Tag: nomadiclife

A Brief Visit to Athens, Greece

On By Expedition Fresh StartLeave a comment

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life you dream of.

– Oprah Winfrey

We flew into Athens on our route to Singapore and Australia, and going into it, we knew we wouldn’t have much time to spend in the country to make our timeline work.  We had a lengthy list of places we were wanting to explore, but most of those would have to wait for our next trip.  Henry and Brian really wanted to check out some of the beaches on the 6,000 islands that make up Greece.  I also wanted to go check out some of the historic sites I’ve read about in the Bible for years like Corinth, Thessalonika, and Philippi, but we chose to hold off on all of those for now.  Instead we decided to dedicate this trip to exploring Athens.  We only had spend 5 days to wander through Athens, and frankly, that just wasn’t enough.  We did our best to take it all in, but there is just so much to see and do in this tiny bit of heaven.  The little we saw was wonderful.  We were all very impressed by the friendly and kind people, the fantastic foods, the idyllic weather, and the amazing historical ruins.  I mean, really, what’s not to love about Greece?

We had found a cute little apartment for us to stay in just a short walk away from the Acropolis, and after landing at the airport and making our way through customs, we met our driver in the arrivals area.  It was a 50-minute drive to our apartment, so we had plenty of time to sit back and take in the city.  It was so lovely outside.  In the warm spring air, everything was beginning to green up and bloom, and the city had a magical feel to it.  Our driver double parked on a busy street just outside the apartment building and helped us get our bags to the stoop.  He handed us our key to get inside, and we walked inside to settle into our 5-night home.

The apartment was spacious and perfect for our stay.  Brian and I had a nice room, and Henry would be sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room.  We agreed to make that ‘his’ room so he could close the doors to the room and have a bit of privacy too.  There was also a small bathroom with a washing machine and a decent kitchen and dining room as well.  To keep our costs down, it helps if we can prepare breakfast at least, and being somewhere for a few days gives us the ability to buy more groceries in better bulk.  It doesn’t always work out for us, but this time it did.

It was dinner time, and we were all pretty worn out from the flight, but we decided to wander down the road a bit and try the Tarantino’s hamburger joint we’d found on the map.  It was only a few blocks from our apartment, and when we walked in, we wondered if it was even open.  There were four men working behind the counter, but no one was eating inside.  Starving and desperate, we grabbed a table and placed our order anyway.  The food was delicious, and we were so glad we’d tried it.  They were great burgers like we’d find at home.  We found out later that they had just opened up during the pandemic.  They filled quite a lot of take-out orders in the time that we were there, but no one else joined us in the dining room.

Afterwards we found a supermarket to get some breakfast for the following morning.  We decided that we really wanted some biscuits.  Biscuits are a truly American thing, and we haven’t found them since we left the US.  Henry requested biscuits with fried pork tenderloin for breakfast, so we tried to come up with that.  After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what the word ‘flour’ looked like in the Greek alphabet, we found what we needed to make the biscuits.  The meat was harder to come by, but we found a bag of frozen pork gyro meat that we agreed might be a good substitute. 

We crashed pretty hard when we returned to the room that night, but the next morning, we were up bright and early and ready to go explore the city.  We were at the very edge of the off-season, and the peak-season pricing would be going into effect during our stay.  We mapped out a plan for our time where we could see the more expensive sights before the pricing changed, and that meant that on this date, we would be touring the National Archeological Museum. 

We wandered through the streets taking in the sights and letting our noses lead us to some lunch.  Brian had wanted to go to the Falafel Guys restaurant he’d found down on this pedestrian street, but Henry and I couldn’t pass up this cute little pizza shop across the way from it.  We picked out our slices from several that were already made, and Brian gave in and ordered one too.  The lady at the counter cooked our individual slices for us while we waited, and then we sat down to enjoy our delicious food.

After lunch, we walked a little further until we found the museum.   It was very large, the largest in Greece, and it held hundreds of items on exhibit dating back to ancient times.  There were many old statues and grave markers dating back 2000 years, and we walked through the exhibits trying to take them all in.  The Greeks loved the human body, and there were many examples of anatomically correct models in each room.  We really enjoyed the exhibit on time where we could see the first mechanical devices that kept astronomical time. 

Walking through town, Brian and I were surprised by how many sexually explicit souvenirs were for sale right out on the street.  At every stand, there were erotic playing cards, postcards, magnets, and more with graphic images showing two or more people obviously in the act.  There were also hundreds of very colorful, almost decorative phallus-shaped bottle openers, key chains, and magnets for sale.  Sex was everywhere, but thankfully, Henry didn’t seem to notice most of it. 

We ate our dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant not too far from the apartment.  Brian loves a good gyro, so we picked this restaurant so he could have an authentic one.  Interestingly enough, gyros are quite different in Greece from those at home.  In the US, the gyro shops typically have the processed lamb or chicken kebabs, but here, it is made of shaved pork meat. Also at home, the meat and vegetables come inside a pita to make a sandwich.  In Greece, the meat and vegetables are brought out on a tray with slices of pita.  You just kind of make your sandwich as you go. It was quite delicious even if it was different.

We got up early the next morning to trek up to the Acropolis.  The Acropolis is a very tall plateau in the middle of the city that used to house the most important buildings of the ancient times.  We began our hike up the hill, and still near the bottom, we were able to see through the gates to the stage level of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  We bought our tickets at the nearby ticket booth, and we had the place nearly to ourselves when we began our slow trek up. 

We saw the Odeon of Herodes Atticus again once we climbed nearly to the top, this time from the upper levels.  This venue was completed in 161 AD, and I find it amazing to think that concerts are still held here.  Performances have been given from Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Sting, Diana Ross, Foo Fighters, and many more.  Although not much is left of the former glory, I imagine hearing live music in this ancient setting would be quite interesting.

There are quite a lot of buildings on the summit of this hill.

The Parthenon was an incredible sight to see.  Outside of the main structure, there were informational signs showing how much things had changed around this former temple over the past 40 years.  For many years, there was nothing here but massive piles of rubble.  Throughout history, other generations and societies have tried to reconstruct and repair these buildings, but in many cases, the people did more damage than anything else.  Archeologists have been working for 45 years to try to put the pieces back together again.  They have sorted and cataloged the thousands of pieces of enormous rock, and they have been working to identify where each one fits in the puzzle and building replacements to fill the gaps.  The buildings you see in my pictures are the result of those years of tedious labor. 

After visiting the Acropolis, we decided to walk over to Areopagus Hill.  This area is not much more than a litter-strewn rock patch that overlooks some of the surrounding valley, but in ancient times, this was a bustling shopping and market area.  Paul, as recounted in Acts 17:16-34, preached here to the crowds.  It was hard for me to stand on the hill as it is today and imagine anything like that actually happening.  I couldn’t help but wonder if that was similar to what archeologists first saw when they began excavating many of these other ruins.  I cannot help but find it amazing that people have the vision and tenacity to dig in and recreate what time and weather have destroyed.

We moved on to check out the Panathenaic Theater.  We had seen this one from the car on the way in from the airport.  For a fee, you could go in and take a tour of it, but from the sidewalk, you could get a really nice view for free.  This multi-purpose stadium is built entirely out of marble and was completed in 144 AD with a seating capacity of 50,000 spectators.  Eventually it fell into ruin, but the stadium was excavated and refurbished in 1869.  It was used for the Olympics ceremonies and events in 1870 and 1875.  It has been used for various events since then, including as an Olympic venue in the 2004 Olympic games.    

We decided to explore the more modern side of Athens the next day.  We found a local market and walked around it for a bit.  The markets are so foreign to me, even though I have been amazed to find them in almost every country we’ve visited.  This one had vendors selling everything from clothing to meat under the same roof.  We’ve gotten accustomed to seeing chicken and pig parts that we aren’t used to in the US, but this market introduced us to lambs as well.  They were a bit harder to look at, and Henry really struggled with it.  We didn’t stay at the market long because of them.

We found our way over to a toy store instead.  This was a massive three-story store full of every toy you can imagine.  Easter isn’t far away, and it was interesting to see the different customs related to the holiday here.  Apparently the lambada is a traditional Easter candle that people in Greece hold on the evening of the Holy Saturday.  These candles were everywhere!  In the toy store, there were common US toys like Legos and Barbies that all came with their own special Easter candles in the packaging.  We enjoyed looking around, and we found it funny how many toys are the exact same even on the other side of the world.   

On our way back home, we happened upon Hadrian’s Library.  Hadrian became the emperor of Rome, but he was a fan of Greece, and Athens in particular, long before that.  He donated this building to the people of Athens in 132 AD.  Originally it was 400 ft long by 260 feet wide and it housed many historic papyri and several lecture rooms.  It was destroyed in 267 AD when Athens was sacked by the Germanic Heluri people, though.      

On our last morning, our driver picked us up promptly at 11 just outside our apartment and drove us to the airport over the next hour.  She was very friendly, and we loved our conversation with her.  She was from Greece, and she obviously loved her country very much.  She had always lived in Athens, but she dreamed of one day buying a camper and moving out to one of the islands.  She said she knew it sounded crazy, but one day she was going to do it.  We never her told her about our own level of crazy, but we did encourage her to follow her dream.  After all, the biggest adventure you can take is to live the life you dream of.

