col de Boeuf , we spontaneously decided to continue walking to Col de Fourché , about an hour and an additional 100 m in altitude, and then eat our packed lunch there. That was also a good decision, because from up there you had a much nicer view.

Back at the car, we drove to Hellbourg. I've been there before, but it's just a cute little mountain town. However, the road is really adventurous and steep, I am very grateful that Katrin drove :D

So we had lunch there, bought a few souvenirs and looked around the area. Since that was of course not the last item on the agenda of the day, we continued to the Cascade Niagara .

I've been there before, but it was the perfect place to cool down and end the day a bit. In fact, there was even someone there that day who was slacklining at a really absurd height, which was super exciting to see.

The last item on the agenda (more of a duty than a pleasure) was to wash the rental car, vacuum it, fill up the tank and return it to the airport. Unfortunately, since we were a little late and completely knocked out, there was no longer any sensible bus and we took a taxi. This then took me to a bus stop and Katrin to her accommodation, and we had to say goodbye.

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It was really nice to have visitors from Germany and to be able to do so many nice things - and I'm glad that we were so lucky with the weather :) Thank you for the great time and your driving skills :*

Lucky with weather