The Martin's Blog

We have to contend with these dogs each morning.  They are from the village and protect the fishing boat.  There is one in particular that will sometimes come at us – so we always carry a stick!

After many calls and much frustration in the morning, I typed up a summary of our thefts with all the relevant information I could think of and we went downtown to the police station with Kanthi to face the three potential thieves.  The suspects ranked according to likelihood of guilt where: 1. Hewadasakavage the young electrician, 2. Sumathipala our groundkeeper, and Bala the carpenter.  The officer in charge grilled all three.  He asked if I would drop the case if we got our goods back – I said yes. 

They went and did a quick search of Hewadasakavage’s and Bali’s houses but did not find anything.  I was asked if I would wait until 9am the following day to file a complaint in order to give the young man and his family (police officer knew the father) a chance to come up with the goods – I said yes.  My entire day was spent on this issue and I missed both of my classes!  Kanthi and Helen returned to campus for the walking class even though they were a little late.  The police officer said that he would stop by the house about 6 to see the layout of the rooms.  He came about 7:30 and took the phone description with him.

Here is an example of an email received from the US Embassy:

Warden Message Feb 5, 2008

On February 3, 11 civilians were killed and approximately 100 were injured when a suicide attacker detonated an explosive device inside the Fort Railway Station.  On February 2, a bomb on a bus from Kandy , headed for Anaradhapura, exploded at Dambulla and killed 18 civilians and injured over 50. 

In light of such attacks against civilian targets traveling in buses and trains, American citizens are strongly advised against traveling by bus or train in Sri Lanka .  The U.S. Embassy is prohibiting official Americans from using these modes of transportation.

I’m glad we have a rental car!  That is, when the traffic is not too bad – I’ll write about driving in Sri Lanka later.