The Martin's Blog

Helen – It’s a Leap Year!  And we are getting ready for another trip; we are going to Uda Walawe National Park for an elephant safari.  The park was opening again after being closed for over two months because of security.  There were two bombings in another national park.  We are only going to spend an overnight and probably be gone about 24 hours so you would think “not much to do”.

 We did not walk this morning because our guests left at 11pm and by the time we cleaned up the kitchen, we were ready for bed.  Good thing I had that long walk with my students.  I cooked lunch which was a mixture of cuisines…they gave me some leaves with stalks which they grow behind the PE building and I cooked these with garlic.  Then I cooked yellow dal (yellow lentils) which I added to the greens with some coconut milk and served it over rice.  It was really quite good and Tom said it was “a do again.”  Then I had to clean the kitchen (both outside and inside) so that the ants wouldn’t have a party while we were gone.  Counters had to be washed, all food put away in the refrigerator, floors swept.  It’s funny what you get used to like the gecko’s climbing the walls and ants everywhere (in the kitchen, the bathrooms, all the rooms).  You can’t leave anything out.  I hate the tiny, tiny ants in the kitchen that get into all food and when you try to clean them up they just continue to climb up your arms.  You can hardly see them but you can feel them!!

After throwing our clean up bags and a few other things into the back packs and stopping at the office to update the blog (and leave the computer locked in the office!) we were off.  The park is about 90 Km (54 m) away and it took about 3 hours travel time going 40-50 kph (25 mph) when possible and it felt like we were flying with the curving roads, construction, and general traffic as we mentioned before.  The first picture Tom took was of a boat that had been moved inland by the tsunami being finally returned to the water.

The second was an old man in a wagon pulled by a bull cow.  

In the first town, he took a picture of a man carrying a bed from a support over his shoulder.  It was flexible and rocked as he walked right down the middle of the street.  

We were hoping to reach our destination by 5:30 or before dark.  Roads are not marked too well for passing, but the general rule is not to pass a policeman on a motorcycle.  I guess Tom forgot this rule, as he passed two motorcycles (the lead having two policemen) going around a curve.  Of course, they pulled him over and in their limited English told him it was dangerous to pass on a curve.  One of them was ready to give him a ticket, but the other kept scolding Tom and stressing his point, and Tom was agreeing with him.  The driver finally called the other officer and they left.  Close call!!!

When we were getting close to our destination, I began reading the directions from the Lonely Planet travel book.  We had made a reservation for the night at the Walawa Safari Village Hotel.  The book only recommended two hotels and we found the first one which was supposed to be 8 km from the park entrance.  According to the book, our hotel was 10km from the entrance but we were on a different road.  We stopped at a police station to ask for directions and they sent us back the way we came saying we missed it.  We think they are wrong but turn around and stop at the first hotel to ask directions.  Looked like the jeep drivers were drunk and they kept asking us if we wanted rooms there…so we said “thank you” and left.  Now we tried to call our hotel and no one answered.  We were going back to the closest town rereading the directions and trying to make sense of them as we kept calling the hotel.  Finally, the hotel answers and tells us to turn around and to continue pass the police station, the other hotel and then make a left turn when we see the big sign.  Ok, he was close, we had to make a right turn, but we were there before dark and dinner was to be served in an hour.  This was a really elegant place.  It had five bungalows with 5 rooms each. Each room had its own front little sitting area separated by a gate and fence; 5 rooms (including ours) were air conditioned, large bathroom and clean linens and towels.  This was heaven after Ratnapura!!!  The bungalows were separated by stone walkways and lovely bushes and forest trees.  The reception area had great maps and info about the parks and the dining room was clean and lovely.  We were the ONLY guests on the first night before the opening of the park.  The cuisine was Chinese with corn egg drop soup; fried rice; and three main courses, fish (they say fis), vegetable, and chicken.  They were all delicious but the chicken was hot!!  Refreshing pineapple for dessert and we were off to bed by 8:45 having to be in the jeep at 6:15am. 

