Chillin'
I'm a day behind on my posts here, but I'll do my best to catch everyone up with Friday and this morning, Saturday. I'd neglected to mention two things about Thursday. One, that the hotel manager of Lihini Village gave me the emergency number (119) and his number in Sri Lanka. Second, that Egenia's brother, a policeman, showed up at the Pragash guesthouse, and ensured that everything was settled "fairly"...I ended up having to pay 500 rupees for the few hours I used the room. They wanted me to pay 1000, even though the room was supposedly rented out to me for 800. I agreed to pay half, but had no change. Of course, they never gave me change. In all, that plus the tuktuk ride was $7 USD for my mental ease. Not too bad.
Okay, enough of that. Friday I headed down to meet Alfonso and Olivier for breakfast. Egenia made me a delicious egg, we had lots of toast with pineapple jam, and some bananas and tea. Alfonso and Olivier had met a fisherman days back and arranged to head over to Pigeon Island, which is about a 45 minute to 1 hour boat north east of Uppuveli and past Nilavali Beach. Leaving from where we were, it would give a view of the northeastern coastline during the journey. The two guys asked me if I wanted to go along. I said sure. Then we decided on a plan of negotiation, got our money together and prepared to head out. Svetlana and her mother Tatiana came by to check on me and say hello. Tatiana, who barely who speaks no English commented on the fact that I looked much happier today. (Svetlana translated)...and I was. The two ladies said they would come back for lunch with us at 1:30 p.m. It was 10 a.m., right then, and time to head out.
The boat ride was beautiful, over the blue-ish waters, and under the blue sky. We passed a couple temples, along the way, as we skidded along the top of the water. My neck and head definitely felt the bouncing of the boat, but I tried to shock absorb with my core. The boat driver was a nice guy, and Alfonso and Olivier related a bit of what had happened to me Thursday to him. "Who is that f*cking guy?" he said in his Sri Lankan-accented English, his eyes flashing with anger. "Tell me. I will go to the police." The man had worked all his life as a fisherman and was just beginning to eek out a very decent existence now that the war was over and that tourists were slowly beginning to return. "You will write this, and no one will come." I told him not to worry, that a country should not be judged by its lowlifes, and that one man does not represent every other person there. The fisherman had had to go work in Saudi Arabia, and multiple other areas to try to make enough money for his family, he said. He was happy to be back, and happy to have tourists again. Though truly there are very few tourists here currently. The fisherman said the people at the French Garden Pragash were now new owners, renting from the regular good owners, and that they'd caused trouble for everyone around them on the beach. That they weren't locals, they were foreigners, and bad people. (Egenia had said the same. She said that Wednesday night their tuktuk driver had been waylaid by the Pragash's owners afterward and harangued for stealing their customers.)
Anyway, soon enough we arrived on the island. We'd taken one set of snorkeling equipment lent to us by Alberto, but had to rent two other pairs. What we got was not great. Two masks, one with a tube. The guys kindly let me use the singular good mask and fins, and took the crappy ones. We plopped our stuff down on the small beach area, and got into the water.
This portion of the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka was especially badly battered by the tsunami in 2004, which has left scars on most of the inhabitants if not on the sea-life and coral. There were definitely signs that life was rehabilitating and returning to the area. Lovely bright neon yellow coral and some hidden areas with plenty of fishies.
Olivier took the only other tube (and actually at one point he lost it in the waters...but I found it!)...so poor Alfonso had neither a tube to breathe from or fins. Cabron he called Olivier, when we returned from swimming about, Alfonso had floundered around in a small inlet area, but hadn't been able to venture out much at all. We'd spent about 1.5 hours snorkeling around the island. It was time to head back. Dozens of local Sri Lankan kids were now also swimming in the waters, some of them bathing with soap. My towel was missing, and I felt self-conscious standing around with two soldiers at a checkpoint a few feet away and all the local children. Alfonso gave me his large tee-shirt while we stood around. The fisherman said a local boy must have taken the towel, and after a few calls on his cell phone said he'd located it, and would talk to my hotel (who had given me the towel) and get it back to them. "You have no luck," Alfonso said to me.
