Tissa

On Tuesday, I made my way down a very curvy mountain road to Tissamaharama. The bus was jam packed with people and I actually felt a little nauseous part of the way. Usually my stomach can hold it together for most things, but I had to focus on not moving much. Without realizing, my neighbor had shared a fruit candy that helped. Once we made it further down, the ride got a bit smoother. And people were getting off here and there. Somehow I got stuck trying to keep the luggage from falling all over the place and all over me. I was unsuccessful. Later in the ride, I moved over and even though we weren't on the mountain anymore, the buses are still not the best as they brake a lot and wind around on the roads. So of course, I managed to get stuck in a corner with all of this luggage blocking my exit. If you are traveling with a rolly suitcase, maybe you should take a tuk tuk around.

Stuck.

A few hours later, I made it to the town where I needed to catch another bus to Tissa (shorten name that everyone uses). Of course as a group of people got off at the stop, we were bombarded with tuk tuk drivers. I wish I had a dollar for every driver that offered a ride. There was a couple from China that were also headed in the same direction, and they kind of stuck by me as I investigated the bus situation. I had planned on waiting, but one driver offered 100 rupees for the 3 of us. I know the bus still should have been cheaper. But they probably would have overcharged us anyway. So into the tuk tuk we went. The couple were from China and we actually ended up hanging out for a few days. The girl said I looked like Carrie Bradshaw, so I liked her right away. Not sure how I managed to do that all sweaty and gross. It must have been the fedora.

We made our way to the hotel, but not after the tuk tuk driver tried to have us stay at his place and do a safari with his group. I had my hotel confirmed and somewhat committed to their safari already. The couple had not, but I think they wanted to see where I was staying. And that's where they ended up. First thing that I did, was hang up all my wet clothes. I was hoping they would dry before morning when I had to pack it all up again. Second, food. Every time you get food you need to get some sort of juice to offset the heat. The food comes out piping hot and since the temperatures are high, I'm constantly sweating. It's obvious I don't live here. Although I'm not convinced I could ever get used to it.

Later on we decided to go for a walk to check out Tissa Lake at sunset. We took our time and checked out the temple nearby. We eventually found a good spot to watch the sun go down. But of course the locals had to try to sell us something. This time a boat ride. I understand why they do it but it's exhausting to be asked nonstop for something. We politely declined and proceeded to take in the sunset. The guy lowered his price dramatically and it sounded like it was now free. We decided to do it since they had kept asking. We proceeded to ride around for about 10 minutes on the lake to watch the reflections of the surrounding area. We did give them money in the end. They made some money and we got a nice ending to the day. Well not quite ending as it was only 6pm. Since it feels like summer, when the sun goes down I keep thinking it's later like 8pm. Which is good since I still have a few hours before bed. Especially with our early morning ahead of us.

Tissa Lake sunset.

At 5am, after some tea, our jeep picked us up for our safari. We passed many jeeps on our way to Yala National Park in order to get our tickets first. It worked out as we were in the park shortly after it opened. We really optimized our time with viewing all the different animals. And we saw a lot. Birds, deer, buffalo, lizards, crocodiles, and many others. Including elephants. We finally saw elephants towards the end. Elephants and leopards are the key highlights, but unfortunately didn't see the latter. But seeing 5 elephants made up for it. Although one of them was angry. A girl had dropped her phone from her selfie stick and the driver had to open the door to retrieve it. You are not allowed to get out of the jeeps and this is probably why. The elephant stared the jeeps down, and I was convinced focused on ours specifically. After a few more minutes of observation we safely drove away.

Elephants.

Another key highlight of the safari was the stop at the Indian Ocean. We were able to get out here and I immediately stuck my feet into the ocean. I would have gone swimming if I could have. But that would wait one more day. I had noticed some sort of structure that was destroyed and a memorial close by. The driver explained it was from the 2004 tsunami. I remember when that had happened and supporting some fundraising on campus that spring semester. But I didn't fully comprehend that I was now at one of the sites of destruction. People had died in the park but apparently the animals felt something and most had escaped to higher ground. After reading a bit more, Sri Lanka was the 2nd country (past Indonesia) that was impacted. This is something I thought about a lot during my stay and saw remnants of in the days following.

2004 tsunami memorial.

My next stop was the beach town of Unawatuna.