Tom – I took pictures at the University of Ruhuna today and have also added some others that were taken during my instructor and student classes.  This is a view after entering the main gate.

Views looking back toward main gate and Indian Ocean

University Buddha

 Athletic (Cricket) Field

Gymnasium and Physical Education Offices

Classroom (locker room) for presentations to Physical Education faculty

Instructing students in weight room

I bought a clock to use for timing on the walking/jogging course we made on university roads

Helen – We had to postpone Mexican night from last night till tonight.  As of yesterday, Luke, from the hotel still hadn’t gotten his list of ingredients: cilantro (coriander leaves), avocados, tortillas (they have an Indian frozen flat bread or a thicker flat bread that they use), ground beef, cheddar cheese (Kraft processed is the closest thing), sour cream (buffalo curd, and not bad).  I made the refried black beans (OK, they were red cow beans, close!!) on Monday and was waiting to add the cilantro, this morning I made the brownies and was going to use Rachael’s (Irish, owns a two room guest house and also does massage) oven.  I had to walk through two yards, up a hill, through a gate and a laundry line of clothes to get to her house just to tell her to warm the oven and that I would be back in about 15 minutes with the brownies.  Walked back to assemble them and then walked back to bake them.  I had to sit there for 25 minutes till they were done, so we had a nice chat.  She is sort of dating a Sri Lankan guy (married) who is also coming to the dinner.  “Babasan” a Japanese fellow will be there as well.  He is here for three months; it is winter in Japan and he teaches swimming to the very young and the old folks.  His English isn’t very good but he is a really nice guy.  His main purpose here is to surf and eat.  He surfs at least twice a day and you wouldn’t believe the food he puts away!! 

I talked to Luke again about his shopping list and to tell him I have to go to school from 2-6:30; dinner is planned for 8:30 and our menu includes beef tacos (we bought the shells and seasoning mix at the PX), black beans/tomato salsa, refried black bean dip, cheese-mushroom-beans-chicken, added quesadillas, chicken enchiladas, plus the toppings.  I got home from work, quickly showered and went over to get the rest of the ingredients to start.  Nicole, Luke’s wife and Rachael were supposed to help with the preparations since they don’t cook!!  Rachael is lying on the couch, she has had a rough day as has Nicole but they will be over shortly to help.  I return and start chopping onions and mushrooms when Rachael comes with frozen ground beef and chicken!!!  There is no microwave oven here!!!   She said Nicole forgot to defrost it.  So I cut it into thin slices and had her watch it over the stove as it defrosted…this is going to be a long night!  The tortillas are thicker but should taste good, so we decide to forgo the enchiladas and double up on the quesadillas (life is easier already!).  Nicole comes over and says no avocados, no cilantro, sorry!!   She started to chop tomatoes but when I gave her the lettuce, she just looked at me and asked how do I chop this…by the time I showed her I had finished it.  She said you make it look so easy!! 

We were going to eat at the hotel since we didn’t have enough room here and they set a lovely table.  We had more than enough food and they seemed to enjoy everything.  We divided the leftovers and went home stuffed!!  Poor Luke couldn’t eat with us because the chef for his hotel had a fish bone in his hand and had to go to the hospital so he had to cook dinner for his guests and then clean the kitchen; he was just finishing as we were leaving…I did give him his brownie in the kitchen for extra energy!!  They don’t really plan ahead so working with them can be a challenge but they are really nice people and I am glad that they are close by!!!  Luke was also planting bushes by his fence for extra privacy.  I don’t think it is going to work because he had soaked the branches (freshly cut) in water for a few hours and now stuck them into the ground and said he was going to water.  The soil is very hard and he didn’t loosen it at all.  I mentioned that maybe he should loosen the soil, soak the branches until they begin to root a little, and perhaps use a little cow manure in the soil.  He said he did it this way before and it should work.  I asked what happened to the shrubs before and he said they died!!  Oh well, maybe he knows something I don’t!!

