The Martin's Blog

Helen – We left the house at 7:30 am for the tea plantation just outside Deniyaya.  Kanthi thought it best if we hired a driver since we wouldn’t be able to read signs or ask for directions.  She found a Tuk-Tuk driver from the university to take us.  He came a little late and then we had to go back to his house because he forgot the directions and phone numbers.  How’s that for a good start??  He wasn’t used to an automatic transmission and had a little trouble on the switchback mountain roads being in the wrong gear or going too fast in the gear he was using.  Tom finally had to explain it to him though he didn’t know English very well so who knows what he comprehended.  He drove like a bat out of hell and I was thankful that I was in the back seat.  

The scenery was lovely once we got out of the city and started going inland.  We went through several smaller towns and they all seem the same: congested and dirty with nothing I wanted to stop and see.  The distance covered was about 50 miles and took us over 2 hours; I will leave the rest to your imagination.  Dr. Kamala (don’t get confused with our house agent) the owner of the first smaller tea plantation is a very good family friend of Kanthi’s husband; both husbands had gone to school together when they were young.  Therefore, Kanthi had asked her to show us her plantation and property before continuing to the tea factory.  When we arrived she had a lovely tea table set with cheese, biscuits, bananas, and local sweets.  She didn’t speak English very much though she could read and understand it very well.  She had no one to practice speaking with and therefore felt inadequate using it with us.  Her husband (also a physician with a clinic in town) had asked another friend, Nicki, who previously worked in the tourist trade and spoke English, if he would be available to spend the day with us and he did. 

While we had our refreshments, Nicki explained that Dr. Kamala had a small clinic at the end of her driveway to serve the locals with their medical needs.  She is considered quite the gardener and is responsible for cultivating the tea harvest along with many other agricultural endeavors. Many of the smaller plantations harvest tea leaves and then sell them to the local factories to be processed.  She plants black pepper trees and clove trees in with the tea bushes to shade them and thus has another product for income.  She also cultivates cardamom, cinnamon trees, several orange trees, wood apples (nothing even close to our apple!!), mangos, papayas, and herbs.  I am sure that I have forgotten several of the other crops.  She showed us how she devised a watering ditch system for the garden and took us to the fresh water well which was fed from a natural spring.  There we found her pet tortoise which at the moment was the size of a large coconut.  They are expected to live 300 years (ok, Heather, who is going to take care of Fred after the next 60??)  She also showed us pictures of her dogs.  There were 4: a tiger Boxer, a German Shepherd, a pomp Marian, and a brown one with a white chest.  Nicki said that she treats them better than most people do their children, so we were surprised to see them in separate cages and not near each other.

Do you see the chameleon?

Near the garden they are building a new house for their daughter who is in medical school.  I asked if she was engaged…of course not, but you have to plan ahead for the dowry.  On first glance the house looked great with the wooden inserts above the windows and doors for ventilation but inside you noticed how lacking the electrical and plumbing systems are.  The kitchen was therefore also very primitive according to our standards.  The bedrooms were small with only one electrical outlet per room.  Her 83-year-old mother was staying in one of the bedrooms at this time.

Nicki was now going to take us to the Hanford Tea Plantation Factory while she prepared lunch for us.  We never expected such gracious hospitality.  She is a very warm, vivacious person and I wish that we were able to communicate better. 

The tea factory was just a short distance away. Some of the early pictures in the office dated back to 1926.  The tea plantations were originally privately owned and operated, then they were nationalized but production fell because people felt separated from their crops.  The plantations were then privatized again with the smaller ones growing, picking and selling their leaves to the bigger factory for processing.  This is the slow season therefore we were the only visitors on tour. 

Tea country

Tea planters

Tea harvesters

The assistant manager gave us a personal tour and explained the operations.  In a nutshell: the leaves are brought in fresh and green to be weighed and recorded at the entrance.  The leaves then go to the upper level where they are spread on 100 foot long wire mesh tables with fans blowing on them to extract moisture.  This takes about 2 hours. Then the leaves are dropped through a shute to the level below where they go through a spinning/grinding press for 20 minutes to twist the leaves.  This process is repeated at least two more times to twist the leaves and extract moisture.  Next they go to a conveyer belt which takes them through the heater to dry them.  Afterwards, the leaves are sorted from the stems before they are graded into at least 8 categories.  They are bagged and labeled and sent to auction in Colombo.  We were given a kilo of tea as a present and all this was done free of charge!!!  They were very nice to us. 

