We are sitting on the Village Inn balcony in front of our room. It is mid-afternoon and after the noon downpour it is sticky and hot. We feel the sweat dribbling down our body and try to keep hydrated. There are birds, tiny bright yellow ones, shy soft green ones with budgie beaks, tiny black and white ones with a half mow hawk hairdos, and many other kinds that we can only in the various sounds they make. Monkeys are seen jumping from the high palm leaves, flying for a moment before they cling to the fern like fronds of the palm. They travel in families, some are black with silver white bums and long tails. The others are the long tailed macaques like the ones we saw in Malaysia. There are many buggy sounds too. Everything feels damp and warm, like everything is living in soggy air that is heavy with damp.
Up, high in palms are bunches of coconuts. The method of getting them down, I was told, was using a device that a hired man will strap to his feet which he will use to help him climb all the way to the top, at least 30-40 feet up.
At this moment the playful chipmunks climb along the power lines, moving their tails back and forth using it like we'd use our arms to balance. Sometimes they scamper about the roof chasing each other.
Also, in the background we can hear the occasional grind and stomp of the big rocks that trucks are hauling and dumping out in the sea to create a jetty. I think there is a problem with erosion since so many guesthouses and restaurants are built right on the sands and the tides come all the way up to their steps. Some are abandoned, perhaps from the tsunami or the erosion from the high tides. Either way, after the tsunami, it seems people have been building closer to the surf and there is no room to even lay out a towel since the space that may have been is taken up by the lawn chairs of various restaurants. Its a tourist based town, and the guesthouses keep being built. A restaurant/ art gallery just opened up next door to us. Construction is taking place wherever we walk.
Food is pricy here. We never thought the price of food would be an issue for us, but in these tourist towns, prices are six times higher than they would be in any town.
Along the muddy road tuk-tuks line the way, its drivers are chatting with friends, reading a newspaper, or just sitting and waiting. Some say hi, or "nice hat miss" or "good morning sir, you want tuk-tuk?". Some eagerly sit up hoping to make some bucks, others seem more defiant of our expressing a will to walk, some just say "hello".
Today we ate breakfast at the Unawatuna Hotel, a place we found on our walk along the dirt road through more local homes. The food is great, the ambience is quiet, and the prices are some of the best in town. We ate a breakfast of eggs, buttered toast with jam, some pineapple, and a large pot of tea with heated milk (Kevin didn't have any milk except for the first time we had tea hear, to replay some of his childhood).
After our breakfast the man asked us what our plans were and if we had been to Jungle beach, we said no. Previously, a man had told us that you could only get there by boat and that it was dangerous to go on foot. It sounded very exotic. However, the man at the restaurant said it was easy to get there, just go right at the junction on the road from our guesthouse. He said it was up and down a hill, about 1 km of hiking. We thanked him and went to get our bathing suits on and marched on, in search of this famed Jungle beach. We walked, turned right at the junction, and walked up hill. Then we saw a sign that said jungle beach, the road turned into a hiking trail throughout lush palms and low lying vegetation. The night before we had seen a black snake in the water, it was small, but it was a snake none the less. We were wary as we walked, hoping not to come across an angry cobra.
We climbed down some rocks and after a wrong turn that brought us to a bay full of giant rocks, we continued down the other path and finally found the beach. Atop the hill was a high white stupa. We went for a swim, but the beach was full of people and hardly seemed isolated or jungly. The water was calm for swimming, but there was no coral only a few fragments of it with a school of tiny rainbow fish and the occasional angel fish.
We swam and then made our way up to the stupa that was called the "peace pagoda". Kevin kept saying "its a stupa, stupid" and that how I remembered the difference. But this sign made us both confused and we will look up the difference as soon as we get internet.
The pagoda was painted entirely in white. it had peach coloured tiles and two levels. It is round with creases in its dome like those you can make with your finger on a potters wheel. There was a groups of school children all giggling, and we all hid together under one of the giant creases as a large downpour came down from the partly cloudy sky. Kevin stood in the rain to "wash his clothes" while I stood under the potters crease enjoying the coolness of the air. It is such a refreshing feeling to feel the rain on a hot day, cool and clear. It dribbled down the white surface of the stupa and droplets fell from the creases onto the wet tile. The school children sploshed their feet throughout the tiny sheet of water. We did the same, feeling the soft cool tiles on our hot feet.
We looked up at the tip of the stupa. It is round and a giant. It seemed sacred, clean and peaceful. The tip of the stupa pointed up into the sky, like a satellite, attempting to contact a place in the universe.
The children had left, their dark skins bright against the white sacred wall. But they were anything but solemn, they laughed and teased each other the entire time.
Kevin got upset when he saw a plaque that said that the buddha was meant to bring everyone to peace. He was upset because it seemed to defeat the whole purpose of Buddhism, which is to follow your own path to enlightenment. I will let him write his thoughts on this matter.
I too felt a bit sad as we left, but it was mixed with peace from the purity and calmness of the place. But life seemed to be in such contrast with this place and it is this contrast that made we feel sad.
Kevin got upset with me when I wanted to find the herb garden after seeing the HIndu monkey god (of Ramyana fame) called Hanuman, who was said to have dropped some herbs in this area. His statue stood under a scented tree with yellow flowers, many of its petals lay on the rocks, scattering yellow scented dots on its surface. The statue had a long herbed necklace the went down to his knees. The monkey looked almost like a Buddha.
I got angry at Kevin for not being interested and we walked apart for a bit of time. Finally we talked it over, I apologized for wanting to go on and not seeing how Kevin felt. Kevin apologized for being upset. Its funny how we stay angry at each other for so long, stubborn to speak to one another, and then resolve it almost instantly once we listen to each others feelings. We walked the rest of the way home together. I washed some clothes and Kevin wrung them out. After we hung them up, we went for some lunch, eating rotti, fried rice, and curry. Now we are sitting on our balcony and enjoying the light breeze that has just made its way to us. Hopefully it will last. I think I'm going to order some teas for us to sip as we look out at the steamy garden of palms.
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