Well, then we headed back by boat, arriving home with about 15 minutes to spare before lunch, which was at 1:30ish. I hopped in the shower, then came downstairs. We had a delicious looking tomato-based pasta with prawns, salad, and fruit for dessert. Egenia said she'd gone out to the fishermen earlier that morning and found a lovely looking 4-kilo Red Snapper fish. She would cook that for our dinner. Yum.
A bit after lunch we got changed again and headed out to swim more with the Russian ladies, who only had an hour or two left before they had to leave for the train station back to Colombo. The cloud had started to cloud up earlier and it looked dark and menacing, winds were also picking up, but the water was still nice and warm. At about 4 p.m., we got out of the water and said our goodbyes. They both had given me their contact info, Tatiana gave me some cream for my mosquito bites and told me (via her daughter) that she would email me using Google translate. They both invited me to their places if I were every in Russia.
I headed back to my room to chill out for a bit before the USA versus Slovenia soccer match at 7:30 p.m. We made a dazzling comeback from being down 2-0 to tying 2-2. Then, with only a few minutes to spare in the game, we scored again. But the ref, disallowed the goal for some bizarre foul apparently prior to the score, which he never did explain and no video replay seemed to confirm. Soccer needs official video review now. And that's all I'll say on that issue. Alberto, Alfonso and Olivier were all cheering for the USA as well, and it was quite nice have a supportive crowd. At about 8:30 p.m. Egenia brought out the beautiful fish and popped it on the table. It was ready, and had been barbecued to perfection in foil, but the game had 22 minutes to go still. My stomach had been rumbling since 6 p.m., but there was no question that I was focused on the game. What struck me most about that call by the ref (who is from Mali) is that there was no explanation given, and very little commentary afterward by the ESPN India commentators. It was a big big deal coming back from 2-0 to tie, but to have the possibility of a win, and then to have that stolen away? Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that I also started the day watching my Lakers kick Boston's butt in game seven of the finals. Actually, "watching" was more like it. I had to follow the live blog online because they weren't showing it on TV. It was an overall pretty decent sport day.
After the match we headed right to the dinner table and there was salad, chicken, fish, and then pineapple, passion fruit, and mango fruit salad for dessert (all my favorite fruits!). It had been a lovely day. The Spaniard and the Frenchman (they call themselves my bodyguards) were planning to head out Saturday (today) in the evening for Sigiriya and Dambulla. I will probably stay another day or two here (Egenia said she will go out with me if I swim), before I maybe meet Alfonso in Arguam Bay and go with him to Yala National Park a few days from now, and then meet Olivier in Negombo before I head out of Sri Lankan on the 2nd of July. I can't believe I'm planning the end already. There's a possibility of climbing up Adam's Peak (a pilgrimage route) and possibility rafting with the two guys as well, but time is beginning to feel short.
Today started with breakfast and a beautiful swim in the ocean. It's been clear and blue, and very hot all day. (I'm running out of sunblock!)...Last night it stormed, and I could hear the waves crashing onto the beach. It made me wonder what it was like when the tsunami hit.
The only crappy thing that happened today was, of course, I seemed to find the only sharp object in the ocean, a nail or shell or something of that texture, and it cut the bottom of the second toe on my left foot. The blood mixed with salt and sand, and it was not a comfortable experience. Thankfully I travel with a first aid kit, and I was able to clean and dress it up nicely. I think my tetanus shot is up to date, so I don't believe that's a worry.
For lunch we had a beautiful salad again with some sweet potato and other potato cut up into it too. We had some delicious macaroni-like pasta with chicken. The Italians have taught Egenia well. They know how to live and eat. Rajah, 40 kilogram half laborador, half Rottweiler dog here, meanwhile, is obsessed with me. Literally jumping me and trying to lick me every chance he gets. He starts panting, and dripping drool...it's nice to be able to interact with doggies. He got a bit too interested this afternoon while I was reading, whining then barking (ouch my ears!), then literally jumping up on me on his hind legs. I do believe he was about to start trying to hump me...so I decided to move back to my couch and pretend that wasn't the case. Not the dog too!...