Meandering Around Morocco

On By Expedition Fresh StartLeave a comment

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

– Dr. Wayne Dyer

I don’t know a nicer way to say this, so I’ll just say it.  I didn’t want to go to Morocco.  We’d originally planned to go there in January when we left Argentina, but because of some COVID/border closing issues, we decided to hold off on it.  I was excited about it back then.  We’d watched a few videos highlighting beautiful areas of the country, and I was happy to go check them out.  Then in February we had the opportunity to go to Egypt, and we were able to spend 10 days there.  By that point, I figured that Morocco would be very similar to Egypt, and if that was the case, I wanted to just move on to somewhere new.  I really enjoyed Egypt, but I was eager to go see something different too.  Brian kept insisting on us going there, and in the spirit of compromise, I agreed we could go for a little while.  After 9 days of wandering through the walled cities and narrow alleyways, I have to admit that Brian was right.  I’m really sorry to be leaving this beautiful place.

We left Cairo on an early morning flight to Casablanca.  Our flight plan had been modified by the airline after we booked it, and so instead of the 1-hour layover we had originally planned, we now had a 12-hour layover instead.  Our first flight was good, and we arrived in Casablanca at 8 in the morning a bit tired and hungry.  We only had about a 5-minute walk to get to our new terminal, and when we rounded the last corner to walk in, we were shocked.  It should have tipped us off when we went through security as we entered the hallway; we were literally the only three travelers in the room.  The two bored looking security guards chatted idly with us as we put all our bags on the x-ray conveyor and walked through the scanners.  When we had regathered our things, we walked into a gymnasium-sized room with 8 small gates leading out to a very unglamorous parking lot.  There were a handful of people milling about, and there was one small café that served coffee, pastries, and light sandwiches.  The only place you could go for a change of scenery was the bathroom.  That was it.  We would be stuck here in this little room with hardly any food options for the next 12 hours.

We waited a bit before we went to get our first meal at the café but our bellies were rumbling already.  The sandwiches were good with fresh meats and cheeses on crunchy baguette breads – much better than most airport sandwiches – and we ate them in our cramped waiting room seats at the far end of the room.  We all played on our phones and kept ourselves busy until three hours in, we found out that the wifi was only good for three hours and could not be renewed.  We had to spend the next 9 hours entertaining ourselves without the benefit of the web.  I slept.  We ate the same sandwiches again.  Henry complained.  Brian fussed at us. I got cold and grumpy, so I slept some more.  They watched reruns of their downloaded Netflix shows, and they complained some more.  It was awful. 

It finally came time to board our flight, and the gate attendants loaded us onto a bus and drove us out to the plane.  At 10 pm, we finally got buckled into our little propeller plane for the last leg in this little adventure.  Henry had fought the good fight, and he’d managed to stay awake all day long.  Less than 2 minutes after he buckled his seatbelt, he was out cold.  The poor kid didn’t feel anything else until we woke him up and made him exit the plane after we’d landed.

We stumbled off the plane and into immigration like zombies before we walked out of the airport and into the cool Marrakech air.  Our riad was sending a driver to pick us up, and he would be waiting just outside the arrivals area for us with a sign with our name on it.  We walked outside and there was a group of 40-60 people standing around.  Many of the people had signs, but we couldn’t find our name on any of them.  After searching quite thoroughly for our guy, we gave up and contacted our host to see if something might have happened to him.  Mahjoub, our host, assured me he was there, and I assured him that there was no one with our name out there.  While Brian and Henry did one more thorough scan of the crowd, I found a travel agency sign and stood by it, thinking that our guy could at least identify us that way.  Within a minute or two, our driver came up and introduced himself.  He seemed a bit winded, and we guessed that he’d just arrived.  He didn’t have any signs with him, by the way, but he did call me by my name when he first introduced himself. I would have been irritated by his being late, but honestly, I was just so happy he showed up at all by that point.

After a fifteen minute drive through the beautiful city of Marrakech, we stopped unexpectedly at an intersection in the road.  At first, we thought the driver was stopping to allow a pedestrian to push his wheelbarrow out of the way so he could turn past him.  That wasn’t the case, though.  The man moved his wheeled cart up to our car, and then he opened the back hatch and started loading our bags inside.  He must have registered our confusion, because the driver quickly let us know that we would be going with the older man the rest of the way; he was using the cart to help us get to the riad for the night.

Now, had I been better prepared, I might have known what was going on. Remember, I wasn’t really on board with going here, so I hadn’t done any research to know what we were going into. I didn’t know that there aren’t any cars in the old city. For that matter, I didn’t know we were staying in an old city either. Our driver had stopped at the city gate because he couldn’t physically drive his car inside, but we were so tired we hadn’t registered that either. We didn’t really know what was going on, but like with all travel to new and unknown places, we had to have a bit of trust for the people who were helping to lead us through it.

After loading up the cart, we took off on a third of a mile hike through dimly lit, deserted, and narrow cobbled alleyways.  The man leading us couldn’t speak much English, but he tried to be friendly to us.  He tried to point out a few areas that we might want to go back and look at in the morning light, but honestly, we had no idea what he was saying.  We smiled and nodded, and we did our best to keep up with his brisk pace.  We wound our way through several alleys until we reached a very narrow one on the right.  Our guide rang the bell, and Mahjoub answered the door.  He thanked the guide and payed him for his help, and then he welcomed us inside his beautiful riad.

We had never heard of a riad before, but there are lots of them around Morocco.  Riads were once homes that extended families would live in.  A couple would buy or build the property and as their kids grew up, their childrens’ families would come to live with them in their own rooms/floors. The property would grow as the family did.  In cities like Marrakesh, the buildings are built right up beside one another, often sharing walls.  Because of this, there are very few, if any, windows on the outside of the building to let in the sun.  Instead, the homes were built around a courtyard of sorts, and above the courtyard, there would often be a large opening in the roof with a removable cover.  The opening over the courtyard allowed the home to have natural light from the sun during the day, and the cover provided protection from the rain when it was needed.  The bedrooms and living rooms had windows that opened up to the courtyard so that they were well lit. The roofs were used also, as they provided ample space to hang laundry, dine, or enjoy a cool breeze on a warm evening.

Over hundreds of years, the kids began growing up and moving into their own homes instead of staying with the family, so these large stately mansions began to take on a new role; many families converted the homes into guesthouses like ours instead.  The Riad Jenan Adam was absolutely beautiful.  Outside the door, the building didn’t look very distinguishable from any of the others nearby. But inside, it was gorgeous. The center room was lined with couches, beautiful tiled floors, and intricate woodwork, but with the cool night air seeping in, it was a bit too cold to enjoy.  Mahjoub led us into a smaller room off to the right that was comfortably lined with orange couches, and he brought us warm mint tea to sip on while he checked us in.  After chatting briefly with us about our time in Morocco, he walked us to our room on the second floor, where we immediately found our beds and fell fast asleep.

We woke up to the blare of our alarm, and groggily, we forced ourselves out of bed.  Our room was pitch black, and if not for the alarm, we’d likely have slept for several more hours.  We figured out how to open the solid wood window panels, and that allowed the light to pour in and us to wake up a little easier.  The rain was pouring down outside, but inside, the house was bright and welcoming.  Mahjoub fixed us a lovely breakfast of eggs, several different breads with honey, jam, butter, nut butter, and oil, coffee, tea, and freshly squeezed orange juice.  After giving us some time to unpack and work out a plan for the day, he escorted us to a restaurant a very short distance from our riad.  As with most of the restaurants in this town, the restaurant sat on the third and fourth floors of the building, so entering through the narrow doorway, we climbed an even narrower staircase to the top floor.  The space was packed tightly with tables and chairs, but we found a nice comfortable seat overlooking the edge of the roof.

One of the dishes Mahjoub had recommended was a tagine, and other than knowing it was a meal cooked in a special type of dish, we really didn’t know much about it.  We ordered our meals trusting the wonderful smells in the air would lead to something good, and we anxiously awaited for them to be prepared.  The tagine is a ceramic dish with a cone shaped lid.  The chef places well seasoned meats and vegetables to roast inside, and the result is delicious. Henry and I had the beef tagine, and it was very similar to a beef pot roast with vegetables.  Brian tried the couscous that Moroccans are famous for as well, and he said it was also very delicious.

We explored the old medina for a few hours to get a feel for our new environment.  A medina is an old, historic portion of a city.  The medina of Marrakesh is almost 1,000 years old, and the 2700 acre city is surrounded by 11 miles of walls.  Inside these city walls, homes and businesses are built upon one another, usually sharing outer walls and leaving only very tight alleyways to walk through between them.  The streets are far too narrow for cars, but many streets are just large enough that motorcyclists and bicyclists will ride through them.  Shopkeepers open their doors each morning and place their wares out for display in their doorways and into the alleys to attract sales, but this further constricts traffic.  It’s possible to find almost anything as you walk about.  On a short walk, it is quite easy to pass fruit and vegetable stands, meat markets, bakeries, clothing stores, souvenir shops, cleaning supplies, shoes, lamps and decorative metalworks, brightly colored ceramics, and leather goods stores.  Outside the businesses, shoppers mill about looking for good deals. To walk down the street, you are are constantly weaving between shops and around shoppers, and for your own protection, doing your best to stay to the right so that you are not run over. Its crazy, chaotic, and beautiful all at the same time.

On that first day, we found our way down to the Jemaa el-Fna Square.  This area is a very lively section of the medina where anyone and everyone comes to eat and play.  There are hundreds of food and fresh juice stalls lining one section of the square.  All of the juice stalls have gorgeous displays of fruits for you to choose from, and for about $1, they’ll make you a fresh squeezed juice that is phenomenal.  The food vendors are preparing their dishes as you order them, and the food is so inexpensive that it makes you wonder how they could sell it at those prices.  Pass these vendors, and you move out to the more open section of the square where you’ll hear the snake charmers entertaining passing tourists.  There are performers dancing and singing traditional music, monkeys almost begging for you to hold them, donkeys waiting to be ridden, and henna artists itching to help you decorate your hands and arms.  All of this is surrounded by more vendors selling their wares, ice cream stands, more juice sellers, and restaurants boasting the best rooftops in town.  It’s a lot to take in; the sights and sounds of it all were so different from anywhere else, and they were all so perfect together.