Our next stop was to Nicki’s brother-in-law’s house where his young wife prepared tea for us.   He is the youngest manager of a tea factory.  I think Nicki thought we might want to see another factory but there was an accident and his brother-in-law only stopped in to say hello and had to leave.  We were not disappointed.  Their house was directly opposite the factory because it was good practice to have the manager close by to oversee the factory.  It was a very modest (tiny and sparsely furnished) home for a man of his position. The room where we sat only had four caned arm chairs, a buffet, and a table on the side which their daughter used as a desk.  We were presented with another gift of tea from this factory. 

Returning to Kamala’s house, lunch was ready and we were hungry.  She prepared everything with Tom’s tummy in mind and we thoroughly enjoyed every single entrée.  Nicki and the driver also ate with us but Kamala did not.  She sat at the table with me and we tried to carry on a conversation such as it was.  We had papayas with lime juice for dessert as well as curd (like a yogurt) with a sweet honey mixture.  When it was time to leave, she had a goody bag for Kanthi and another one for us which consisted of wood apples and another fruit similar to persimmon in taste but with a hard shell along with king coconuts, and tea (surprise!).  We hugged several times and were sad to say good-bye.  I really would have enjoyed talking with her!! 

We stopped at Nicki’s humble abode on the way into town.  It was a two room house on top of another hill.  The outside kitchen was fueled with firewood under a lean-to of sorts.  His wife is a teacher in the primary grades in town and now that he is not working with the tourist trade, he is Mister Mom.  They have two daughters; one six and one 16 months.  He does the washing (carries water from local water outlet) and child care but his wife cooks when she returns home.  In the morning they use a gas burner because it takes too long to use the outdoor kitchen but it is too expensive to use for larger meals. 

Nicki was constantly telling us how he is Catholic and happy to be able to help us that day since it was Saturday and his wife was not working.  He was happy to accommodate the doctor (Kamala’sside with the birds, animals, and plants.  He would not sell the land to the water tower agency and so they had to build it a little lower on the hill.  We stopped at the Catholic Church, St. Joseph, where his father is buried.  It was humble but nice with a few stained glass windows and was in the process of being repaired.

Nicki continued with us into town to meet Kamala’s husband at his clinic and then we were off to find Kiruwananaganga Falls – about 100 ft wide and 100 ft high (coming down in layers).  The road was really bad and if we hadn’t been able to ask directions several times to be sure we were going in the right direction, I am sure that Tom would have turned back.  The falls were worth the effort and lots of water was flowing over the top even though this wasn’t the rainy season.  At one time there were seven steps to the falls but now only four remained because of gem prospectors.

We then went back to town to meet the doctor and Nicki’s family.  Kamala’s husband (name?) seemed like another great person, though we were only able to shake hands and smile at each other.  Saying our goodbyes, Tom gave Nicki a little something ($20, about a week’s wages) for his guiding efforts and he was very thankful.  He was very helpful though he talked non-stop, repeating things several times to be sure we “got it” and would say “remember” before repeating something one more time.  It was nice to have the quiet once we dropped him off. 

There was one more stop before heading home.  We wanted to see the Rock Temple in Kotapola which we thought was just on the side of the road.  Wrong, what we saw was the entrance, a steep road with many sharp switch backs (where the driver had trouble with the transmission) had to be negotiated to get to the temple area.  When we reached the top you could smell something burning, Tom thought the transmission!  The driver waited in the parking lot while we took off our shoes and climbed the steep stairs to the cave temple.  Inside a large reclining Buddha rested with eyelids half closed and the curtains drawn around him.  Once again the inside of the temple was richly painted.  We continued to the next level where a pointed dome (dagoba or stupa) is erected to house the holy relics.  Rushing down we were anxious to be on the road and to hopefully return to Matara before nightfall.  Our driver was more careful on the return trip but he increased his speed as we got closer to home.  Night had fallen when we were in the city and again it reminded us why we don’t like to drive at night.  The street lights (those that exist) are not very bright, bikes have no lights, some motorcycles don’t use theirs, and people run into the road trying to cross wherever they can and I hold my breath.   We had cold left over salads for dinner and just collected our nerves before going to bed.

