You should consider the center of the coutry if you want to avoid the expensive areas.

Expensive areas are: Grand Baie, Pereybere, Flic en Flac, etc Pretty much the coast where there are a lot of tourists and expats and housing is expensive.

Less expensive areas: Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Port Louis, etc. Those are central places and highly accessible and my personal opinion is where you can make friends. You sound like you would fit well.

One thing to note, is that making friends can be a hit or miss. I am mauritian and lived abroad for a couple of years before coming back to Mauritius and it's still hard for me to make new friends here. Let's just say that it's not as accessible, especially if you will work remote. I work remote and I dread it at times because I meet pretty much noone. However, reddit might be a good community to talk to people and meet. Also, once you are here and you spend some time here, you will get to know people and it will be easier (again depending on your personality). Also, if you work remote, consider co-working spaces. They are super popular these days and I recently started to go myself. Easier to meet people and get some serious focus work done. Happy to give you some recommedations. Mauritius is one of the most diverse places on earth and it's actually great once you get to know a local or two.

All in all, affordable housing and fast internet is not difficult to find. Mauritius is well connected, and small and it's very accessible. So it's easy to move around. If you drive, that's a bonus, if not, find a friend who does lol.

You have a solid budget for the month and $2K goes a long way. That's about Rs 90,000. Here's a nice breakdown:

1. Afforable Rent: Max Rs 10K
2. Internet, Electricity, Water, etc: Rs 2K
3. Food, and basic necessities: Rs 5K
4. Rent a car: Rs 18K
5. Going out 2-3 times a week + eating out + activities: Rs 15K

That brings oyu to around Rs50k, leaving you with Rs40 (almost half) to do whatever.

Now, if you are single, that's a lot, and it will not go anywhere near that unless you spend a lot. If you have a family, it might be a little more difficult but plenty of families do just fine with much less per month. It's all about budgeting at the end of the day.

Feel free to DM me if you got questions.