As we were walking around that first day, a kid who was about 10-12 years old eagerly let us know that we should head towards the tanneries today because there were some women from the Sahara that were in town, and this was the last day you could see them.  He said it was incredible and rare to see them working the leather like they do, and he gave us instructions on how to find them.  He told us that they would only be there for about another hour, so we should hurry.  We politely said thank you and continued walking on our way when another young man, this one in his early twenties, stopped us to say hello.  He also let us know about the women, and he insisted on walking with us a little further so he could point us in the right direction.  As we walked, he kept up a friendly banter.  We weren’t sold on going to see them, but so long as we felt safe, we were okay with walking with him to see where they were.  As we walked on, the streets got a little more desolate, and we began to get uncomfortable.  About the time we decided we were ready to turn around and go back, an older man came out to introduce us to the tanneries.  He claimed he was the manager of the tannery.  He offered to give us a tour of the facility, and he gave us some mint to use as a ‘face mask’ to help cover the stench from the tanning process.  He was probably nice enough, but we’d already decided to go back, so we politely said goodbye and returned to our part of town. 

Later on in our room, we were reading about the tanneries, and we learned that this is a common ploy to lure tourists into them.  After a quick tour, the tourists are often guilted or intimidated into purchasing leather goods or paying an outrageous price for the ‘free’ tour.  The person who delivers the tourists to the tannery insists on a generous tip for getting you there as well, even if you didn’t really want to go.  You get to see the tanneries, and they get a little well-coordinated extra money as well. Thankfully we got out of there just in time.

Incidentally, in our next few days, we had several other people stop us and offer to help us find the tanneries as well.  Each time the story was a little different.  Every time we heard it though, today was the last day, and they would be closing up and leaving in about an hour.  Every time. We tried several different lines to deflect them, but the most effective was to tell them we had already been there. Once we said that, the helpful local would simply fade away or go back to what he was doing.

We enjoyed the atmosphere so much that we found ourselves at the square on another afternoon, and we dined on the juice and food stalls like locals.  Henry had strawberry juice while Brian and I drank a fresh glass of delicious pomegranate juice.   We ate minced beef kabobs at the #34 food stall, and it was fabulous.  After months of not having a good hamburger, their kafta (minced meat) kabobs tasted extraordinarily good.  If we’d only had a bun to put them on, they would have been perfect. 

One afternoon we were walking through the markets trying to get a new sim card for Brian, and the crowd was very thick.  We’d already been keenly aware that this environment would be perfect venue for pickpockets, so we’d been extremely careful about what we had with us and where our belongings were stored on us.  Brian was talking to the shopkeeper in a very busy alley while Henry and I leaned up against a nearby wall to stay out of the way of the of the crowd traveling through. All of a sudden, there was a ruckus behind Brian.  I pulled Henry closer to me, and Brian quickly grabbed up his phone from the counter as well.  We all turned to figure out what was going on, and while we stayed as far away from the commotion as possible, we watched a middle-aged man get off the motorcycle that he and his wife were riding and begin punching a younger man in the face.  We gathered from the shopkeeper afterwards that the younger man and his buddy had tried pickpocketing something out of the wife’s pocket as they slowly rode through the crowd.  She had felt him and told her husband to stop driving immediately.  There were no police called; they settled this for themselves.  The husband beat the snot out of the kid, and then he and his wife went on their way.  It was unnerving to watch, but it was a good reminder for us to continue to be vigilant.

On another afternoon, we found our way out of the medina and walked over to a shopping mall in the new part of town.  After a quick lunch at our favorite Chili’s Bar & Grill, we explored the area for a few hours. We never found the garden we were looking for, but we did find an awesome grocery store which was almost as good. They had everything we needed to make homemade quesadillas, and Mahjoub agreed to allow us to use the kitchen, so we were excited for that.  Back at the hostel, Brian cooked up our quesadillas while I finished up a few things I needed to do upstairs, and then we shared one of our favorite dinners with Mahjoub. He seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

We loved Marrakech, but it was time for us to move on.  The beautiful red city, as it is known, was wonderful to visit, and the riad we stayed at was simply beautiful.  We were eager to see what the rest of Morocco had in store for us, though.  Mahjoub really wanted us to check out the Sahara and Southern Morocco, but we didn’t feel like we had enough time to see it the way we really would have liked to.  Instead, we chose to take the train from Marrakech to Fes, another even older town, and see what was there.  Mahjoub arranged a ride for us to the train station, and after grabbing a bucket of KFC to enjoy on the train, we hopped on board.

The train was comfortable and smooth.  The car was divided into several different cabins that each seated 8 people.  When we arrived to our cabin, there were four people already there, so we put our bags on the overhead racks and settled into the vacant seats for the six hour ride.  We were able to take in the sights as we traveled through the country, and except for the car getting very warm at one point, we actually enjoyed the ride.  Henry spent most of the time working on his Algebra and getting mad at me in the process.  He, Algebra, and I are not a good combination, and it’s one of the reasons we’ll both be glad when he returns to normal school.

We made it to Fes with no issues aside from being hot and tired.  Mahjoub had been kind enough to arrange a friend of his, Ayoub, to meet us at the station and escort us to a riad that he knew.  At the station, I heard him call my name before I ever saw him.  Ayoub was an enthusiastic young man who was quickly bounding over to meet us.  He had the biggest smile on his face as introduced himself, welcomed us exuberantly, and then escorted us to a taxi.  He took a second taxi because the cars weren’t big enough to hold all of us, and our taxi followed his to the edge of the medina. 

Our first views of the medina let us know that this one would be very different from Marrekech.  Marrekech is flat, and the entire medina is easily walkable because of its size and topography.  Fes is much larger, boasting more than 9400 cobbled streets and 300 mosques.  At over 1,200 years old, it is the oldest and largest medina in Morocco, and while it sees far fewer tourists than Marrakech, we were told the town had a lot to offer as well.

We walked down a large hill, and after winding through several different streets, we found ourselves at the door of the Riad Sanaa Rose.  Abdel, our new host, opened the door to the riad and welcomed us inside.  After unloading our bags, we sat with him and Ayoub at the dining table in the lovely home enjoying freshly baked cookies and mint tea while we learned more about Fes.  We found out that this Riad was at least 300-400 years old, and that all of the tilework inside was handmade.  The dining table sat in the center of the courtyard area, and the three-story building loomed around us as we rested. Off to one side of the room was a beautiful fountain where the family would have gotten their water. Another side yielded a plush seating area lined with couches and big, fluffy pillows. And a narrow spiral staircase with insanely steep steps was inset into a third wall. After setting up dinner plans with Ayoub, Abdel showed us to our room on the third floor.  Our room was large and spacious, and after traveling all day, we were eager to stretch out on our beds for a short while. Henry and I couldn’t help but open every window and wood window panel to see the different views first, though.

Ayoub and Abdel both warned us about walking through the medina alone.  With over 9000 very narrow streets, it is very easy to get lost.  Everyone gets lost, so its more of a question of when than if. Also, there are people in Fes who will try to lead you to places you don’t want to go (sounds familiar) and will try to help you in order to get a tip.  To help us avoid that, Ayoub agreed to pick us up for dinner and escort us to a nearby restaurant so that we could try some tagines there.  The restaurant was very expensive, so we opted to split two entrees instead of each of us having our own.  The food was delicious, but there wasn’t very much of it to go around.  Thankfully we were too tired to care very much, and we made our way back to the riad and quickly found the warmth of our beds.

We arranged a tour with Ayoub for the next day.  We don’t typically do tours, but Ayoub was a friend of Mahjoub, and he seemed helpful.  He agreed to take us to several local sights, and since we would be a little pressed for time in Fes, we thought it would be helpful to have someone help us get to them all quickly.  We felt like the few interactions we’d had in Marrakech had helped us prepare for the people in Fes, but leaning on the side of being overly cautious, we felt like it might be good to have a local with us too.

Abdel provided us with a delicious breakfast the next morning, and shortly afterwards, Ayoub and his friend arrived to pick us up.  We spent most of the morning walking through the city from site to site admiring the complexity of the alleyways and taking in the environment.  Ayoub took us to a metalworking shop where we met the owner and viewed several floors of his beautiful lamps, mirrors, ashtrays, jewelry, and decorations.  Some were embellished with camel bone accents and various gems as well.  Many of the pieces were very beautiful, and although they were happy to ship things home for us, we wouldn’t purchase any to take with us.

Ayoub also took us to a tannery.  We were a little nervous about this one, honestly, but it turned out to be a good visit.  We went to the roof of a nearby building with one of the tannery employees so we could get a birds eye view of the dying pots and drying racks.  Below us, the hides were being stained to their eventual colors.  The smell wasn’t bad from this vantage point. The guide told us that they actually use pigeon poop to soften the leather; the acid in the poop helps treat the leather, but it is also what causes the noxious smell.  He explained to us and let us feel the difference in goat, camel, and cow leather, and he helped us understand the main uses for each.  Camel leather, for example, is very thick and tough, and it is best used in shoes, belts, or bags while goat leather is very supple and makes for beautiful clothing, bags, and gloves.  It was a good tour, and we enjoyed looking at all of the leather goods his group had made.  We really wanted to purchase a new jacket each, and I would have loved a new purse, but we did the right thing for our budget and chose not to.  I will say this, though, if I ever make it back to Morocco with an income, I know exactly where I’ll be going.

