After 3 nights in Kandy, we packed up once again and headed south towards our next destination on the coast near Galle. We had planned to stop at an elephant rescue center along the way. Although we had seen some wild African elephants, and even spent a day visiting an elephant sanctuary in Nairobi, we learned a lot at Millennium Elephant Foundation. For one, there are many differences between the two types of Elephants. Molly does a great job of detailing this in her post. The Millennium Elephant Foundation rescues captive elephant, which are very common on Sri Lanka, where elephant ownership is a long-standing tradition.
After learning about the elephants and the foundation, we got to go for a ride, with David, Maggie and I on one elephant and Jon, Molly and Viv on another. Rohan had suggested the short 8 minute ride rather than something longer. As our elephant lurched along, the ground looked startlingly far away. I dared not adjust my position too much despite his hard spine digging into my bottom and I made a mental note to thank Rohan later for his insight. After the ride, we were given the opportunity to bathe the elephants in the river, a ritual that they clearly enjoy, whether or not they actually need cleansing. We scrubbed our elephant’s rough and coarsley-haired skin with quarter-shells of coconut, while her eyes rolled back in their sockets for a few blissful moments before her mahout prompted her with a tap of his stick to spray water on herself (and us). The elephants seemed to live a pretty dull life there at the sanctuary, but it far exceeds the captive life that they were rescued from – usually doing heavy logging work, carrying tourists on heavy Howdahs (chairs) that cause back injuries, or being chained outside temples all day.
After a stop for lunch, we arrived at our guesthouse, actually in a little strip of beach called Gallawata, in the evening. It was a single story building set back from the beach amongst a grove of palms and fragrant flowers, with a vast lawn of green weedy grass stretching towards the sea. The kids instincts took over and they immediately sprinted around in the yard, shedding hours of car rides with each step, and quickly finding a big swing slung between two palms. Jon and I sat taking it all in as were greeted by our kind hosts, a tray of banana smoothies, and a hungry swarm of mosquitoes. It was to be the beginning of a 4 night war with the little bloodsuckers, with each of us taking hits on one or more evenings, but Vivian and Molly suffering the greatest number of battle wounds. We were so excited when we discovered another type of nightly visitor – fireflies! I had told the kids stories about catching these in a jar when we lived in Massachusetts when I was 7 or so, but I don’t think I have seen them since. Our guesthouse also had a cool outdoor bathroom, separate rooms for David and Molly, nice ceiling fans, and a freezer with ice, but no A/C. We managed, but it was not sunny on most of the days that we were there so the air was very humid in and outside due to a lack of windows.
The weather did not keep us away from our beach, however, which was amazing. White sand, a vast, quiet pool of warm Indian Ocean, nearly completely surrounded by a reef just high enough to protect swimmers from the harsh crash of waves at high tide and yet low enough to allow the water to be refreshed daily. Just outside the reef, the water was teeming with sea turtles, their little alien heads popping out of the water intermittently for air or a peak at the sunbathers. Our days here were spent mostly enjoying our stretch of sand, and the 1-2 kilometers that we ventured in either direction. Our walks rewarded us with so many treasures: beautiful sea shells and other beach flotsam; secret coves of silky black sand; a palm tree extending from the beach and creating a natural spring board, surfers attempting to catch a break close to shore, fishermen perched on wood sticks extending from the surf, casting bits of fishing line baited with sea weed. We even came across a large parrot fish flopping in the sand as a proud fisherman stood by coiling up his line.
Our favorite beach-combing find though was probably a large rope suspended from a coconut tree that leaned out over the ocean. The swing was located at the Dream Cabanas, operated by the sweetest woman named Pearly. Maggie also did a great job of recapping this in one of her posts, here. After we tried grabbing the rope and running out towards the sea a few times and catching a little air, Pearly’s son and a friend (they called themselves Monkey and Donkey between fits of giggles) nimbly climbed up the trunk of the tree and showed us how to really swing, by either sitting or standing on the knot after jumping. All six of us tried it (multiple times)! As we played, we came to know the hosts a little better, which led to a dinner invitation (or a private dining experience). Pearly cooked dinner for us on our last evening in Galawatta, a veritable feast of lobster caught by her husband (he dives with a spear 20 meters down to catch them). The lobster was prepared on the half-shell and dressed with garlic, ginger, butter and other spices. It was accompanied by Pappadam (crispy fried tortillas) served with homemade mango chutney, and a fresh salad made from cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. We had so much fun meeting her family and were completely entranced as we listened to their stories of surviving the 2004 tsunami. As the sun faded into the Indian Ocean, we said our goodbyes, and then waddled home in the dark, bellies full of Sri Lankan cuisine and hearts full or Sri Lankan hospitality.
