Arriving in Sri Lanka and Catching a Wave in Arugam Bay

Sri Lanka is a country with so many delicious foods!

For me it started with incredible food on our Sri Lankan Airlines flight: cashew nut upma, chana dhal masala, and broccoli tikki---yum!

Plus, the ceylon tea was so good I didn't need sugar or cream!

In Arugam Bay we had rice and fish curry at The Food Hut. The humble space housed incredible flavors!  This one entree consisted of 7 plates of food, including marinated and cooked beets, an amazing eggplant dish, dhal, and white fish.  It was much more than we could eat for 1100 rupee (about $11 USD). 

Driving from the airport across the island to Arugam Bay, I enjoyed the common sights of this beautiful country. Buddhist flags and paper lanterns from Buddha's triply blessed day decorated many homes. 

Buddhist shrines around bodhi trees (ficus religioso) could be sighted nearly every kilometer. Hindu temples were harder to spot until I learned that what I identified as Buddhist temples housed both Buddhist and Hindu shrines.  Mosques and even a few Christian churches also punctuated our drive. 

Rambutan and durian are in the height of their seasons. I spotted many trucks and tuk tuk laden with pink and yellow rambutan. I later learned that almost all other fruits are available year round, which explained why fruit stalls were so abundantly stocked. 

There are also mouth watering pastry trucks which were more appealing than ice cream trucks. 

We passed a tank, or ancient man-made water reservoir, which I mistook for a natural lake. The landscape was filled with rubber trees, tea bushes on the hillside, rain forests, monkeys on power lines, peacocks in rice paddies, iron wood trees (Sri Lanka's national tree), and golden cascade trees. (Which I had previously called yellow Dr. Seuss trees. It turns out that it is Thailand's national tree.)  The steep hills and deep ravines ensured that the roads were winding.  Cows, goats, traffic, and pedestrians ensured that our driver, Prash, was always alert. 

From the car I got to see boys flying kites in the street (everywhere else the sky was too crowded with trees), girls gathering flowers, and a game of cricket in a school yard. 

Our first morning in Arugam Bay, I enjoyed waking early and watching the thunderous waves and a cloudy sunrise. Then I watched in awe as 15-20 surfers maneuvered Arugam Bay Point.  

 

 

Since the shallow, rocky waters were not for me, I found a surf instructor, Raheem "Mr. Take It Easy."  And soon we were heading to Whiskey Point. 
 

 

 

Here the waves were kind to me and the soft sandy bottom was very forgiving.  For me, the surfing was fantastic. I was able to stand up right away, and my "Mr. Take It Easy" instructor had me working on how to turn right (turns out that right turns are challenging for me, while left turns are challenging for Derek Zoolander).
 

 

 

 

 

 

A diving dismount

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And after two hours and a few wipeouts like this, I was tuckered out. 
 

We returned to our laid back resort and our no fuss cabana for a relaxing afternoon of swinging in a hammock and reading.