Monday in Mayotte, French Comoros

Overnight we sailed to Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean situated between Madagascar and Mozambique. Mayotte’s residents are described as having mixed African-Arab origins. The official languages are Comorian, Arabic and French, and the population is 97-98% practicing Sunni Islam. 

We hadn’t booked an excursion today but chose instead to tender to shore and just mill around a bit. As is often the case, there were dancers there to greet us. 

 

teens doing a "courtship" type dance

We didn’t want to walk into the city, so we just walked back over to the same large building we wandered through before that serves as a marketplace. This part of our "revised itinerary" as we head toward the cape of South Africa reminds me of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day -  waking up to see the exact same things as before.

But what a difference a day can make! Yesterday as we drove around Nosy Be, almost every person who saw our small bus gave us a big, friendly wave! Seriously - all of them, from young to old! We could not have felt more welcome as “strangers in these parts.” However, today in Mayotte has an altogether different feel.

Sellers in the market are not one bit friendly to strangers and the last thing they would do is let you take their picture. Just as when we visited before, most of the photos I took were from a distance or from behind. I did snap a photo of a darling little boy who was “flying” around the market using a coat hanger to steer the “plane” before I saw his mother (grandmother?) When I saw her, I asked if I could take his picture but was denied. Thankfully I had already snapped one before either of us saw the other.

up, up and away!

Overall, the locals seem to barely tolerate our presence, or at best just try to ignore us. The market we walked through obviously caters to locals (no souvenirs here) in spite of being located just a short walk from the pier. Its stalls hold a little of everything - from shoes to cosmetics to vegetables.

 

The vendors were mostly women wearing colorful, if not always coordinating, clothing and head coverings. Many if not most have their faces covered in a heavy looking, yellowish paste. They appear to be extremely bored. Some are looking at their phones; others are sleeping or just sitting with another vendor.

 

Unlike the women of Nosy Be, there is nothing artistic about the way the majority of women in Mayotte paint their faces. Rather, some type of mixture appears to be smeared all over and left to dry. In fact, as I was writing that last sentence, I thought “why not google it and maybe I can find out?” And here's what it said. “Women in Mayotte and the Comoros Islands wear white face paint—known as msindzano—primarily for skincare protection and beauty, as it acts as a natural sunblock against intense UV rays while treating blemishes. The paste is made by grinding sandalwood (or other tree bark) on coral, forming a protective mask often adorned in intricate, decorative patterns.” Perhaps not all of the islands just smear it with no attempt to make an artistic statement, but it seems that the women on this island mainly just smear it.

I remembered from our previous visit, they sold a product that bleached the skin. I thought I might like to try some on the back of my sun damaged hands, but when I found the booth, there were women already being waited on and they were all speaking French. Also I realized that they would only take Euros, so I decided to blow it off. I guess I'm just stuck with these "horrid age spots." 

By this time I had already worked up a sweat so I voted to return to the ship and of course Ronnie readily agreed!