Sri Lanka At Last!

We have made it to Sri Lanka finally! I say finally because it feels like twenty years we have been talking about coming here (okay, it has been twenty years).

I am really glad we did.

We have been here five days, and I feel like I am sliding into this state of peace here already. I suppose it is possible to have a connection to a place? All I can really say is that my baseline anxiety has decreased to almost nothing, and the demons in my head have shuffled sulkily back off to their comfortable places in my mind. I feel at rest here. My being is quieter than it has felt in a long time. Every time we are out, in a tuk tuk, or on the motorbike, I get overwhelmed with how beautiful this place is. It is constant saturation of sights, sounds, and smells, and a rural, primitive beauty I haven’t found elsewhere.

This is the view from our place, and directly opposite that, the taller building in the back is where we will be spending the next two to three months.

A fisherman and a skinny bird in the ocean in front of our place.

Oh, and there is this: The weather forecast here. Windy and warm.

Perfect.

There is just so much water here. We are staying in the North West part of the island right now, and there are these beautiful saltwater lagoons with mangroves and palms everywhere. It is just such a wild landscape.

This was a local cricket match between municipal league teams. A long-time dream of mine is to get to spend an entire day watching a 50/50 match, getting stupid drunk on beer, and realizing that I know absolutely nothing about the game of cricket. A couple of the local guys in the village said they would take Tam and I out and teach us to play, and we could take part in some local pick-up matches.

Softball style though, not the hardball one that can seriously injure people.

The kiting here is in protected lagoons (you can kite in the open ocean as well), in dreamy flat water with great wind. You just have a bunch of wild donkeys wandering around the launch and land area to watch out for, but they are super friendly, a bit skittish, and ridiculously cute.

These little guys are everywhere also. On the road, in the yard, on the beach, you name it. They are all really relaxed, and friendly and easy to approach. They are like pets. The goats have to wear these triangles of sticks around their necks in order to keep them from sneaking through fences and into yards, and destroying people’s farms and gardens.

The cutest little puppies ever!

And some really scruffy sad dogs too.