Aric

The last few days have been a blur of activity. The second day at Bigfoot, volcano boarding was in order. Five of us from, the U.S., England and Israel took the crazy oath to battle El Cerro Negro. There was an hour climb up the steep volcano before the one minute descent down. I was pretty tired from my first night's festivities, but woke up around 7am. Feeling guilty from the alcohol consumption, I inquired about the location of a gym and found one. I walked over, worked out in a dungeon-like room with curious locals, and returned to the hostel for a quick breakfast and our volcano boarding adventure. I still hadn't showered since leaving the US. It didn't make much sense to prior to boarding, so I decided to wait. We loaded up onto ... read more

Sri Lankans are a beautiful people. They assist each other without expectation. I saw it in Ratnapura, when the different gem traders all crowded themselves into one office. It didn't matter who sold me the jewel, just that someone did. I saw it on the bus rides when strangers would take the child of parents on a very crowded bus and let them squeeze next to them on a seat or on their laps. I saw it when strangers would help the old carry bags and boxes on and off buses or into cars. It was infectious. They also smile from deep within, way down in the soul, radiating out. I saw it in their sparkling eyes and wide lipped grins every time they spied a shirtless, tattooed, sarong wrapped Korean American walking down the busy ... read more

A rooster crowing is a powerful alarm. It definitely works. As it crowed, my eyes fluttered open. As usual, laying in bed was not an option. I would be unable to return to a deep slumber. Besides, we all had plans together, an early start on our last full day/night in Tangelle. Audrey, David and I headed for a swim down the beach. Marion stayed behind. The waves in front of our guest house were too powerful to frolic in. Audrey's small frame wouldn't allow it. Even David and I had been tossed around violently by the waves the afternoon prior. I also wanted to visit a temple to pray, something that I had not been able to do in a few days, since the boys three day party fest in Hikkaduwa. it was time to ... read more

4/26 The next two days weren't very eventful in the cultural sense. The girls never showed up to lunch, but we did run into Dominique while traversing the main road. It turned out that Kerry was sick all morning. Apparently, something she ate or drank didn't agree with her. So we invited Dominique to come and hang with us as Kerry recovered. We walked up and down the main road then back to our hotel for a walk up and down the beach. We settled at an outdoor beach Nara few hundred yards form our own hotel and had lunch. Kerry eventually joined us. We ate and had a few beers before starting the party at our hotel bar. We saw some of the same people. I got into a long conversation with a Swiss chap ... read more

The ladies left prior to our waking. Today was the day I had been preparing for, one of the main reasons I came to Sri Lanka, besides a spiritual retreat. Today was elephant fun day! I had my eyes set on the Millenium Elephant Foundation, a non profit housing elephants for educational and recreational purposes. A bigger sanctuary/national park was available, but I had read that it was less hands on. We walked toward downtown and met a tuk tuk driver on the way. We negotiated and hired him for the day for about 10 dollars. He was veryfriendly, as are most Sri Lankans. Our first stop was the FounDation. For 30 dollars, we were able to bathe, get showered by, and ride an elephant. Of course, we had to share the same elephant, which was ... read more