We went to a few other tanneries through the morning, and we got to see different sides to the process.  In one area, for example, a man was standing down in one of the pits pulling out the hides to move them on to the next process.  It looked like grueling work, and I can’t imagine the physical strain this work puts on the people that do it.  Even worse were the men who worked upstairs with sharp blades who were shaving the leather.  They stood behind the leather and ran their knives down the front, cutting and smoothing the leather.  Each pass required the worker who was starting standing upright to bend fully at his hips to the point he was nearly touching his toes, and these men were making many multiple passes per hide.

We also saw a few stables along the way.  The streets of Fes are very narrow, and no vehicles are allowed on them.  They use donkeys in a few places as taxis or for hauling heavy items, so at different intervals in the city, they have stables to house them. 

Ayoub also took us up on a hill near the wall for a great view of the city.  We could see where the medina and the new city meet, and it was pretty neat to look at the tangle of buildings and spot our hotel from the overlook. 

We had to return to our riad for a few hours in the middle of the day because we had an experience of a completely different sort awaiting us.  When Brian and I were in college, we met Amy through Brian’s friend Blake.  Blake was in Brian’s fraternity, and although I didn’t know either of them very well, Brian thought a lot of them.  Through the years, we’ve been able to keep in touch through Facebook.  A few weeks earlier, Amy had texted me to let me know that her 6th grade ELA class was beginning a unit on exploration, and they had been reading up on our blog as they were studying this unit.  We talked a bit, and Amy asked me if we’d be willing to do a Zoom meeting with her kids.  Brian and I were really excited about it, and Henry was too, although he was far more nervous about it than we were.

We found the best spot in the riad for getting good wifi, and we got our computer set up to do the call.  We were able to get connected with no problem, but they had a few technical issues on their end.  One of the coolest parts of this experience for us was while we were waiting for them to get everything set up.  Apparently, they had gotten the display working, because we heard one of the kids exclaim, “That’s them!”  It made us all feel a little like we were celebrities. 

We found out then that we’d be talking to four different classes of kids and not just one.  They were all so polite, and we loved talking with them.  We got to tell them about our trip, and they got to ask us a few questions.  They loved the penguins in Antarctica, and they loved hearing about some of our misadventures.  Henry told the classes all about penguin poop, and the kids loved it.  I wouldn’t have mentioned that part, but he knew just what it would take to entertain them.  It was really nice to get to see and talk with Amy as well, even if it was very brief; I think it must be hard for anyone to understand how good it feels for us to see a familiar face when it happens so rarely these days.  This has to be one of my favorite experiences of this whole trip. 

After our call, we met Ayoub again, and he escorted us to his home.  He was going to teach us to make tagine from scratch, and then we’d get to eat it with him and his family.  His home was on the second floor of a building overlooking a little courtyard near the edge of town.  We sat in a small but warmly furnished living area and watched television while he fixed us some mint tea to share.  His sister was babysitting a neighbor’s young child, and they sat with us for a while also; after a bit, the child decided he was bored with us, so they went outside instead.  We sat inside and talked with Ayoub about his family and his work.  I enjoyed how passionately Ayoub talked about his job and getting to show people around.  He has worked in the tourism industry for several years, and he’s made a lot of friends along the way.  He’s also a lover of languages, and he speaks several fluently.  Because of this and his knowledge of the area, he’s able to show visitors a side of Morocco that few others can.  He worked hard to help us be comfortable and enjoy our visit to Fes, and the love he has for his work is infectious; you can’t help but enjoy Morocco more because of him.

After tea, we began the meal prep.  He made space for us to work in the kitchen, and then he put us all to work.  We peeled and sliced potatoes, carrots, peppers, and zucchini as he mixed in the seasonings and prepped the chicken for the meal.  After all the meat and vegetables were placed inside, he added a little liquid to the pot, and then he used a plastic sack to seal the top. Finally, he placed the pot onto a propane burner, and it began to cook. 

It took between 45 minutes to an hour to cook completely.  The smells that wafted into the room as the food neared doneness was heavenly. At some point while we waited, we were joined by Ayoub’s father.  He didn’t speak any English, but he sat beside us watching television for a bit while the food finished up.  When everything was ready, Ayoub set the table and brought in a delicious smelling pot of roasted chicken and vegetables.  We enjoyed the meal at the family’s table, doing our best to mind our manners.  Henry was having issues getting the chicken meat off of the bone with his fork, and Ayoub’s father kept encouraging Henry to just pick it up and eat it with his hands.  He finally did, and that seemed to make him very happy.  After we had our fill of the tagine, Ayoub fed us a very tasty desert of oranges and bananas, and then he walked us back to our riad.

We relaxed mostly the next day.  Ayoub’s friend escorted us to another rooftop restaurant where we found a delicious meal, and we found our way back to the riad with no problems.  Later on in the day, we needed to go to the ATM to get some cash so we could pay for our riad.  Brian memorized the directions to it, and then we set off on our own for the first time.  We got to the ATM with no issues, but we weren’t crazy about the environment around it.  The ATM was located directly on the street, and across the street, there were 8-10 men who were milling about.  Henry and I tried to discreetly keep an eye on them while Brian got some cash out.  While we were by the ATM, one of the men brought over a very large tagine, and all the men completely ignored us and started diving into it; apparently they were just waiting on their food.  Just to be cautious, though, we decided to walk into a large ceramic shop nearby and kill some time with the hopes that they would leave before we left the store.  The ceramic shop was beautiful, and I wanted to buy some new dishes for home, but of course we couldn’t.  The owner said he had an Etsy shop, so maybe when I get home I can look into that a little further.  Either way, when we exited the shop, the men had dispersed, and we made it back to our room with no issues.

On our last morning in Fes, Ayoub met us bright and early at the riad, and he escorted us out of the medina.  We walked for half a mile or better before he was able to hail a taxi for us, and then he gave instructions to our driver. We said our goodbyes, hopped in the car, and headed to the bus station. 

The bus was comfortable and roomy, and we made it to Chefchaouen in about 4 hours.  Chefchaouen is called the blue city, and we’d heard it was beautiful.  We had only planned to stay there for one night, and then we were going to head back to Fes to catch our flight out of Morocco.  After a short taxi ride from the bus station to the edge of the medina, we walked for about 5 minutes through the city and found our hotel, the Casa El Houta.  We were tired and hungry, so after we settled into our spacious 2nd floor room, we asked the gentlemen at reception for any lunch suggestions.  He told us a few places, and then he walked with us to one of them. 

Chefchaouen is another walled city, and because of it’s history, all of the buildings in it are either blue or white.  A young man we met there told us that when the Jewish people were being persecuted in Europe way back when, many of them fled to Morocco for their safety.  The Jewish and Islamic people lived together, but they wanted to create something to easily tell who was who.  The Jewish people painted all of their houses blue, and the Islamic people painted theirs white.  From that point on, the city has made it a point to keep the paint fresh and beautiful. The city is very well maintained, and it is a photographer’s dream.

Our food on the third floor of the restaurant was delicious, and afterwards, we decided to walk to a viewpoint at a nearby chapel.  The views were gorgeous, and the weather was spectacular.  We didn’t have time to explore the new city, but we could see it from the hilltop. Vendors sold souvenirs, fresh juices, and clothing all up and down the medina streets, and the atmosphere with the brightly colored buildings was light and airy.

On our way back to our hotel, Henry found a vendor making cotton candy for $0.30. We got to watch our candy being made, and then we ate it up on the nearby steps as we watched the people go by.

We headed back to Fes the next morning.  After we grabbed some breakfast at a nearby restaurant, we took a taxi back to the bus station.  We walked in and bought the tickets for the next bus to Fes, and we didn’t really catch that the price the attendant charged us was slightly less than what we’d paid to get to Chefchaouen.  He directed us to the bus, and after a short discussion with the driver about needing to change busses midway, we climbed on board. 

About halfway through the trip, we pulled into a gas station, and the driver signaled for us to get off and wait.  He gave us our bags, and said that our next bus would be here in about 30 minutes.  Unsure and scared of being stranded in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, we dumbly stood by waiting for further direction.  A very tall man in a striped shirt who appeared to work with the buses told us to have a seat; our bus was on its way.  We nervously waited in the chairs by the station for some sign, any sign, of a new bus.  Our old bus didn’t leave the station either, and we didn’t exactly know what was going on with that.  About 30 minutes after we first stopped, the striped shirt guy started signaling for us to walk with him across the street.  With a few others in tow, we walked with him to a proper bus station and waited some more.  No one else seemed to be getting nervous, so we tried to entertain ourselves by watching this one fellow passenger’s turkeys.  Striped shirt guy was still in the area, and he didn’t seem concerned, either, so we tried to be patient.  Meanwhile Brian and I were trying to come up with a plan B if this didn’t work out.  Obviously we’d gotten on the wrong bus.  This one was going to Fes also, but in exchange for the lower ticket price, we got a longer, more tedious ride.  While we were waiting, we actually watched as the bus we should have been on passed by. 

After 10 or 15 minutes, a new bus finally pulled up in the lot, and we were told to hop on if we were going to Fes.  We climbed on and took a seat, and after 6 hours, we finally made it to back to Fes.

We opted to walk from the bus station in Fes to the Cine Hotel where we’d be staying.  Really we didn’t want to walk, but the taxi drivers acted like they couldn’t understand us, so we had no choice.  It wasn’t a bad walk, though, and the hostel was very nice.  We were staying outside the medina this time, so the hotel was newer with more modern conveniences. We grabbed a good dinner from the restaurant on the first floor, and we enjoyed our gloriously warm room upstairs. 

