A belated birthday present of a spa-like treatment for my face in Pottivil.
The mischievous monkey on the road and the girl-watching game were two funny parts of our day. Another early morning – We were jumping the locked gate of our guesthouse before 6AM. Only the wild dogs of Arugam bBay were waiting for us. Today, we were making a sunrise pilgrimage to the Buddhist Temple along the beach. We have been told that everyday buses arrive from Colombo carrying pilgrims – an 8 hour journey – just to see this Temple. An 8 hour bus ride cost about $3. Believe it or not. We have been told that 20 years ago, maybe as recent as 10 years ago a loaf of bread cost 4 cents. Now bread has risen (do not say a word), bread has risen to 60 cents a loaf. I want to take back what I had said earlier about Sri Lankan Sunrises not being spectacular, because this morning’s sunrise was spectacular. Soft light. Big su. Nice water. Great Temperature. We walked along the beach North. Nice to be able to walk and not be bothered by beeping (that’s beeping not bleeping) tuk-tuk drivers or others asking if you want a ride or where are you going. One guy did approach us in the middle of the beach of nowhere and two other young boys at the Temple were trying to be friendly enough. My cautiousness is not able to completely tell is the friendly is genuine. I wish I had just one Sri Lankan friend I could trust and they would interpret for me what these encounters are all about. The Temple was interesting with one set of old ruins with 3 people carved out of stone. Nothing really special, but the statues looked pretty old. After the Temple, we took the back way into the city of Pottivil. While walking the back streets of Pootivil we were watched on every corner. I do not think many foreigners have attempted this route, at least not with two too cute light children. People, mostly children, would pop their heads out of their gates to catch a look at the foreigners with the baby foreigners walking through their dirt street neighborhood. We saw a number of all-in-black-Muslim women, which we have really not seen except in the airports. As we neared town, Dwana pointed out a Man-Spa (Barber Shop), so seeing how I had not shaved in over a week, Viena and Dwana convinced me to have a shave – a real shave – with real sharp real razor blades. I even paid extra for a scalp shake – brain vibration – not sure how to describe the experience. The barber had a bumper sticker of Psalm 91:10. Look it up. I survived, and now I have the closest shave I have ever had – just ask Viena or Dwana. We caught a tuk-tuk back to Arugam Bay. Viena loves riding in the Tuk-tuks. The heat of the day was upon us so we rested in A/C and prepared for our elephant tuk-tuk ride that I was talked into by our tuk-tuk driver ($10). On our evening tuk-tuk ride we were able to spot 4 elephants which is exactly the same number of girls that Dwana and I spotted on the streets of Pottivil as we played our new game – “spot a girl”. We must have seen 400 men and just 4 women. Any questions?
oneworldtwokids 