Sigiriya

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One of my favorite fieldtrips was to Sigiriya. After so many days of rain, we got lucky, the day was absolutely beautiful. I know that it sounds horrible, but I do not excersize. I cant even remember the last time I excersized. Houston is a very lazy city. We do not walk. We climb into our cars to just drive down the driveway to the mailbox to get our mail. So, I hoped that I would be able to climb that beautiful mountain without huffing and puffing. I did it! The climb was not as bad as I thought it would be. Along our climb, we had a tour guide. Im sorry, but I must admit, I could not understand what the man was saying. So, all that he said went in one ear and out the other. All that I can remember him saying over and over was: "During the time of the king ..." Although the history of this mountain was difficult to understand, the view made up for it. It was really great to also see so many people from so many parts of the world all sharing in this same experience.
Now, something "Sri Lankan" had to happen. This lovely day had to be distrubed. After our climb, we decided to have lunch at a nearby resthouse. Everyone was having a good time, looking forward to a nice lunch after such a perfect climb. Chris and I decided to look at some of the local souvenirs they had right outside the restaurant, when suddenly a huge six foot snake slithered by. I screamed! I could have sworn that my dad, back here in Houston (yes, all the way on the other side of the world, heard my scream.) "Oh, it was just a rat snake," they said. "Just a rat snake?" I thought to my self. Snake is the key word here. That thing needed to be behind glass at a zoo, or on some designer shoes, not a few feet away from us. I was paranoid the rest of the day. I had to sit indian style on my chair as I ate lunch, because I thought that more would slither by and want to dance inbetween my toes.

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