Sri Lanka has been a pleasant surprise - but we're having a hard time focusing on anything other than the heat right now. We are literally melting. It was so hot yesterday my computer refused to charge, everything was overheating. After about 9 hours of catching up on work emails I had to shut it off and leave it on the concrete floor so that it could finally charge. | Our host told us that Sri Lanka is in a cool slump right now and that it was much hotter two weeks ago and will get even worse by mid-April. How do they survive without air conditioning!? Aside from the heat, though, we are starting to fall in love with Sri Lanka and the beauty that surrounds it. The streets are paved and clean, sidewalks abound, and the auto rickshaws seem to use the meter without being prompted. We haven't even made it to the beaches yet but I already love it! We are staying at a pretty awesome place too, so that helps. It is an airbnb, staying in a family's home. We feel so lucky to be here. Our room is beautiful with tons of books, a comfy, white bed and a living room space all to ourselves. It has been a nice retreat and has allowed me to get back to work after taking 9 days off. |
As we putzed around our neighborhood on Sunday, we were delighted to find the Arcade Independence Square - a newly renovated space that was once an insane asylum. In the past year, it has been converted into a fancy shopping mall with corridors of light, beautiful archways and doors. We have found a quaint little tea shop that has free wifi (and air conditioning!) and have started to spend a few hours there, ordering off the menu just enough so that they'll let us stay as long as possible. It has been a welcome retreat.
On Sunday afternoon, we drifted into Colombo to explore the Pettah outdoor market and came across this enormous mosque (the red and white building above, left). Some guy started to tag along with us, probably trying to entice us into one of his shops, but as we were walking to this mosque, he said we were surrounded by a Muslim community and to watch out for ISIS. Wasn't sure how to respond to that.