Tom – Each morning I take my digital camera hooked in a belt around my waist as we do our beach walk.  There is something new to take a picture of EVERYDAY!  I like to take pictures of people who are physically active.  The first picture today was that of a soccer player stretching before his jog on the beach.  It turned out he was a regional player and the brother of our police detective!  The second picture is of a hostel (we think) where every morning someone waves to us while cooking or brushing his teeth.  The third picture is that of two young men who were training to do the physical tests that are necessary to become a policeman.  

 Helen – This  morning I was scared by a 4-5 foot brown garden snake.  It was sunning itself by the outside shower stall.  There are some pretty big bushes there to privatize the shower area from the neighbors and I think he lives in there.  The storm had brought some of the branches down over the walkway.  Thank heavens I didn’t walk that way because I would have walked right over it.  This is all part of the food chain here, the snake goes into the pond to eat the frogs, remember the one that jumped on Tom’s back?  The owner cut those bushes back over the weekend. 

When Tom came home from the office we went into town to buy another cell phone.  Since we disconnected the first stolen phone (and left the second stolen phone working just in case) he was able to reinstate the same phone number on this phone.  I am going to summarize the phone development here even though it didn’t really finish until Monday night.  We recharged the phone but still were not able to use it until Saturday night when we tried calling the kids.  Sunday evening the police investigator came over to our house to give us an update on our case.  They wanted to send an officer to Colombo to check with the four major mobile cell phone companies to see if our phones were sold and then reactivated with another company.  I guess this is usually what happens.  He also had received a court order to have our cell company release our bill to see if anyone had used our phone.  This way we would not have to wait till the end of the month when the billings were mailed.  The police officer said he was not able to send this man now because he would have to requisition the order and that would take several weeks.  He thought of giving the money out of his pocket (?) but decided that wasn’t really a good idea so he asked us for the money.  He said he really wanted to help us get this resolved as quickly as possible (I guess it made the papers and his name was mentioned!!).  We figured that it would cost about $10 for the 8 hour round trip bus ride, the Tuk-Tuk transportation in the city and lunch.  It would easily be a 12 hour day so we gave him the money – and a few coconuts as a bonus.

Helen- This is our first weekend with a car to do as we please by ourselves!!  We decided to go east to visit the next few towns and see the Buddhas!  The first town was Dondra and has the tallest standing Buddha.  This concrete structure is fairly new.  As we entered the temple area, Tom bought some little white flowers with orange centers wrapped in large green leaves forming a cup.  These were being sold to be presented as an offering at the various altars.

The first temple area was around a rectangular altar which was in front of a Bo tree.  They believe Buddha received his enlightenment and in the process discovered how to relieve people’s suffering while sitting under such a tree.  People walked around the tree with incense saying prayers, others chanted at the sides, others hung streamers of string tied with pieces of cloth.  On the altar were offerings of rice, fruit, tea, and flowers.  We walked to the next temple and inside was a huge reclining Buddha (they believe that Buddha meditates in three positions: sitting, lying down, and standing/walking). These temple areas had the walls and ceiling covered with painted murals depicting the beginning and continuation of Buddhism and large statues guarding the entrance to the Buddha’s resting place.

Boy, monk in training, selling Buddhist literature

There were many smaller temple areas spread around the grounds.  One row of temples had smaller rooms with colored lights decorating the inside and outside of their cubicles and someone at the door beckoning you to come to his area.  We went to one and he began to chant and ring a bell…then he took a golden cord and as he chanted he wrapped it three times around my right wrist and then tied it in an intricate knot.  He repeated the process for Tom (he was video taping me the first time) and it only cost us about $1 donation for both! There were lots of cows and strangely most had their heads in garbage cans…wondering and then taking a closer look found that they were eating the flowers that were thrown away.  Leaving the temple we saw our first really big lizard. We have since seen one near our home.