I will probably read a bit more, then go back for a swim this afternoon. I'm reading Dexter Filkins' "The Forever War," which is very very good, if not very depressing. I don't know why I keep reading depressing things while on vacation. Anyway, that's my update. Tomorrow I will probably do a walk on the beach, if not later this afternoon. I will probably leave Monday or Tuesday for Batticaloa, and from there to Arugam Bay, then Yala, and then somehow back to Colombo/Negombo.
IJW
Okay, enough of that. Friday I headed down to meet Alfonso and Olivier for breakfast. Egenia made me a delicious egg, we had lots of toast with pineapple jam, and some bananas and tea. Alfonso and Olivier had met a fisherman days back and arranged to head over to Pigeon Island, which is about a 45 minute to 1 hour boat north east of Uppuveli and past Nilavali Beach. Leaving from where we were, it would give a view of the northeastern coastline during the journey. The two guys asked me if I wanted to go along. I said sure. Then we decided on a plan of negotiation, got our money together and prepared to head out. Svetlana and her mother Tatiana came by to check on me and say hello. Tatiana, who barely who speaks no English commented on the fact that I looked much happier today. (Svetlana translated)...and I was. The two ladies said they would come back for lunch with us at 1:30 p.m. It was 10 a.m., right then, and time to head out.
The boat ride was beautiful, over the blue-ish waters, and under the blue sky. We passed a couple temples, along the way, as we skidded along the top of the water. My neck and head definitely felt the bouncing of the boat, but I tried to shock absorb with my core. The boat driver was a nice guy, and Alfonso and Olivier related a bit of what had happened to me Thursday to him. "Who is that f*cking guy?" he said in his Sri Lankan-accented English, his eyes flashing with anger. "Tell me. I will go to the police." The man had worked all his life as a fisherman and was just beginning to eek out a very decent existence now that the war was over and that tourists were slowly beginning to return. "You will write this, and no one will come." I told him not to worry, that a country should not be judged by its lowlifes, and that one man does not represent every other person there. The fisherman had had to go work in Saudi Arabia, and multiple other areas to try to make enough money for his family, he said. He was happy to be back, and happy to have tourists again. Though truly there are very few tourists here currently. The fisherman said the people at the French Garden Pragash were now new owners, renting from the regular good owners, and that they'd caused trouble for everyone around them on the beach. That they weren't locals, they were foreigners, and bad people. (Egenia had said the same. She said that Wednesday night their tuktuk driver had been waylaid by the Pragash's owners afterward and harangued for stealing their customers.)
Anyway, soon enough we arrived on the island. We'd taken one set of snorkeling equipment lent to us by Alberto, but had to rent two other pairs. What we got was not great. Two masks, one with a tube. The guys kindly let me use the singular good mask and fins, and took the crappy ones. We plopped our stuff down on the small beach area, and got into the water.
This portion of the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka was especially badly battered by the tsunami in 2004, which has left scars on most of the inhabitants if not on the sea-life and coral. There were definitely signs that life was rehabilitating and returning to the area. Lovely bright neon yellow coral and some hidden areas with plenty of fishies.
Olivier took the only other tube (and actually at one point he lost it in the waters...but I found it!)...so poor Alfonso had neither a tube to breathe from or fins. Cabron he called Olivier, when we returned from swimming about, Alfonso had floundered around in a small inlet area, but hadn't been able to venture out much at all. We'd spent about 1.5 hours snorkeling around the island. It was time to head back. Dozens of local Sri Lankan kids were now also swimming in the waters, some of them bathing with soap. My towel was missing, and I felt self-conscious standing around with two soldiers at a checkpoint a few feet away and all the local children. Alfonso gave me his large tee-shirt while we stood around. The fisherman said a local boy must have taken the towel, and after a few calls on his cell phone said he'd located it, and would talk to my hotel (who had given me the towel) and get it back to them. "You have no luck," Alfonso said to me.
Well, then we headed back by boat, arriving home with about 15 minutes to spare before lunch, which was at 1:30ish. I hopped in the shower, then came downstairs. We had a delicious looking tomato-based pasta with prawns, salad, and fruit for dessert. Egenia said she'd gone out to the fishermen earlier that morning and found a lovely looking 4-kilo Red Snapper fish. She would cook that for our dinner. Yum.
