More Past Posts and the Perahera

Wednesday
Joe showed up yesterday around 1, and the man is a giant. I didn't notice it when I arrived, but Sri Lankans are generally shorter than Americans by about 6 inches or so. At 6'2", Joe towers over everyone here. Even I am fairly tall among my colleagues.

First on the agenda was lunch, followed by a presentation of the scope of work, and then a field trip. We saw wild elephants (!) at a landfill. They're surrounded by green plants, and yet they dig through the trash to find food. There were 5 of them. I have good photos, and I'll show them off when I get back. We stopped by the beach afterwards, and Meg got drenched by a wave. She went home to change, only to find that everyone had left. Neither Meg nor I has keys to the house. Joe lent her a t-shirt, but she spent dinner in wet, salty clothes.

We had dinner at Joe's hotel. It was about 7 courses for 900 Rupees, which is about $9.00. Incredibly cheap for us, although in Sri Lanka, you can get a meal for about $1.00, so this is very expensive for them.

Joe stayed at his hotel while the rest of us went to Thushari's house. Meg and I thought we were being dropped off, but A. told us that the custom here is to stop in and say hi for a few minutes. Thushari and her mom were both still up, so w. and A. talked with them in a torrent of Sinhala while Meg and I listened.

Saturday
Yesterday was a day off, so Meg and I spent some time on the beach and just relaxed in general. The ocean is rough and the sand is coarse, so there isn't oo much swimming that happens. Maaike told me that people here don't know how to swim. They just wade and get their ankles wet.

You'd think that after 2 weeks without a constant internet connection I'd be used to life without it. No such luck. I'm still trying to get my computer to dual boiot and after spending most of Thursday night and yesterday trying to get things to work, I found I need a 160mb software update. Hmph. It will take about 3 hours to download.

Monday
Last night was a full moon, a significant event for those of the Buddhist faith. Since most of the country is Buddhist, full moons are considered national holidays. Meg and I went to work for a few hours to set up a LAN, and then we went home around noon.

The Buddhist observance of a full moon involves a perahera, a huge parade after dark with dancers, musicians, and elephants. There is a perahera every month, in a different city each time, reperesenting some significant event. Last night's parade in Tissa memorialized the arrival of Lord Buddha - and thus, Buddhism - in Sri Lanka.

Maaike was able, through her husband's work, to get VIP seats to the parade, so Meg and I hopped in a van with Maiike, her husband Mark, and two of their friends - Stephie and Coralee. Maaike and Mark and Dutch, Stephie is from Germany, and Coralee is French, and they're all ineffably European. Coralee is also very brave, as she was the one driving the van. The 6 of us headed out to Tissa around 3. We arrived at a guest house to meet Una and David, of the UK, and then we threw ourselves in the pool.

The guest house looks out over Tissa Lake, a huge expanse of waterlogged seaweed and wetlands in front of some of the mountains. Una had spoken earlier with a local guy who owned a boat and was willing to take us around the lake. We stand out a lot, and locals will approach us all the time with offers of safari tours, boat tours, guest houses, etc. I've never really felt comfortable with this, but Una is apparently quite at home.

We went around the lake in a small motor boat, and the landscape was gorgeous. The most striking element of the lake tour was the birds. They were everywhere and there were hundreds. Pelicans, cormorants, ibis, gulls, and an eagle were all spotted. After they had fed, the birds retreated to a small island in the middle of the lake to settle for the night. The trees were FULL of these birds. I've never seen a pelican roost before, but apparently it's the thing to do here.

The boat trip took about an hour, and when we got back on dry land we made our way to the Tissa Inn for dinner. The Dutch were playing in a World Cup match that night and Maaike and Mark were really hoping to see it. Unfortunately, the game was not being broadcast locally. This was my first time eating at a guest house and the lesson to be learned is to order early - preferably before you arrive. It took about 45 minutes for our food to appear once we ordered. It was a pelasant wait, but still, quite a long time. Mark said this was pretty normal for guest houses here.

AFter the food, we got back in the van and drove to the site of the perahera. The parade starts at a temple (suitable lit up with Christmas lights for the night), circles through town, and makes its way back to where it began. The VIP passes allowed us seats right next to the temple at the start of the parade. Most people didn't get seats at all.

The parade started around 10:30 at night, and it took about 2 hours to pass us. First came the fire dancers, then a series of dancers, musicians, and elephant, and then an elephant decorated to the extreme with velvet, sequins, and lights. ON its back was a small shrine that contained one of the relics of Buddha. After the shrine passed, we saw another hour of dancing and singing. It was incredible.

When we were ready to leave, the parade was between us and the van, so we had some time to kill. We wandered across the street to a parking lot with many vendors. More than a few families were curled up in blankets on the ground in the dust, apparently sleeping out the night there and then returning home in the morning. We had tea from one of the vendors and slowly made our way back to the van. We got home around 3 am.

Wednesday
I've got some time to kill because W. isn't at work yet, and he's the only one with the key to the office. Harith has been crankier than usual the past few days, and this morning Thushari took him to a doctor. The doctor thought he had dengue. Thushari is getting a second opinion this afternoon. Dengue is spread by mosquito, and though it is not generally fatal, it lasts for weeks and causes a lot of fluid loss and weight loss. We will see what the second doctor says, I guess. Maaike mentioned that when dengue occurs, there are usually many cases in a small area at once.

Thursday
I'm finally back up to date. I'm headed in to work very soon, and tomorrow is my day off.

I was talking to Ashan yesterday, and he mentioned that although my next work site is Weligama, our house is in or near Mirissa. Mirissa has some of the best beaches on the island, I think. I can't wait to go.

So far I've identified 4 distinct types of bug bites. I have no idea what they're from, but apart from the familiar mosquito bites, they're all pretty vicious, and they entail redness, swelling, a bit of pain, etc. And they don't stop. Whatever little critters are causing these don't want to leave. I keep getting more of them.

The first order of business when I get home is a pedicure.