The next morning, we met our awaiting driver at the curb to head to the airport.  It was time to leave Morocco behind. Mahjoub, Ayoub, and Abdel had made a very good impression on us, and we really hated to leave them.  All of them had been very good hosts to us, and they checked on us long after we left them.  We really enjoyed the food and environment of Morocco as well.  When I didn’t want to go to Morocco and only reluctantly agreed to go, it was because I saw Morocco as some version of Egypt with nothing new to see. It turns out that there was so much more to see and do there than I ever imagined. We explored Marrakech, Fes, and Chefchaouen, but we could have easily spent weeks relaxing on the beautiful beaches, exploring the magnificent Sahara, and checking out the modern town of Casablanca as well. The people of this nation were interesting, and their lifestyle was different from anyone else we’ve met. I am grateful that I gave Morocco a chance, and now I truly look forward to going back there again one day.

The Beauty of Sri Lanka

On By Expedition Fresh StartLeave a comment

Expect the unexpected.  Life is full of wonderful things just waiting to surprise you.

– Unknown

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to start out by telling you that I absolutely loved my time in Sri Lanka.  I am very, very biased. We spent 4 full weeks in paradise, and it was amazing.  I met so many wonderful people, and I loved the experience of staying in a guesthouse and getting to know the families there.  Even after travelling for quite some time, we found that we had to rely on the kindness of strangers much more than ever before, and while that was very scary, it was also an incredibly rewarding experience.  Oh, how I already wish I was back there, but my next trip will have to wait for a while. 

We flew into Colombo on a red-eye flight, and we arrived at about 8:30 am on January 26th.  After getting our visas upon arrival, we grabbed our luggage and went through customs.  We tried to kill a little time because we knew our room wouldn’t be ready yet, but there wasn’t much to do at the tiny arrivals area.  After wasting an hour or so, we hauled our bags through the health screening area and loaded into a taxi.  After twenty minutes of white knuckled riding, weaving crazily through traffic with no apparent regards to lanes or other vehicles, we finally pulled up to The Panorama, our guesthouse for the next few days.

We had picked this guesthouse because it was in Negombo which is very close to the airport.  Admittedly, there isn’t much to do in Negombo, but the city is very near the beach and is easy to use as a base for any trips to the area.  We figured that we could stay for a few days there until we could figure out how we’d spend our time, and worse case, we could work on getting our tans back. 

Our guesthouse was very nice.  Our room had two king sized beds and a nice sized bathroom, and it was gloriously air conditioned.  The weather was very warm in Sri Lanka, and having come from the cool, winter weather in Dubai, we were all a little warmer than we liked.  We broke out our shorts and flip flops, though, and it didn’t take too long to get comfortable again.

A guesthouse in Sri Lanka is a little different than anything we’d experienced before.  Most areas don’t have a lot nearby, so the guesthouse is more like a combination of a hotel and a restaurant.  The owner of the guesthouse usually lives on or right at the property, and he/she and their family took care of you while you stay with them.  They generally provide you with breakfast, and in some cases, they can prepare a lunch and dinner as well.  They are also very good at helping you plan your sightseeing and transportation from one town to another.

Our host at the Panorama was very kind.  He spoke some English, and we got to know him a little while we were there.  He was a Sri Lankan man who had been living in South Korea for the last several years.  He had recently moved back and had only been working at the hotel for about a month.  He worked hard to make sure we were comfortable, and he and the other staff at the guesthouse were extraordinarily nice to us.

We enjoyed the local restaurants, but we ate several of our meals at our guesthouse.  We loved the food, and we didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there.  Our favorite restaurant was Lord’s Restaurant.  They had live music, which we very much enjoyed, but the highlight of the evening was the fish spa.  While waiting for our food, we entertained ourselves by allowing the fish to eat the dead skin off of our hands and feet.  Hygienic?  Probably not.  But we laughed so hard it hurt.  We also really liked the owner.  He used a portion of his profits to take in some of the many animals he’d seen starving and roaming the streets; on the night we came, he said he was taking care of 48 dogs and 5 cats at home.  His food was delicious, his mission was noble, and being bait for his fish was way more entertaining than you might ever believe.

Most of the time we spent in Negombo was trying to figure out what we were going to do in Sri Lanka.  The gem-shaped island nation is quite small, but there is quite a lot to see and do.  We had several tour guides trying to talk us into working with them.  One of the common vacation strategies here is to hire a car and driver for a few days to tour you around.  Typically, you’d be expected to pay all of your own food, lodging, and entertainment and you’d pay a set amount to hire the driver and car to tour you around.  The advantage here is that the drivers know where all of the good sights are and how to get there.  By handling your logistics for you, you can enjoy a comfortable ride wherever and whenever you want.  We seriously considered these options, as the cost was much lower than you might expect. In the end, though, we opted to go a completely different route. 

We’d read about people renting tuk tuks for their adventure, and as crazy as it sounded, we thought it might be a lot of fun.  The tuk tuk is a three wheeled vehicle, and it’s considered the poor man’s vehicle.  Locals buy them and use them quite frequently, but if you have money, you’d probably upgrade to a car with doors, windows, and air conditioning instead.  While locals are used to the tuk tuks, they aren’t used to foreigners driving them.  But to experience Sri Lanka like a local, we’d read that there was no better way than to travel like one.  We debated on it for a few days, but we figured this might be a neat way to see the island and meet people.  And since we liked the concept of the tuk tuk rental company, we signed up, submitted the fees for our Sri Lankan drivers’ licenses, and scheduled our tuk tuk pickup.

On Saturday afternoon, we took an Uber to the TukTukRental.com location in Negombo, and we met our driving instructor.  After reviewing their safety information, we stepped out to the lot with our instructor to get our first glimpse of our new ride.  The rental company doesn’t actually own any tuk tuks.  They help local people rent theirs out as a way to earn extra money.  We had a really nice, shiny red tuk tuk, the newest of their entire fleet with only 6000 kilometers on the odometer.  We spent the next two hours driving through a residential area in the city trying to get a feel for how to handle it.  We circled the same block hundreds of times, but eventually, we both got the hang of driving it.  Brian was a natural.  He’d ridden enough ATVs to feel very comfortable driving it.  I was less so.  The gear shifting wasn’t natural or intuitive, and I was scared to death.  Did I mention that they also drive on the opposite side of the road as we do in the US?  I was terrified that I was going to forget and get us killed in a head-on crash.  But the guy said we did great, and when we got back to the shop, we signed our final papers on the tuk tuk, and said goodbye.

Brian drove us back to the Panorama so we could relax there overnight; we planned to leave the next morning.  It was a bit scary, but he did so well!  Henry and I enjoyed the wind in our hair, and he and I spent the trip back trying to figure out how we would ever get all our bags to fit inside and us still sit comfortably.  We got a few interested looks from the local people as we drove, but we enjoyed the ride very much.  All of us were very excited about heading out on our adventure early the next morning. 

Because tuk tuks are very popular, and the parts are very interchangeable, it’s apparently a fairly common thing for people to take the newer, nicer wheels and other parts off of tuk tuks that are parked near the street and replace them with their more worn-out parts.  To help protect our ride, our host allowed us to open the gates into the hotel grounds and push the tuk tuk into the locked area.  We lovingly put down the leather doors and locked it up for the night safely inside the fence. 

The next morning, we brought all our bags down and set them in a pile by the tuk tuk.  We still really didn’t have a plan for how to load it up, but we had to start somewhere.  It seemed like a laughably big pile next to the little vehicle, but once we got in and started putting things in their place, it worked out nicely.  Our host thought we were crazy for not using an air-conditioned ride, but he came out and took photos of us in front of our ride before we left the guesthouse. 

As we started down the road, we were all almost giddy.  Brian was a little nervous, but we knew that once he got out on the road and drove for a bit, it would get easier.  It was Sunday, a weekend in Sri Lanka, and traffic would be somewhat quieter than we’d experienced.  On top of that, we were getting out of the city.  Our instructor told us it would be a breeze once we were past the edge of town.  We needed to buy a Sri Lankan sim card for one of our cell phones, but after that, our next stop was Dambulla, a small town near the center of the island.

We stopped at a little market to buy some snacks, and after an hour long stop at a different local convenience store, we had a sim card as well.  The men at the store were incredibly kind to Brian.  Henry and I waited outside with our stuff while Brian tried to get the cell phone working.  The shop-owner didn’t speak much English, but another customer that had come in took the time to help him communicate with Brian.  This new customer was very friendly, and he even gave us his phone number in case we had any issues on the road; he was happy to help us. 

I should mention that traffic in Sri Lanka doesn’t work the same way as it does in the US.  Lanes are merely suggestions, and on a two-lane highway, traffic could easily be 3-5 vehicles wide in places.  Its also interesting that there are multiple speed limits based on the vehicle type.  A tuk tuk, for example, can only go a max of 40 kilometers/hour while a car or bus can go up to 80.  The general rule here is that the bigger you are, the more right of way you have; tuk tuks are on the small end of the scale, with only motorbikes and bicycles being smaller than them.  All vehicles ride towards the outer edge of the road, and if someone wants in front of you, they honk to let you know they are there and then they go around.  Oncoming traffic just watches out and stays out of the way the best they can.  There are dotted and solid lines on the road to help you know when to safely pass, but by all appearances, people do not follow them. 

