Pascal Lagesse

"I'd be delighted to meet you when you're in Mauritius," wrote Pascal. Delighted - a simple word, yet so removed from my daily vernacular that it completely broke through the clutter in my brain. I couldn't wait to get to the island of Mauritius and meet Pascal. But who am I kidding? I just couldn't wait to get to the island.

Pascal lives in absolute paradise and he's lived there all his life. Mauritius is just East of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. "The life there is simple," he says, "we wake up late and work early." Of course, Pascal creates a ton of artwork between waking and calling it quits for the day. What a dream to wake up each day on a beautiful island and play with paints.

He lives in the highlands village of Curepipe. I hired a driver for the day to take me up to meet him. I'm usually a ‘rent-a- car' girl because I just love to experience the roads and scenery of a new place first hand. But since road signs haven't completely made their way to all spots on the island, it would have been virtually impossible for me to navigate. And directions such as, turn right at the sugar cane field next to the carved rock were just not going to cut it. The odd thing is even my "professional" driver got lost and had to call for backup directional advice...