A bit after lunch we got changed again and headed out to swim more with the Russian ladies, who only had an hour or two left before they had to leave for the train station back to Colombo. The cloud had started to cloud up earlier and it looked dark and menacing, winds were also picking up, but the water was still nice and warm. At about 4 p.m., we got out of the water and said our goodbyes. They both had given me their contact info, Tatiana gave me some cream for my mosquito bites and told me (via her daughter) that she would email me using Google translate. They both invited me to their places if I were every in Russia.
I headed back to my room to chill out for a bit before the USA versus Slovenia soccer match at 7:30 p.m. We made a dazzling comeback from being down 2-0 to tying 2-2. Then, with only a few minutes to spare in the game, we scored again. But the ref, disallowed the goal for some bizarre foul apparently prior to the score, which he never did explain and no video replay seemed to confirm. Soccer needs official video review now. And that's all I'll say on that issue. Alberto, Alfonso and Olivier were all cheering for the USA as well, and it was quite nice have a supportive crowd. At about 8:30 p.m. Egenia brought out the beautiful fish and popped it on the table. It was ready, and had been barbecued to perfection in foil, but the game had 22 minutes to go still. My stomach had been rumbling since 6 p.m., but there was no question that I was focused on the game. What struck me most about that call by the ref (who is from Mali) is that there was no explanation given, and very little commentary afterward by the ESPN India commentators. It was a big big deal coming back from 2-0 to tie, but to have the possibility of a win, and then to have that stolen away? Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that I also started the day watching my Lakers kick Boston's butt in game seven of the finals. Actually, "watching" was more like it. I had to follow the live blog online because they weren't showing it on TV. It was an overall pretty decent sport day.
After the match we headed right to the dinner table and there was salad, chicken, fish, and then pineapple, passion fruit, and mango fruit salad for dessert (all my favorite fruits!). It had been a lovely day. The Spaniard and the Frenchman (they call themselves my bodyguards) were planning to head out Saturday (today) in the evening for Sigiriya and Dambulla. I will probably stay another day or two here (Egenia said she will go out with me if I swim), before I maybe meet Alfonso in Arguam Bay and go with him to Yala National Park a few days from now, and then meet Olivier in Negombo before I head out of Sri Lankan on the 2nd of July. I can't believe I'm planning the end already. There's a possibility of climbing up Adam's Peak (a pilgrimage route) and possibility rafting with the two guys as well, but time is beginning to feel short.
Today started with breakfast and a beautiful swim in the ocean. It's been clear and blue, and very hot all day. (I'm running out of sunblock!)...Last night it stormed, and I could hear the waves crashing onto the beach. It made me wonder what it was like when the tsunami hit.
The only crappy thing that happened today was, of course, I seemed to find the only sharp object in the ocean, a nail or shell or something of that texture, and it cut the bottom of the second toe on my left foot. The blood mixed with salt and sand, and it was not a comfortable experience. Thankfully I travel with a first aid kit, and I was able to clean and dress it up nicely. I think my tetanus shot is up to date, so I don't believe that's a worry.
For lunch we had a beautiful salad again with some sweet potato and other potato cut up into it too. We had some delicious macaroni-like pasta with chicken. The Italians have taught Egenia well. They know how to live and eat. Rajah, 40 kilogram half laborador, half Rottweiler dog here, meanwhile, is obsessed with me. Literally jumping me and trying to lick me every chance he gets. He starts panting, and dripping drool...it's nice to be able to interact with doggies. He got a bit too interested this afternoon while I was reading, whining then barking (ouch my ears!), then literally jumping up on me on his hind legs. I do believe he was about to start trying to hump me...so I decided to move back to my couch and pretend that wasn't the case. Not the dog too!...
I will probably read a bit more, then go back for a swim this afternoon. I'm reading Dexter Filkins' "The Forever War," which is very very good, if not very depressing. I don't know why I keep reading depressing things while on vacation. Anyway, that's my update. Tomorrow I will probably do a walk on the beach, if not later this afternoon. I will probably leave Monday or Tuesday for Batticaloa, and from there to Arugam Bay, then Yala, and then somehow back to Colombo/Negombo.
IJW
posted by IJW at 3:07 PM
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