34 hrs of travel later, i arrived back in sri lanka - the beginning of a journey this time, rather than the exhausted end of one! dinesh picked me up in the “new” (only 37 yrs old!!!) jeep, his pride & joy, and off we set… to the hotel… :)
day 3: SAFARI in Wilpattu National Park… SAW MY FIRST LEOPARD!!! SAW MY FIRST SLOTH BEAR!!! plus spotted deer, samba deer, and the rare mouse deer (tiny - looks prehistoric), several land monitor lizards and a HUGE water monitor, and many other critters and birds. stayed in a tiny “eco resort” (bit of a stretch, that) with THE SWEETEST people - the owner and Champa, the woman who cooked and cleaned, adopted us like family instantly and we had a beautiful time with them. day 6: anuradhapura and mihintale. some of my favorite temples so far in sri lanka. mihintale in particular, is so striking and dramatic in its setting. i was blessed there by probably an 8 yr old monk, so young that he had trouble tying my blessing string bracelet and the effort had to be rescued by a slightly older boy! super sweet. the stories of this ancient city and all the temples around here are fascinating, but probably better told elsewhere by people more knowledgeable than myself! one funny story tho is that of the Mirissa Vetiya Dagaba temple, which means “too much chili”… legend has it that it was built out of remorse by a king who shared his food with some monks before tasting it himself - when he finally did taste it and realized it was far too spicy, (the monks having given no indication of this, and ate it without complaint so as not to offend him) he was so upset he built them a new temple!!!
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December 2016
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