Well. I made it to Sri Lanka!!

=]

It is amazing, of course.

I arrived Friday, at one in the morning (Sri Lanka time, which is 12.5 hours ahead of Pacific time), then took a taxi to my hotel. I ended up arriving at three in the morning, but couldn’t fall asleep because I was so excited/freaked out. My hotel room was sweltering hot, so as soon as I safely arrived I stripped down.

Then, I heard a knock on the door.

I called out, “Who is it?”

“Housekeeping.”

Housekeeping? At three in the morning?? I put all my clothes back on, and my mind started to race. Did some creep see me arrive and try to pretend they were housekeeping to get in my room? I tried to dial reception to ask if they had sent someone up, but couldn’t figure it out. I glanced around the room to find something to beat him with if needed, then braced myself to face a knife-wielding stranger.

I opened the door and found the small, skinny porter who had led me to my room. He was about a foot shorter than me and did not appear to be armed, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief. He quickly walked in my room, turned on my air conditioning, and bid me good night.

God bless that little man!!

I slept quite comfortably for about four hours, then was wide awake. I had been told I might have to spend the weekend by myself in Colombo, so I tried to plan out my day. I was too afraid to wander around town much by myself, but decided I would give it a try in a few hours.

Luckily my travel advisor, Gishan, arrived at about nine in the morning and asked if I would like to go meet my host family. I readily agreed. He drove me from Colombo to Panadura, about 23 km.

Let me tell you, the people here drive craaaazzzaaaayy. I was gripping the door the entire way. No one seems to pay much attention to the lanes, and there doesn’t appear to be a speed limit. They often don’t yield to pedestrians, and everyone is honking and bicycles are zipping in between cars. It is quite the experience.

I met my host mum, Lakshmi, and she served me a delicious lunch. Indian food is my favorite type of cuisine, and Sri Lankan food is very similar, and also very hot. I am constantly sweating here, but even more so at mealtime.

After lunch Gishan took me to a small talk on diabetes testing in hill camps, which I will be doing in a couple of weeks. I met three other volunteers who also worked in medicine, and they said they went traveling every weekend. They invited me to come to Hikkaduwa--a touristy beach near Galle in the south--with them this weekend, but I was too exhausted. I will definitely go traveling with them next weekend, though.

After the talk I slept, got up to eat dinner, then slept some more. Yesterday morning one of the Projects Abroad directors, Charlie, came to pick me up and introduce me to another volunteer who arrived about the same time I did. We went to Blue Water Hotel, a 5-star hotel in Wadduwa, and paid to use their swimming pool. It was amazing. The pool was the perfect temperature, and was surrounded by palm trees and overlooked the beach.

Then we took a walk around the beach.

Absolutely gorgeous.

After that we just laid out in the sun for a couple of hours before heading home.

I think I am going to love it here.