A Bad Day in Sri Lanka?

 So a little back info: I don't really love to snorkel. I do it if I have to but I am uncomfortable the whole time. I have never had a desire to scuba dive. Actually, I really did not ever want to do it. I figured if Nathan wanted to at some point, he and Eric, or his brother could get certified and go, I would support that. I have few fears in life; I've gone sky diving, I kill ginormous spiders in my house, I've had babies in a Chinese hospital for heaven's sake! But something about being in deep open water, and having to breathe through a tube, makes me absolutely claustrophobic and panicky.

Back to the trip:
We were all planning on snorkeling for part of an afternoon. I knew it was coming and though I wasn't looking forward to it with much anticipation, I was fine. I knew I could do as much or little as I wanted. So when we showed up and discovered scuba was really inexpensive, and you didn't need to be certified because you would go out on a dive and it counts towards your certification, everyone but me got super excited. I had never imagined I'd be faced with scuba because you have to be certified, right?!
It was so unexpected and I was freaking out. I absolutely did not want to go. But I knew how bad Nathan did. And he wouldn't just let me sit and read my book on the beach for half the day while everyone else went. He wouldn't leave me. And I didn't want to make him miss out. I was so scared I cried. During the safety video they'd show someone under water clearing their mask or regulator (mouth piece) and I'd imagine myself doing that and totally start tearing up and having massive anxiety. I was a mess! I truly had had no idea how deep my fears were.

Here is me climbing out of the water (DANG that gear is heavy!) after practicing in shallow water, can you tell how worried Nathan was for me? Poor guy, I didn't mean to stress him out, but when you are unexpectedly forced to face a fear, sometimes you freak out a little. Having to think about breathing was really stressful for me. At least when we got to the dive site it was one trainer with each couple. I still can't believe I did it. I actually hated it the entire time. I was never able to relax. I felt kind of dizzy when I tried to move my head to look around- fun fact, you can get sea sick from the motion of the water under the water. 

To be fair, it wasn't the most amazing dive. But still. I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack the whole time. I just can't describe how uncomfortable I was. 

But I did it! Yay! I faced my fear. And I didn't hold back Nathan from doing it, which was what was really important to me. 

When we got in the boat, I discovered I had total locked jaw. I couldn't open my mouth more than an inch, and when I bit down my top jaw was shifted over to the right and didn't match up with my teeth. Apparently this can happen to new divers, as you bite down on the regulator unnecessarily hard for a long period of time. It went away in about an hour. 

I am proud I was able to do it but unless it was literally the best diving in the entire world, I don't think I could be persuaded to do it again. But I will happily support Nathan... from the shore.

They boated us over to Jungle Beach after scuba and we relaxed and ate lunch for an hour or so. I tried to unwind from my emotionally, and physically draining morning of scuba diving. For as much as everyone had built me up about surfing the day before, I was sufficiently humbled a mere 24 hours later. 

We didn't stay too long because we had scheduled special Sri Lankan Ayurvedic massages. However there were only 4 spots at the really nice spa, and so Nathan and I went by ourselves to the appointment the house manager made for us at another little place. Big mistake.

We took this picture the next morning when we walked by a creepy lot/shack... cuz that's pretty much what the place looked like where we went for massages. It was an old shack, and we were supposed to have a romantic spa couples massage, that my friends is laughable. 

We were separated before we could even realize what was happening. I thought at first they were taking him to change somewhere. No. He never came back.

Picture a dark, dank shack. My room was a closet with two doorways, no doors, one opens into the small "wait room". Picture a "massage table" that was a wooden plank with a thin black vinyl mat on it. The only linen I saw was one raggedy old wash cloth "towel". The first half of the massage was performed while I was sitting in a plastic lawn chair. The busy highway road mere feet away. For ambiance I counted 54 car/truck horns, 3 trains, and 2 trash trucks playing their songs. I endured callused hands scratching all over my body for the longest hour ever. After, when I was slathered in oil, I was taken out back, into open air, before being shown a dingy bathroom that had a shower head on the wall. No soap, no towel, no hot water. 

Nathan and I were both traumatized and at least now have earned the confidence to walk out of any massage at any time.  

Yeah, not the best day I've ever had on vacation. But it was still vacation! I'm honestly not complaining. And good home made food can fix so many things. Dinner that night was wonderful.
In case you are wondering, the other spa was quite nice and Ross and Carrie especially loved their massages. I guess we were the lucky ones who had an "adventure"!

