Seychelles and Comoros
Seychelles
Today the temperature is hovering below freezing. The high today says that it may get just above the freezing mark, so we're headed somewhere warm on our trip today.
The Seychelles Islands are in the West Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. While the map I'm looking at doesn't show the equator, I know that it runs through the middle of Kenya, so these islands are just south of the equator. This tiny nation is made up of 2 main island groups. The Mahé group of more than 40 islands that are mountainous and made of granite. The second group if islands number more than 70, and are flat and made of coral. The coral islands rise just a few feet above sea level, don't have any fresh water, and are therefore largely uninhabited. The Mahé islands are described as having a narrow coastal strip with a central range of hills, and are characterized by their lush, tropical vegetation, and "high hanging gardens overlooking silver-white beaches and clear lagoons." I'm sold, where do I sign up to go there? Apparently about 70% of their "export" income is from tourism. I can see why.
Like other islands in the region, the Seychelles islands have species of plants and animals unique to their islands. Most of their population lives on the main island, and I was surprised to find out that the inhabitants of this country live longer than the global average for both men and women. Since there was no indigenous population for the islands, it is a mixture of immigrants, mostly French and African that melded into the current population. The literacy rate is very high (98% among children), and they have a socialist government with elections by popular vote.
The Union of Comoros is also included in today's post. I couldn't find any information about how they drink their tea in the Comoros, so they are included by proximity. I found many references to tea in my research, but apparently nobody (that I came across) has ever thought to document how they drink it. This country consists of 3 volcanic islands, Njazidja, Mwali, and Nzwani. They also lay claim to the French overseas territory of Mayotte. This country's name comes from Arabic, qamar which means moon (and there is indeed a moon on their flag). This is also a very small country, and have the highest population density in Africa.
These islands also have many species of plants and animals that are unique to that location. I was also interested to learn that coelacanths, long thought to be extinct, still live in the waters around these islands. The original inhabitants are thought to be Polynesian and Melanesian, and they have had waves of different immigrants ever since. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of political unrest since their freedom from France in 1975. They are listed as one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 60% of the population living below the poverty line. Their culture is heavily influenced by the Arab world, with most of the population being Muslim, but it is also a matrilineal culture (African influence), so women have their husbands move in with them, and women can inherit land and money.
My tea inspiration today comes from a commercial that I found on YouTube. I forget the brand name, but it was a commercial stated to be from the Seychelles islands. This is an easy one. Bagged tea. Black tea, black tea with vanilla, and green tea.
My selection for these teas is a bit mixed, but I can represent all the types listed. Well, the commercial didn't mention anything about decaf tea, but the only "black" tea I can find around here is generic, and I just happened to have decaf. Most of the black tea in the US has some sort of fancy name, like Earl Gray, or English Breakfast. So, I made some hot water, and plopped my tea bag in.
This is how I drink tea all the time. I chose the vanilla tea because it is one of my favorites. It's also a flavor that I commonly recommend to people who want to start drinking tea (I also recommend vanilla caramel). The vanilla flavor makes it a bit sweeter, and it's a flavor that people already identify with.
I must say, it was a nice pick me up for a busy morning of housework and other chores. Vanilla tea is a flavor that I always try to keep on hand, so I'm with the good people of the Seychelles, this is a good, every day tea.
When I saw "Seychelles," I automatically added "the only midocean islands in the world that are formed of granite!" When I put together my sentence fragment worksheet years and years ago, I got sample sentences from somewhere, and one source had some random facts about various geographic locations, including that bit about the Seychelles. I've been going over that worksheet multiple times a year for more than a dozen years, so I knew they were granite. That was the only thing I knew about them until today, but I had it down cold.
ReplyDeleteHa! Isn't it interesting what odd pieces of trivia we pick up over time? I didn't realize that they were the only midocean islands made of granite. They're definitely the islands I would prefer to live on because they are much more durable than the coral ones.
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