This town is also known for the lighthouse at the most southern tip of Sri Lanka.  The area is very clean and has a rocky coastline which means coral areas and fish!!  The keeper told us it was designed and built by the British in 1889 and is still functioning for about 100 ships that pass by each day on their way east or west. As Tom has mentioned earlier, as you face due south, there is only the Indian Ocean, no land until you get to Antarctica (5000-6000 miles? away)!  On the other side of the lighthouse is a lovely cove, perfect for snorkeling and we hope to go back there soon.  Across the cove area is the Lighthouse Restaurant and we had lunch there.  It took us quite a few tries to find the correct road to get there but it was well worth the effort since the grilled fish dinner with boiled/sautéed vegetables was the best we had so far!!  Leaving we had to wait on the road while a big truck was installing a concrete light post and we couldn’t get around him.

Next stop was a shell shop along the road. The man was very nice and showed us his new shop.  He dives for the shells and cleans and polishes them.  Most of the bigger ones were pretty expensive for me ($30-40) but I bought two smaller ones for $3 to add to my home collection.

Driving along the coast

Driving toward the next town we stopped at a stand (there were lots of them along the road) selling cashews in little bags.  Some had spices on them and others were boiled…we didn’t buy any…but then just down the road we passed a large golden sitting Buddha.  Tom made a U-turn and we stopped to take a few pictures.  There was also a new bell tower there.  While we were walking around a monk came out and spoke English with us.  He took us into the temple area and explained the religion and murals to us.  He said that this was a retirement home for old monks and he volunteered his time here (his real job was a principal at a school).  He took us up to the living quarters and we met several of the old guys who gave us toothless grins and waves.  Another man (the cook) runs up to us and offers us something to eat.  We decline since we just had lunch but he proceeds to bring a big cold papaya and cut it for us.  How could we refuse and glad we didn’t.  It was the sweetest one we tasted and he squeezed lime over it which really intensified the taste.

It was great not having a deadline and being able to stop when we wanted and stay as long as needed.  Our next destination was the largest sitting Buddha in Sri Lanka.  It is about 8 stories high and to prove the height, there is an 8 story staircase behind him.  This staircase is full of murals as you climb to the top of the Buddha’s head and look out at the surrounding area.  This Buddha is made of tiny tiles and is really impressive.  Here again is a temple area with other very large reclining and sitting Buddha with murals and life size statues depicting the religions history.

This time it showed that the pre-Buddhist people were hunters and meat eaters.  Seems we learn a little more from each temple we visit.  The most interesting and grossest thing here was the hallway of Hell.  It had life-size statues depicting what horrible things would happen to you if you disobeyed the rules of the faith.  People were burning in hell, being speared, being sawed in half with blue tongue hanging, eyes bulging out, grinning demons doing these awful deeds.  If that wasn’t enough to give you a scare…especially us since we ate meat and weren’t considered part of the faithful.  This area then narrowed into a long corridor depicting the sins on the upper half of the wall and the punishment on the lower.  If you killed a chicken by wringing its neck, you may spend your time in hell having your neck continuously wrung!  I am sure that you can imagine the rest without me describing it!

Our last destination for the day was a blow hole.  Before we finally found the spot, we drove down to the fishing boat area.  We paid 50 cents entry fee and were told not to take any pictures.  It was pretty neat seeing all the brightly painted boats and the men counting and weighing the fish for the buyers.  There was one boat with very big tuna (of course Tom took pictures).

On the way back we parked in a private front yard for the blow hole.  The owner spoke good English and took us to the blow hole (though we could have found our own way).  This is not the right season so we only saw the hole but no big splashes.  On the way down we bought some boiled corn cooking in a large pot.  There were little stands all along the route.  The corn was really tough and I took a few bites and smiled but couldn’t wait to get rid of it.  We also bought some bananas.  We had to hustle to get home before dark. …during stormy seasons this blow hole shoots the water up to 300 feet into the air.