About 65 kilometers down the road, our tuk tuk fun ended rather abruptly.  We were driving at about 40 kilometers per hour, as near to the white line as we felt safe to, when a white car behind us started to pull out in order to go around us.  The car started to work its way around us, but about that time, two cars topped the hill in front of us with the one on the inside trying to overtake the other.  The white car was forced to very quickly scoot back into our lane of traffic.  He tried, but as he squeezed in, he ended up hitting the back right end of the tuk tuk and sending us off into the ditch.  Brian heard the brakes on the car locking up just in time to grab onto the handlebar as tightly as he could.  Henry and I had on our seatbelts in the back seat, and Henry had been dozing off a bit.  Because of the design of the tuk tuk, even though I could hear the brakes, I couldn’t see what was happening.  I remember saying a quick prayer when I heard them and hoping that it wouldn’t involve us.  But it did.

Seconds later we were at a dead stop, upside down in the ditch.  I’ve never flipped over in a vehicle, but hanging there suspended by the seatbelt was terrifying.  I could hear Brian calling for us, and Henry was crying.  I was most worried about Brian at the moment because I knew he didn’t have a seatbelt, and I imagined him being thrown out of the ride.  I unbuckled my seatbelt and fell a few inches to the ground.  Henry couldn’t get his seatbelt undone, but after just a moment, we were able to get it unbuckled.  We could smell gas, and that was scaring me, so I encouraged Henry to crawl out as quickly as he could.  Brian was kneeling outside the vehicle helping to pull him out, so I could see that he was at least mostly okay.  I remember Brian telling me to crawl out through the front, but all I could think was to get out as quickly as possible, so instead of listening to him, I crawled through a very small, crushed section of the support bars. 

There were at least 10 people standing on the side of the road when I stood up.  They were all worried for us, and they were checking us out as we were doing the same.  Henry was very scared, but he was okay.  He had a knot on his head where he and I bumped heads.  He also had an imprint over his eye from the Bluetooth speaker we had with us in the backseat.  I had a bump as well, but aside from a few very minor scrapes, I was physically okay.  Brian definitely had the worst of it.  He had a large bump on his head and several large scrapes.  Amazingly though, he had been able to stay inside during our flip.

The driver of the white car was one of the first to check on us.  We were obviously extremely shaken up, but he was too.  I firmly believe he thought he’d just killed someone when he saw the tuk tuk flip in the ditch.  He immediately took responsibility, apologized profusely, and continued checking on us over and over. 

There were quite a few other men who hung around to help us out.  A group of monks were traveling behind us, and they stopped to see if they could help.  One of them was a man from Pennsylvania, and because he spoke both English and Sinhala very well, he helped us communicate with both the police and the insurance agent.  While we were making phone calls and dealing with the business end of things, he and another man, a local farmer, never left Henry’s side.  They talked to him the whole time and asked him all sorts of questions to help him calm down.  A third man, a vendor who had been working at his stand on the side of the road just opposite of the accident, found Henry some water and a cold pack for his head. 

The men also helped us get all of our gear back together.  Most everything we had was packed tightly in our backpacks, but we’d had one bag of snacks and supplies that got emptied in the accident.  With the tuk tuk upside-down, our backpacks were directly under the engine, so as the gas was leaking, it leaked out and puddled around the bags, soaking into the bags and all of our clothes inside.  The men helped us pull them out of the tuk tuk, and they helped us roll it back over so we could make sure that everything else was out of it.

Auto accidents are handled a little differently in Sri Lanka than in the US also.  Here, they settle the accident on the spot.  If it’s a small accident, the two parties agree to a settlement right then and there.  Cash is exchanged, and then everyone goes their way.  In a larger accident, the police and both insurance agents are called to the scene.  Both do their investigations, and then a settlement is made right there on the spot.  Once the settlement is agreed to, the parties can go their separate ways. 

In our case, we were lucky in a few ways.  First, the other driver clearly recognized he was at fault and took the blame.  Second, both the driver of the white car and the tuk tuk rental company used the same insurance company.  The tuk tuk company was able to talk with the insurance and police over the phone on our behalf, and they came to a settlement very quickly.  The owner of the tuk tuk would be reimbursed for the ride, and they would get some agreed-upon settlement for the time that they were without their vehicle.  A few hours after the accident, the tuk tuk company was able to send us a ride to take us the rest of the way to Dambulla, and we were thankfully back on our way. 

It is a terrifying thing to be in a car accident anywhere, but during those first few moments after we were hit, all I wanted was to go home and hug my family tightly.  It was awful to be in a foreign country, halfway around the world, surrounded by people who don’t speak English and writing in a language that we can’t even read.  The men who helped us could have kept going.  They had places to go and things to do.  It would have been easier for them to not deal with the distraction of us, but they chose us instead.  They went out of their way to ensure we were okay and that we had everything that we needed.  We even got several phone calls over the next few days from our new monk friend to make sure we were all okay and to see if we needed anything.  The people who helped us were incredibly kind and I will always be grateful for them. 

We made it to Dambulla with no other issues.  I felt sorry for our poor driver as his car absolutely reeked of gas, and I know that had to take a while to go away.  Our new guesthouse felt like it was way out in the middle of nowhere, and we had to stop to ask if we were going the right way several times before we found it.  The Lake Bliss guesthouse was beautifully situated by the lake and in the middle of several beautiful palm trees.  The owner’s son, Anjuna, met us and brought us fresh juice to drink as we made ourselves at home.  Our room was one of two that the family managed, and a short walk away from the room was a very nice kitchen and dining room where we would eat our meals.  The room itself was spacious and well furnished.  Brian and I had a gloriously comfortable king-sized bed, and Henry had his own twin bed as well.  Outside the room, we had a beautiful little porch that overlooked the palm trees and a field where the wild peacocks would roam each day. 

After checking in, we got our stuff settled as best we could, and we quickly decided that all of our stuff had to stay outside because it smelled horribly.  Our room had become noxious just in the few minutes we had set our stuff down while we were unpacking.  While Anjuna fixed us a fantastic rice and curry dinner, we worked on washing our bags in the trash can in the shower and laying out as many items as we could.  After dinner, he offered to take our laundry and wash it for us, and we gladly handed it over.  We continued washing our bags, packing cubes, and other non-clothing items late into the night, but it seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn’t get the gas smell out.

We stayed in Dambulla for three nights, and we had a lovely time.  Each morning, we’d enjoy a delicious breakfast served by our host Ranjith and his family.  Most evenings, we had a great meal as well, and we would go to bed stuffed miserably full.  Ranjith helped us coordinate a few activities while we were in town also.  He would contact their driver to pick us up, give him instructions for us, and negotiate a fair rate for both parties. It worked out incredibly well.

On the morning of our first day, Anjuna came by and took us on a walk in the area.  He led us up to the dam that the Dambulla people had put in to help with irrigation.  There were other dams in the area that the government had created, but this one was built by the people for the people.  He also walked us to a local farm and toured us around their property.  We were able to see how they grew different fruits and vegetables, how they tested out various soils to determine what crops might grow best there, and how they managed their compost business that sold compost to the surrounding community.

Our next outing was to go see Sigiriya, the ruins of an ancient city that sits atop a large boulder and is surrounded by acre upon acre of gorgeous gardens.  We’d planned to go the morning of our first day in town, but with us trying to get back on our feet after the accident, we had to change our plans.  Instead, at Ranjith’s suggestion, we chose to go in the late afternoon.  We arrived at the rock with only a short time before the site closed for the night.  A tour guide named Gayathri walked with us most of the way, and knowing we didn’t have much time left, he helped me push through the climb so we’d make it before the park closed.  We made it to the top just in time to watch a beautiful sunset over the surrounding area.  Looking down at the land, I was in awe; it was absolutely gorgeous with rich green rice paddies, tropical jungle foliage, and blue mountain peaks in the distance.  The gardens below were immaculate, and the soft light from the sun made everything look heavenly.  I could easily understand why Sri Lankan kings chose to rule their kingdom from here.  The city on top was amazing, but the land down below was absolutely breathtaking.

One of the things we found very endearing in Sri Lanka we had started picking up on when we were in Dambulla. When people would ask us anything about Henry, they would call him Baby. So, they might ask us “Baby hungry?” or “Baby tired?” It didn’t register with us at first, but then we noticed that everyone called him that, and from then on, he became Baby to us too. As Gayathri walked with me, he told me about his 4 babies at home ranging in age from 6-17. I tried to assure Henry that just because they called him Baby didn’t mean that they thought he was one. We thought it was really sweet.

On another day, we went to the Dambulla Cave Temple and did some sightseeing with our driver.  The Cave Temples were interesting.  The natural cave was first used as a temple over 2000 years ago.  There were hundreds of statues and even more paintings of Buddha throughout the complex.  Our tour guide taught us that you’ll generally see figures of Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha in one of 5 different positions – teaching, meditating, blessing, sleeping, or dead, and we had some fun trying to pick them out on our own. 

Several members of the staff were working on scaffolding inside the temple perfectly documenting all of the paintings so that if they were damaged, they could be recreated.  We watched them for a bit, but we tried not to disturb them.  The complex is still in use by local monks, and while we were there, we got to witness Buddhist followers bringing their offerings to the temple as well.

After the Dambulla Cave Temple, our driver took us to the Sri Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Market.  This market is used by people on the whole island to buy their produce for restaurants and guesthouses.  We were amazed by the sheer quantity of food, and we were overwhelmed by the mass chaos.  Men were going every which way; some were negotiating, some were loading and unloading, and some were standing around waiting.  Trucks were parked three deep and loaded as full as they could possibly be.  It was difficult to even find a path for us to snake through inside the market, much less to try to drive through or carry a load through. 

Having worked up an appetite, we grabbed a bite to eat with our driver, and then we wandered around Dambulla for a bit looking into stores and exploring the city. 