I wasn’t too anxious to see the walking class today because Kanthi had told Tom that no one showed last Thursday.  While we were away, I had lesson plans and charts for them to fill out after their walks.  Kanthi couldn’t be there on Tuesday and Vini (the PE instructor) was supposed to take that lesson and then Kanthi would do it on Thursday. When I got there and asked Vini what happened on Tuesday, she replied that she had a meeting.  The students said they had come and no one was there so they didn’t bother coming on Thursday either.  Vini has no sense of responsibility and feels insecure.  She doesn’t pay much attention when I am lecturing either.  But she is quick to tell us that she was  a national 400m runner and walker champion when she was 17, even showed us the newspaper clippings.  Now she is 49 and living in the past!!

We had to walk 2.5 miles (they were supposed to walk 2.5 and 3.0 last week) and so now we are behind schedule.  I only have about 3 more lessons with them and don’t know if we will be able to get to 4 miles…sad thing is that I am sure that they will all stop when I go, so it is difficult to see that I will make a difference for them.

Helen – This morning Irene made hot oatmeal for us (someone had given it to Ruki because it is difficult to find here) because she thought we would enjoy it…we did, even though it was hot!!

Then we were off to tour parts of the city that we had not seen before.  Since the car was being repaired, we took a Tuk-Tuk and asked the driver to take us to the Grand Mosque. 

The driver said he knew where it was but he took us to the Red Mosque.  It is 100 years old and under quite a bit of reconstruction.  We were not allowed to go inside and there wasn’t much to see outside.  But the caretaker there could speak English and told us about the Mosque.

Then Tom asked him about the Grand Mosque and he said this wasn’t it and we had to walk to it.  It was really, really hot and we were in the busiest trade center (Pettah) part of town (not the safest we were told) but we decided to walk so we could get the real flavor and smell of this part of the city.  This is the most diverse part of town with Muslims, Catholics, Dutch Reformists, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. living and working side by side.  Tom took pictures of each house of worship. 

Dutch Reformists

Catholic

Hindu

The streets were divided by wares such as: clothes, accessories, fabrics, gold, pans, etc.  I bought some sea shells for 500 rupees.

That evening we dressed up and took a taxi to the Mt Lavinia Hotel to have drinks on the terrace and watch the sunset.  There are always complications but we made it with a few minutes to spare and had our drinks in our hands as the sun went down.  This is one of the grandest hotels right on the beach.  The terrace was set around the pool and because it was a Poya Day (Holy Day), no alcohol could be served.  The iced cafes were delicious but would prove to keep us awake that night!!  After the sun set we toured the hotel.  The grand ballroom was breath taking with its extra-huge cut glass chandelier from a very high ceiling.  The tables were all in white double long cloths and the chairs in white covers with large bows in the back.  Doors on one side opened to a terrace overlooking the ocean and could bring in cool breezes.  We went to the shopping gallery and looked inside a jewelry shop.  Gold is at a high even here and I don’t particularly like the 22 karat gold color.  Rings are made in 18 karat because it is stronger.  We looked at the blue sapphires and their color is truly dark and rich.  One ring was priced at about $1000 but he said since we were Americans we could have it for $350!!!  Something is amiss here!!

We had dinner reservations there under the pavilion overlooking the ocean.  They have a different buffet theme each day of the week but we were not interested in that night’s choice of East Asia (Chinese, Mongolian, and Sri Lankan) foods so ordered Australian Beef Tenderloin, French fries, and salad from the menu.  This is the first beef we have had since we arrived here in January and we enjoyed every bite!!!  We weren’t tired (coffee!) when we returned home, so I knitted and watched some TV (don’t have TV in Matara) while Tom worked on the computer.

It was a sleepless night, hot and sticky even with the fan.  I finally had to take a simply sleep around 3am only to be awaken at 6:30.  In the bathroom I noticed that the right side of my chest was especially sticky and thought “OH NO!! but the answer was “OH YES!!” my prosthesis had sprung a leak.  Well, a long story short, called Ann to see if she could send my spare from home and it wasn’t possible.  After some investigation, she said I needed a special medical permit and it would cost about $250 to send by DHL.  So I guess I will try to find one here and if not, keep wrapping it in saran wrap as long as possible!