 On our last morning we got up at 6:30am and went to see if we could get some pictures of real fisherman out in the ocean. They had become a visual symbol of Sri Lanka to us and we wanted to capture some of it if we could.

 We learned that each fishing stand or perch is privately owned. If someone puts it out there, you can't just go fish on it. It belongs to whoever put it there.
Just fyi, I haven't altered any of these pictures of course, it really was that picturesque. We were so glad we got up to go see them. It was a memorable morning.

We spent the day laying on the beach under an umbrella, reading our books then shopping for spices and other souvenirs for our children.

We had a delicious Sri Lankan dinner at the famous Fort Printers that is located back in the fort area.
We packed up (can I just mention how easy and fast it is to only pack for myself?!) and headed to bed early since we had to leave at 3 am to drive to the airport and make our flight.
Overall it was a magical vacation that I still feel so unbelievably grateful we were able to take, and to go with dear friends made it all the better. I still can't believe we pulled off a Lane 55 vacation. We left 14 kids on the lane without their parents! (With sitters of course, but still!)
We took some 1,500 pictures between all of us, I tried my best to narrow it down and share the experience, I hope I've done it justice. The sights of Sri Lanka were worth every picture we took. It is a truly, beautiful country.

The Best Day Ever

Sea turtles are my favorite. I've felt fiercely protective of them since I was shown a graphic video of them being killed for their eggs in middle school (whose idea was that, anyway?). So when we heard there was a Sea Turtle hatchery near by, we had to go.

It did not disappoint! We learned a lot about the program they are running there, where they rebury eggs that are in danger and have hatches right there at their facility. Very cool.

We made a donation and were able to release a baby turtle into the sea. I was geekin out about it, so excited! Baby sea turtles are about the cutest things I've ever seen.

The three of us carried her to her starting point on the beach. It was important for her to walk down the beach and into the ocean so that she imprints on the beach. In 30 years she will return to the same beach to lay her eggs. 

Super proud mamas

Um, hello gorgeous beach. I'd return to it too if I were a turtle! 

I was tempted to give our guys a hard time because it always looked like they were carrying giant wads of cash. Then I discovered that there are no coins in Sri Lankan Rupee, only bills. He is holding less than $100 US here.

After the sea turtles we thinned out the wads of cash a bit, trying our hand at traditional Sri Lankan fishing. It is a beautiful tradition. Me, Nathan and Brandie are pictured above.

They wrapped up the boy's heads and gave em each a stick pole. Wasn't long before they had each caught a fish. All 6 of us caught fish.

I was super appreciative that the fish I caught (little guy right by my sleeve) was kind enough to match my cover up. He was tie dye green and yellow- we were meant for each other!

Then the real fisherman jumped up on their fishing stands to show us how it's done. I would guess they average a fish a minute, if not more. I could've fished, or even just watched the fisherman fish, all day.

But alas, we headed to another beach for Jeremiah and Nathan's surfing lesson. Nathan did great, hopped up right away and rode the wave in to the beach.

Brandie and I hung out and cheered for our guys, they did awesome!

When their trainers came in they offered to give Brandie and I a quick lesson too. It was unexpected but why not? So we got a condensed lesson and out we went.
Turns out, I can surf! Who knew? It was the most fun I've had in a long time. Seriously, so. much. fun. We were in a pretty great place to learn, as the waves were smallish and good and the water was shallow so we didn't wear ourselves out swimming.
Of the 4 of us I had the easiest time getting up and staying on the surfboard, maybe I had good balance from dance, maybe it was beginners luck. Either way it was the best afternoon.

Best action shot of the day was Brandie bailing. I mean, I laugh every time I see it, it's just SO awesome! She looks so athletic, until you see the nose plug.
At one point I went gliding past Brandie who was paddling back out, she shouts, "DO THE SPLITS!" and so... I did. Without falling off the surfboard. I do have picture and video proof but I didn't want to risk straining my reader's eye muscles from extreme eye rolling.

For the finale Nathan and I got up at the same time. We might just abandon our lives and turn into beach bum surfers... if it weren't for, you know, those 5 kids we've produced....shoot.....

We headed to yet another beach and waded out to this rock out cropping.

The views were stunning as we could see 360* around us. The tide was coming in and the sun was getting low, it was lovely.