Afterwards, per Ranjith’s invitation, we rode out to the Athena Lake Hotel.  Ranjith helped to manage that property, and as a treat to us, he allowed us to come out and swim in their gorgeous pool.  We were treated like valued guests, and we enjoyed a tea service with wonderful biscuits in the idyllic setting.  Henry had such a great time splashing around, and we enjoyed a few hours of just relaxing in the sun. 

That evening, we went to dinner at a local restaurant, and we had such a good time.  Our host had recommended the Kokiya Café, and we were thankful for it when we pulled up in our taxi.  There was some chicken cooking on the grill that looked and smelled amazing, and we couldn’t wait to try that.  The meal was fantastic, even if it was a little too spicy for me and Henry.  And while we were there, we had the pleasure of getting to talk with the restaurant owner a bit.  He was a nice guy, and he was very proud of his restaurant.  He had reason to be, as the food was probably one of the best meals we’d eaten.   

We had debated for days on how we would get to our next destination from Dambulla.  The tuk tuk rental company had offered to deliver to us a new ride, but we were still a little nervous about it.  We all agreed that it would make for a more interesting trip, and we all really enjoyed the freedom of going where we wanted when we wanted.  On the other hand, we knew what the traffic was like, and after the accident, I knew that I wouldn’t be comfortable driving to give Brian any relief.  We all trusted Brian, but we couldn’t control any of the other drivers; if anything else happened, which would be highly unlikely, we’d never forgive ourselves.  In the end, we decided that we would just take public transportation to get around, and while we’d still have to deal with traffic, we could do it from the comfort of our passenger seats.

On our last day, we got our laundry back all clean and smelling wonderful again.  I don’t know how many times they washed it, but I know that it took quite a lot of work to get the odor out.  After we finished breakfast and packed our freshly washed everything, Ranjith helped us arrange for bus tickets to get us to Kandy.  Our driver picked us up, helped us take a few photos with Ranjith and his sweet wife, and then carried us to the bus station.  We quickly loaded on board, and a few hours later, we arrived at our next stop, Kandy.

Kandy is the second biggest city in Sri Lanka, and we were only planning to stay there for one night.  We found the Café Aroma Inn, and instantly decided that two nights would be better.  The hotel was comfortable and roomy, and the café served a delicious breakfast.  Kandy has quite a lot to see on its own, but even with two days, we weren’t there long enough to see very much of it at all. 

We ate lunch at the very small Mandiya Restaurant because it had an impressive number of 5-star reviews. We’d read it was difficult to find, so we did the best we could to follow the reviewers’ instructions. We walked through a small mall, and when we exited out the back door of the mall, we came across this little bitty place. There were only three or four small tables inside, and even at the odd hour, there were several locals enjoying their lunch. We picked our seats and ordered the rice and curry. As we were eating, the owner of the restaurant came in and introduced himself. He taught Henry the ‘right’ way to eat rice and curry – with your hands! Oh, and we added another 5-star review. It was fantastic.

We went to The Temple of the Tooth, a large Buddhist temple in Kandy.  In 543 when he died, Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) was cremated, and his followers found and recovered his left canine tooth from the funerary pyre afterwards.  The tooth made its way from India to Sri Lanka, and the temple was built to house it.   Per our hotel’s recommendation, we waited until the evening to go see it, so that we would be able to witness the evening service.  We watched in silence as their ceremony unfolded.  Hundreds of people brought their offerings while the temple priests performed their rituals.  

We also walked up a large hill overlooking town to the ‘Big Buddha’ statue.  We chose not to go in because it required an entry fee, and we had already seen several temples.  Instead, we took in the view from the hilltop.  On our way back down the hill, we listened to the beating of the drums in the Buddhist temples mixing with the Hindu call to prayer.  It was interesting to hear, even if we couldn’t understand anything they said.

In Sri Lanka, one of the most iconic things to do is to ride the train between Kandy and Ella.  The mountainous region of the island sits primarily between these two cities, and it is simply wonderful to behold.  Tea plantations line the steep hillsides, and the train gives you the perfect vantage point to admire all of it.  The train ride is about 7-8 hours long, but because we wanted to go to Adam’s Peak as our next stop, we’d have to detour a bit.  We decided to ride the bus down to Adam’s Peak.  From there, we would catch the train in Nuwara Eliya, another town that sits much closer to Ella.  The section of the tracks between Nuwara Eliya and Ella is supposed to be the best part of the ride, and by starting closer, we would cut the ride down to 4 hours instead. 

The issue is that the train tickets for the 1st and 2nd class reserved cars sell out very quickly.  With these cars, you get a guaranteed seat all to yourself for the entire ride.  There are also 2nd, and 3rd class unreserved seats that are only for sale at the station, and these seats never sell out.  With these tickets, you can get on the train, but you aren’t guaranteed a seat.  The cars can get very, very full; they are called cattle cars for a reason.  We would go this way if we had to, but because we’d have all of our luggage, we really didn’t want to.

We hadn’t been able to get any reserved tickets but we thought that maybe we could buy them at the station.  On our last day in Kandy, our taxi driver dropped us off at the station so we could try to get them in advance.  We struck out, unfortunately, but we were determined to figure out some way to get on that train.

We made our way over to the bus station to get our real tickets for the day.  We were heading to Adam’s Peak, and riding the bus or hiring a taxi are the easiest ways to get there.  On our way, a tuk tuk driver stopped us and said the bus station was already closed.  Now, we’ve heard of people lying to tourists with something like that so that they can steer them in the direction that is more profitable for them.  Dubious, we said thank you and went over to check out the bus station for ourselves.

The station was actually closed, as it was the Sri Lankan Independence Day.  We stood on the corner evaluating our options, and the tuk tuk driver came back to us with another man in tow.  This man, Ajantha, was a taxi driver who was driving a tuk tuk for extra money on the holiday.  He struck a deal with us for getting us to Adam’s Peak.  We were nervous about it, but not seeing too many other options available to us, we decided to trust our gut.  He asked us if we would go with him to his house so he could drop off the tuk tuk and get his car.  Nervously, we agreed, and then we texted our family back home to let them know where we were in case we came up missing.

About 10 minutes later, we arrived a very modest but very warm home.  There were several kids in the driveway, and the women of the house were watching out the door as we pulled up.  We had stopped along the way to pick up Ajantha’s oldest daughter, so when we were safely parked, the 5 of us climbed out of the tuk tuk.  The family was very friendly with us, and they seemed to feel honored that we were there.  They even brought us Sri Lankan pancakes for a treat on the road.  Before we left, they asked if we would take pictures with them.  All of my reservations about Ajantha disappeared when I saw that he was just a working man, trying his best to support his family. 

Ajantha had offered to take us to see a few different sightseeing places along the way, and our first stop was the Handuni’s Gem Store and Museum. After he introduced us to the family who ran the museum, he waited for us in the lobby.  We watched a video on how the gem mines were and still are built and how the stones are recovered.  Afterwards, we were able to visit their factory where they were shaping and polishing the stones as well as designing and creating the jewelry to hold them.  It wasn’t a place we’d ever have stopped on our own, but it was quite fascinating to see.  After a short push to sell us some gems, we said our goodbyes, and we were admittedly relieved to find Ajantha still waiting in the lobby for us.

Our second stop was at a government run spice garden.  We’d heard that they had spice gardens, and we had hoped to visit one.  I don’t know what I’d expected a spice garden to be, but this wasn’t it.  In Sri Lanka, the locals are big on Ayurvedic medicine, a homeopathic approach to medicine.  In this spice garden, our tour guide was an Ayurvedic doctor, and he spent about 45 minutes walking us around from plant to plant and telling us how they used each one to treat all sorts of ailments from varicose veins to insomnia and from hair loss to acid reflux.  At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to purchase their medicines from their shop.  We enjoyed our visit here much more than I ever would have anticipated.  We aren’t big proponents of modern medicine because we believe it treats the symptoms more often than the causes, and it was interesting to learn about their approach to healing.  Our guide was fun to talk with as well.  He said that we were only the second ever Americans that spent time talking with him, and that made us both sad and angry.  He was such a nice man, and I hated that our countrymen he’d met were so rude to him. 

Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Nidikumba, Henry’s favorite plant.  If you thump a branch of this plant, the entire branch will wither and appear dead for a few minutes.  After 5 minutes or so, it comes back to life and is perfectly fine.  Henry had a lot of fun with this, and he thumped every branch he could find. 

Our third stop was at the Storefield Tea Factory.  We walked up the hill to meet our guide, a very kind Sri Lankan woman.  She walked us through a small section of the tea plantation to show us the difference in several different tea types and different harvesting techniques.  From there, we walked into the factory with her.  Brian and I are both engineers, so we always enjoy a good factory tour.  We looked quizzically at each other and laughed as the guide left her shoes at the door (a common Sri Lankan thing) and walked into the factory bare footed.  Never have I ever seen that before.  In her traditional dress, she explained the process of harvesting, drying, rolling, and sorting the tea leaves.  Her factory had been open and making tea since the 1930s, and while they had upgraded a piece or two, they were generally still using the same equipment they started with.  After the tour, she walked us to the tea shop where we were able to sit and try 8 different varieties of tea side by side.  Henry really enjoyed the white and gold teas, decaffeinated versions that have all the health benefits of tea without the caffeine or taste; they tasted more like water.  Brian and I liked the breakfast teas the best. 

After the tour, we got back on the road to continue our journey to Adam’s Peak.  The roads through this region are very narrow and terribly crooked.  There are cliffs on both sides, and in many of the areas, it is difficult for two vehicles to pass one another.  With the holiday, traffic was very heavy, and we had to stop several different times to allow buses through since the road was too narrow for them to make the curves.  As it began to get dark, we also started noticing that in the wider stretches of the road, cars were pulled over to the edge, and the families in them were gathering around fires and grills to prepare their evening meals.  It was very hectic, and we were grateful to not be driving at this point.

