Jaffna

 Made it to the tippy top of Sri Lanka and made some new friends. 

Trincomalee

 I so, so enjoyed my too-brief visit to the northeastern coastal city of Trinco. Not touristy, just people doing their people things and so many beautiful little interactions. Made me happy. 

Komari

 Oh, the peaceful beauty!! Two nights staying in an open-air cabana on stilts at the beach….

Kumana National Park

 Elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, warthogs, monkeys, mongoose, monitor lizards, fox, deer, peacocks, owls, painted storks…the only thing that eluded us was a leopard. What a safari day!

Arugambay

 Mixed feelings about being in this east coast tourist/surfer haven. There are so many mostly-naked white people roaming around with entitled airs in what is otherwise a very conservative country. On the other hand, at least that whole scene is relatively contained in this little town, there is still a good bit of local flavor…and it sure is beautiful. Above all I came here to see a Sri Lankan woman who works in the tourist industry here who agreed to talk with me for my fellowship project, and she referred me to another woman who also shared a conversation with me about that. So all around: a great stop. 

New Matara family

Thanks to my college roommate connecting me to a Sri Lankan-American she knows, that woman’s incredible helpfulness, and the unbelievable hospitality of her family in southern Sri Lanka, I got to spend the weekend with some lovely, generous people in the city of Matara (and visit the inland village where they grew up)…plus record two more great conversations for my fellowship project….

Galle Fort

 A wonderful (UNESCO World Heritage Site and) place to wander around on the steamy south coast of Sri Lanka….

South coast

 It’s off-season on the south coast of Sri Lanka but it’s still beautiful checking out the shoreline when it’s not so busy with surfers and sea turtles. I think the cows are enjoying the quiet.

Colombo

 I can’t believe I’ve been here less than a week. I’ve been bopping all over Colombo like a maniac, thanks in part to the local, Uber-like app that lets you call a ride in a tuktuk without getting fleeced for being a foreigner  I have already recorded five conversations with local women who don’t have kids for my project (and have leads on five more elsewhere in Sri Lanka), plus done a copper enamel jewelry-making workshop, a tea blending workshop, reconnected with another Peace Corps Volunteer who was in Madagascar at the same time as me and now lives and works here, and made some Sri Lankan friends through my project conversations who I feel l have known for months rather than days. Here’s some Sri Lankan flavor for you while I stop and catch my breath. 

Welcome to Sri Lanka!

 Though I don’t have a ton of pictures to share yet, that is unrepresentative of how full and great my first couple days in Sri Lanka have been. The part of the Colombo I’m staying in is not particularly picturesque, but the people are nice, the food is great, and it’s easy enough to walk around if you don’t mind sweating your way to a drowned-rat state (that’s just me; all the locals look normal) and playing Frogger with your own body once in awhile to cross a busy street.

I’ve had delicious breakfasts, run a bunch of logistical errands to ensure my telecommunications situation and replace the umbrella I already lost, met up with a fellow RPCV from Madagascar, and am thrilled to already have had conversations with two local women for my fellowship project. 

Much, much more to come, including experimenting with the local, Uber-like website where you can call for a ride in one of these bad boys (which might also help with the drowned-rat issue)….

A bit of a contrast

 My last day in Singapore, gardens and forests….

Cloud forest, fancy town