We watched this guy fishing with a net for a bit. He was really graceful with how he cast it, clearly it was not his first try.
The following pictures are possibly my favorite from the trip, as Nathan and I were further down the beach and had no idea Brandie was even taking pictures. Having truly candid moments captured is a gift. And I am really grateful for these.

The Villa and Galle

Sri Lanka is still very much a back packers destination. There are no big resorts or chains to be found. The country was deep in civil war until 2009 which certainly played into the lack of development. Because of this our choices were backpacker hostels or villas. With the 6 of us we were able to find a beautiful villa right on the ocean. We arrived after dark the night before so our surroundings were a stunning surprise in the morning. 

This amazing bird flitted by and had us all scrambling for our cameras. It is a Kingfisher, and his long fishing beak and bright,vibrant blue feathers were unforgettable. 

The temperatures of both the pool and ocean water was really warm. Even first thing before breakfast Nathan was trying to chuck me in the pool for a swim. I think I was mostly resistant to the idea of being "chucked". We actually spent a lot of time in the water, and even enjoyed sunsets floating in the pool.

Another highlight of the villa was the food. The cook, Baba (she was amazing) would make whatever we asked but we all really loved the traditional Sri Lankan food. They eat a hearty breakfast of Dal, a bean and lentil type curry, with this yummy shredded orange coconut dish and naan type bread. It was sooo good. Similar to Indian food for sure. There seemed to be less variety than traditional Indian food, but what we had we all loved.

Here are our ambitious boys on our first morning in Galle, headed out to check out the snorkeling at the base of our villa. Snorkeling report was not so good due to the rebar dangerously sticking out just waiting to impale you when the next wave comes in. 

Speaking of waves, the Villa house manager spent quite a bit of time relaying his experience of the 2004 Tsunami. It hit the area where we were staying, it came in two huge waves or surges and then the water receded back out to the ocean 3km. Galle was hit and suffered terrible loss of life and property but the waves came in at an angle rather than straight on which may have saved them from complete and utter destruction. 

He told us many harrowing stories, including the bungalows of an aunt where he was working at the time. The cement wall collapsed on one of their guests and he lost his leg. He pointed to the little hotel to our right, who lost their wife and mother. The managers brother was actually out with a group scuba diving... Just crazy, humbling stories. 

The villa we stayed in actually sits high up off of the water and did not suffer much damage. It was terrible to realize that after all we learned about the tsunami in Galle it was not the worst hit in Sri Lanka, not even close. 

These are incredibly resilient people we had the privilege to visit with.  

We spent a day exploring Galle, especially the Fort area. First we went past the harbor and fishing area.

But just driving through town there was so much to take in.

This is a tuk tuk, just a scooter with a cover and benches. The other two couples we were with both rented scooters to drive around town on but I really felt like that was an unnecessary risk for Nathan and I. We do not ride scooters regularly in Taipei, but I have seen enough accidents to know the dangers. Add to that a foreign country with different rules of driving (both written and unwritten) and the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road, and I felt it was just a risk we didn't need to take. Nathan was less worried over all but was fine to ride in a tuk tuk with me instead. Him supporting my caution made me love him all the more. (read: him supporting my anxiety made me love him for still loving me)

We saw this scene quite a bit, families out swimming and playing in the ocean. The dads may wade in, in their clothes, to be with their children, mothers did occasionally too -always in their clothes, fully dressed. Children usually had swimsuits but swam in their clothes too.
Slight Tangent:
Our house manager said as Island people they definitely know how to swim and enjoy the ocean. I told him it was funny because the same cannot be said about the Island we currently live on. Taiwan people largely ignore the beaches and ocean they are surrounded by. There is amazing snorkeling associated with the area, but guess how they snorkel? With life vests on, carefully holding on to ropes above areas of coral, where they float on top of the water and put their faces down in to observe the fish life safely from above.  Not exactly what I would call embracing the ocean with open arms!

Back to the Galle. We spent some time exploring the Fort area. Sri Lanka has a rich history which I will not pretend to know all about. But I did catch that the Fort was built by the Dutch at some point. It seemed like you were in this little European village in the middle of India.

I love the swirly letters of the Sinhalese language. Everything is funner when it's in a beautiful script... even if I can't understand a lick of it.

The Peace Pagoda 

(Where our tuk tuk driver took us when we asked to go to Unnawatuna Beach???)

We did eventually make it to Unnawatuna...