<B>Herman KOSSE</B>

“Mauritius is like a small town. Life is sweet here.” Hermann Kosse, the manager of Buddhaclub pub in Grand-Bay, is just like his adopted country: he bears a Dutch name, is open-minded, cosmopolitan and, at times, heroically struggling with his main communication medium, English! Born in Slagharen, in Holland, and settled here since 1999, he confesses he has tuned to the “local driving style”.

But he’s a true example of Dutch friendliness, adapted to local trends, too.Aruba, Ibiza, Hawaii… Before coming to Mauritius, Hermann has been some sort of globetrotter and experienced different styles of accommodation and living. “Dutch people like to travel. It’s not expensive in Holland. It’s an old tradition to go abroad as from 16 or 17”, he adds, his eyes shining with wit.

“One good thing about Mauritius is that tourists are not continuously harassed by hawkers, like on Spanish beaches.” The Mauritian seaside is clean and gorgeous, the country quiet and safe. But “small businesses can’t really benefit from high-class tourism. Here tourists stay and buy everything in hotels. A better ratio could be found than the 95: 5 between high and medium-class tourism”.

The travel cost to Mauritius is also prohibitive. “Two relatives who recently paid me a visit had to disburse about 500 Euros just for the flight. For half that price, they could go to Hawaii. People used to say that, while the common European spends his holidays in Spain, his doctors and notables go to Mauritius”.

“Hollandais”, as his regular customers call Hermann, had always a good feel for the catering and nightlife business. Starting in his native country as a butcher, he “used to end the week working in bars and pubs”. There, he had opened his own café-bar-restaurant.

Mauritius became serious in Hermann’s life after his second trip to the island (the first one was somewhat marred by the passage of cyclone… Hollanda). He met Marie Jeanine, who at that time worked in a hotel in Mon-Choisy. They married in 1999 and settled in the Netherlands. Two children were born. But they missed Mauritius. “We had to do something elsewhere than in Holland. So we tried to spend a few weeks here for a change.” The “few weeks” turned to months, and, ultimately, very happy years.

Hermann really feels at home here. “People are neither as stressed as in Europe nor as laid-back as in Aruba.” Yet he deplores a few things that seem to him unworthy of a civilized country like Mauritius. He can’t for instance understand the degradation in Pamplemousses garden, “where some plants have become stunted and the water dirty.” Nor the precarious living conditions of some people not far from Grand-Bay. “Some people have a hard life here. Those Mauritians can’t just live within corrugated iron sheets.” Holland has a long tradition of social welfare and this situation inevitably shocks Hermann. “ Look at the Dockers’ flats. Who would like such tatty housing.”

But the man never loses his sense of humour and affability. And, though his English is not perfect, his kindness needs no translation: “You are always welcome,” he seems to say with a smile.