Okay, let the story unfold and I`ll try not to leave out too many details. On Tuesday, Feb 15 (Happy Birthday Mum) I awoke fairly early to the now familiar sounds of Murtaza`s mother in the kitchen. I said goodbye to Fathema and Murtaza as they left for work, then to Murtaza`s mother and aunt as they departed for mosque. I packed my things, made myself some milky chai, and then Murtaza`s father graciously helped me catch an AC bus to Induruwa, for which I was surely overcharged by the smiling conductor (alas, not so different from India in this regard, the only difference is that they`re so damn nice while they`re ripping you off, something I have a hard time dealing with. I mean, how do you contest a price when they`re smiling at you like you`re their best friend?! At least in India they were never so nice about it.). No need to get too upset though, he probably ripped me off by the equivalent of about fifty cents, maybe a whole dollar.
*And let me digress for a moment, and I assure you, this post will be full of digressions so bear with me, but after seeing and experiencing how people live over the past week, I feel a bit more relaxed about getting ripped off from time to time. That's not to say I don't still try not to let it happen, nor did I ever really lose any sleep about it before, but just that I know that no one is ripping you off by fifty cents so that they can polish their ferrari, you know? At the very worst, it's going towards their next bottle of Arrak, but more likely, they'll buy their kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings, or parents some chocolate, at least I like to hope it's for something fun and frivolous. *
The AC "bus" was actually just a van, and it was cramped and packed full of people. Everyone shuffled me to what I presume is considered the primo spot, right under the AC, right behind the driver. It was quite terrible for me though, as my hair was still wet from my shower, so the cold air blasting on my wet head, along with the cool drips from the AC on my legs, made for a less than comfortable journey. Of course, I could not possibly go anywhere on my own without meeting someone, so I quickly made friends with the man beside me, Sanji. I was hoping that this friendship would assist in getting me off at the right place, and it almost worked; I was let off at a fancy resort about 2km farther than I wanted to be. Close, right? No worries though, I started walking and I called the owner of the place I had booked, Pinsiri, and he came and picked me up.
The guest house was lovely and I felt immediately at ease with the family feel of the place. After sleeping in a living room for the past 4 nights I was relieved to have a bit of privacy and a beautiful porch from which to gaze at the aquamarine waves crashing on the pristine white sand beach. I had a delicious lunch of leeks, green beans, fish, and beets followed by curd and treacle for desert. Unfortunately, they had no room for me for the following night, and it is hard to find affordable accommodation. Pinsiri said he would help find me another place to stay, but just to be sure, I called Senure's friend, Dan, who lives in a beautiful house amidst the tourist attraction, Brief Gardens. Dan was super helpful, but in the end it was Pinsiri who found me another guest house down the road at a place called Venus Tourist Lodge.
I spent the rest of the day swimming in the Indian Ocean, walking along the shores, and then in the evening I played some card games with some female German tourists. It was interesting that everyone staying at the guest house, save for one couple, were all female.
The next morning Pinsiri dropped me off at my new guesthouse then went back to Long Beach (his guesthouse) to pick up 2 of the German women while I got settled in. I was immediately welcomed by Kumare, who showed me my room and got me some water and such. Pinsiri picked me up anon, and dropped me off at the Turtle Hatchery where I was shown the cycle of turtle protection in Sri Lanka. Handun, my guide, walked me through the farm and gave me a talk on all the turtles, followed by his personal experience with the 2004 tsunami where he lost his girlfriend and home. He invited me to come back later to release some of the young turtles into the ocean. I agreed to come and he said he would personally pick me up at 7 (I probably should have been a little more alert given his assertion that he would personally pick me up, but sometimes I am still so naive).
After my visit to the hatchery, I decided to go visit Dan at Brief Gardens. I had texted Dan to get the directions, which were a little confusing, but what the hell, I had all day to get there... and that was a good thing.
First I caught a bus to one town, Amabalangoda, and again I got ripped off by the conductor (chocolates for grandma!) who charged me fifty rupees (on the way back it was only 12, so now I know). Then I had to change buses to another local bus (who did not, incidentally, rip me off). This shouldn't have been too complicated, but it was a bit confusing, and I decided then that I would learn Sinhalese. Anyway, half an hour later I was on my way inland, sitting beside a toothless man who kept showing me pictures of Bollywood actresses on his phone. Even if we couldn't communicate with language, it was pretty clear he was being sleazy, regardless, thanks to him I got off only about half a kilometer past my stop, from where I began my trek to Brief Gardens. A tuk-tuk pulled up alongside me and asked where I was going. He offered to take me for 200 rupees, but I talked him down to 100 rupees and off we went. It turns out that even the locals pay 150 rupees for this same trip, so I guess I got the good deal this time! *What's so funny to me about this is that it's not as though I am unwilling to pay the fair price, but because I really don't know what it should be, I often end up getting totally ripped off, or I get it for less than the locals would pay! So strange really.*
Brief Gardens were beautiful, and Dan, even though he had a terrible cold, sat down and had tea and biscuits with me. After, I explored the gardens on my own, which would have been a lot nicer with some company; I kept thinking how fun it would have been when I was a kid. The place was like what I imagined the Secret Garden to look like.
Dan got his driver to give me a lift back to the bus stall. The bus stand wasn't really a bust stand, but rather just a fork in the road. I wasn't exactly clear which way I wanted the bus to go, so I asked the only English speaker around, a young man named Mihiran, who said he would help me. Mihiran was waiting for a ride, and when his ride got there before any sign of a bus, he offered me a lift to Ambalangoda. I accepted, but then I immediately felt a little bit nervous that I had. Sometimes I wonder at how trusting I can be! Luckily, either my intuition is working, or there is an angel on my shoulder, because I got the lift and sure enough, they kindly dropped me off at the bus stand in Ambalangoda, where I easily (this time!) got a bus back to Induruwa.
Back at Venus I had some fruit salad with ice cream and then waited for my lift from Handun, who arrived right on time (actually, as I found out later, he was waiting outside for half an hour). We picked up some beer and then went to collect the baby turtles ready for release. It was great fun, we had a race between all the babies (5 of them) into the ocean. Handun's won. Then we had a campfire and drank some beer and he drove me back (where I skillfully avoided a goodnight kiss). Back at Venus, where I forgot to mention that my room smelled strangely sickly sweet (is that raid?), I sat outside and had a late night sandwich. Kumare had clearly also taken a shining to me, so I decided that I should leave the next morning. Next stop: Hikkaduwa. (And that only brings me to the 17th)
Okay, I want to go surfing now, so I'm going to leave it there for the moment. I'll have to continue this saga later. As I said before, I have a lot to tell.
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