It was about 9 pm when we finally got within 2 kilometers of our guesthouse.  We were staying at the WaterSide Residences Guest House, and there were so many people and cars out on the narrow road, that no one could move anywhere.  Ajantha’s patience must have been wearing thin too, because it seemed like he was more than ready to get out of the craziness as well.  It took us almost an hour to go that last bit to the guesthouse, and when we finally pulled in, we were starving and exhausted.  I felt so terrible for Ajantha, because I know he had to be tired.  He had to drive home still, and I hoped the return trip would be much easier for him.

Our guest house was very nice, and we were greeted warmly by our host Ruwan.  He and his family live in a house on the property and run a restaurant as well.  Our room was very nice, and our dinner that they prepared for us was even better.  We had planned to check in, get a few hours sleep, and then head up to Adam’s Peak at around 2 am.  Having seen the incredibly massive crowd, Ruwan recommended that we wait a day instead.  I was disappointed to wait, but I figured if he was telling us to wait, we should probably listen to him as he knew the area much better than us. 

The next morning, we found out he was right.  We were in the restaurant eating breakfast when a couple came in from climbing to the peak.  I don’t know how far they made it, but they said that they gave up because the last hour that they were climbing, they hadn’t gone but about 20-meters.  Even with all of the stairs, 20 meters should take you less than a minute or two to climb.  The holiday crowds were huge though, and the paths up to the top were narrow. 

We were thankful that we had decided to spend the day enjoying the area instead.  We walked up to the entrance to the peak just to see where it was and what it looked like.  The crowd didn’t look too bad from there, but we wanted to be able to see the sunrise, so we didn’t start up it yet.  Instead, we explored a tea plantation just across the street from our guest house, and we got Henry a much-needed haircut.

Henry was nervous about getting his hair cut since it was difficult to communicate what he wanted.  He was desperate, though, and so was I.  We found a picture on the shop’s window that was similar to Henry’s style, though, and the barber seemed to understand what we were saying.  Henry sat in the chair, and I sat down in the only nearby chair to watch.  Now, I’ve never been one to help Henry get out of a mess, but as I watched this young man start to cut Henry’s hair, I did have the thought that I might need to come up with an excuse to end this little adventure.  As I watched him give Henry a horrendous bowl cut, I really began questioning if the barber understood us at all, and while I usually can cut Henry’s hair, I wasn’t sure that I could fix what he was doing to him.  I decided to bite my tongue for another moment more, and I’m so glad I did.  The kid did a great job on Henry’s hair.  Within 30 seconds of my questioning his skills, he showed me that he knew exactly what he was doing.  Henry walked out with the best $2 haircut I’ve ever seen.

The next morning, we woke up at 1:30 am, and in a sleepy daze, we began making our way up to the peak.  I had never heard of Adam’s Peak before we arrived in Sri Lanka, but it’s a sacred site to many.  At the top of the mountain, there is an impression in the rock that resembles a footprint, albeit a 5’ long one from what I’ve read.  The Buddhists believe that it is a footprint left by Buddha.  The Hindus believe that it is an impression left by Shiva, one of their gods.  And I’ve read that some Christians and Muslims believe that it was the first step made by Adam after he was removed from Eden.  Believe what you will about it, but many of the local people make the trek to the top as a type of pilgrimage (hence the huge crowds on the holiday weekend).  We went up there for the sunrise. 

The hike is roughly 4 kilometers one way, and there are more than 5,000 steps to get to the top.  It’s a very hard climb.  The beginning isn’t too bad because you alternate stairs with level sections, but once you get closer to the top, it’s nothing but steps.  We left the hotel just before 2 am, and at 5:50, we found a seat on the stairs near the peak to stop and watch the sunrise.  It was breathtaking.  The sun came up, and we watched in near silence with the hundreds of people huddled in around us as the soft dawn light slowly begin to light up the tea plantations and lakes in the valleys. 

Old and young climbed the mountain for their chance to pay homage to the footprint, and while we were merely tourists to it, we respected their conviction.  Along the way, we saw mothers and fathers carrying their sleeping kids up and down.  We watched babies breastfeed as their mothers took quick breaks.  We passed and were passed by more than a few elderly men and women who made the climb as well.  At one point, we spoke with a 70-year old woman who was on her 6th trip up the mountain.  Her elderly sister had made this trip 15 times already.  She patiently waited for her grandchildren to catch their breath, and then she continued walking up in her dress and bare feet.

After the sun rose, we stood up to continue our trek to the top.  It took well over an hour to go the last 30 meters.  The very hospitable and kind Sri Lankans became a little aggressive as we started making our way into the final gates at the top.  The shrine administrators encouraged this push and shove mentality as they had us move up and fill in all the empty spaces between us as we waited to get through the narrow gates; I felt like cattle being herded through two very narrow gates.  When we finally made it to the very top, we walked through a small hallway with a shrine in it.  We couldn’t see the footprint as the shrine was covering it.  I was exhausted from the climb, and I was irritated by all of the pushing and shoving over the last section, and only seeing a shrine at the top was disappointing.  I tried to remember that the sunrise was spectacular, and that made the climb worthwhile, but honestly, I struggled with that.

The climb up was one of the hardest I’ve ever done, but the trip down was even harder.  At first, it wasn’t so bad, but after a very short time, we were worn out.  Our legs trembled with every step, and all three of us were worried that our knees and ankles were going to buckle if we stepped wrong.  Tired from not getting much sleep and hungry from missing breakfast, we were all getting a little testy by the time we reached the bottom.  It took us about 3 hours longer to make the round trip than we’d expected, and we were worn out when we reached the guesthouse again.  For the next three days, we all struggled to walk.  I never wanted to go up or down stairs again.

After a hearty breakfast, Ruwan arranged for a taxi to take us to Nuwara Eliya.  Henry and I slept in the backseat, but Brian somehow managed to stay awake through the two-hour drive.  It was a beautiful drive, but the little we saw of Nuwara Eliya was very nice.  It is a British town, fondly called Little England, and is a hill country village complete with pubs and colonial-style buildings.  We really wanted to see more of it, but we were happy to make it to our room for the night.  After a quick shower, we found some dinner at a British pub, and then crashed hard in our beds.

The next day we caught the train from Nuwara Eliya to Ella.  We had finally found some tickets in the observation car, and we found our seats with no problem.  The car had seen better days, but we were there for the experience, and not the luxury of it. The car was the last on the train, and there were enormous picture windows to look out at the tracks as you travelled along.  This car wasn’t air conditioned, so we could open up the windows and get a great view of the passing sights.

The train doesn’t go all that far, and it doesn’t go fast at all.  It is an open-air train, though, and because it goes slow enough, you can comfortably stick your head out the window and enjoy the fresh mountain air as you pass through some of the most picturesque scenery in the world.  We rode in our seats for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long for us to find our way to the luggage car so we could get a better look out the big doors as we traveled down the tracks.

We took lots of photos on the train.  Pictures of the landscapes.  Pictures of us on the train.  Pictures of Instagrammers getting their pictures.  It was quite a lot of fun.  We spent a lot of time talking to a young couple from Slovakia and sharing travel stories with them.  They thought Henry was a hoot, and they enjoyed hearing his perspective on our travels. 

In Ella, we stayed with a sweet family at the Restful Homestay.  Our room was behind their house in a lovely two room building.  We had bunk beds, and even though his legs ached every time he climbed in or out of the bed, Henry loved sleeping in the top bunk.  Ella was a small town, but it was the base point for several beautiful hikes. 

We decided to do an easy one and hike up to the Little Adam’s Peak.  Little Adam’s Peak is nowhere near as tall or as difficult as Adam’s Peak was, but the views are beautiful there as well. 

From there we walked down to the Nine Arch Bridge, a 300-foot railway bridge that spans over a valley.  The Nine Arch Bridge was completed in 1921, and it is impressive in that it was built completely of brick and cement, and with no steel supports.  We timed our visit with the train coming through town, and so from the safety of the edge of the viaduct, we got to see the train pass over the bridge.  Afterwards, we ate boiled corn on the cob from a local seller, and then we hiked our way back to our room.

After a few days in Ella, our host arranged a taxi to take us on to Tangalle, our next destination.  Tangalle is a beach town, but most tourists don’t visit here.  This is a locals’ city and beach, and since we aren’t big on touristy things, we decided that this might be a good place for us as well.  We were right; it was heaven.

Our guest house in Tangalle was the Golden Beach Rest, and it was located about 100 meters from the Goyambokka beach.  Our driver let us out, and we immediately fell in love with the place.  The home was beautiful, surrounded by a garden, and it was near to town but far from the noise.  After checking in and getting settled, we walked down to the beach to get a feel for it, and Henry was instantly excited.  It was a beautiful beach with clean, tan sand, and it wasn’t crowded.  The water rolled in on decent waves, big enough for him to play in, but calm enough to just swim in also.  We all wanted to go on into the water, but we were hungry, and we had to take care of that first.

There weren’t many restaurants where we were, though.  We walked up to the main road and decided to go to the right, thinking we’d seen more on the map that way.  We walked and walked and walked.  Finally, we found something that was open, so we grabbed a table at one of the beachside tables.  The owner introduced himself and tried to sell us a fresh seafood platter for about $95, but since Brian is the only seafood eater (and we’d never spend $95 on one platter), we politely declined.  Instead, we found much more reasonable and delicious entrees, and then made our way back to our guesthouse.

We really enjoyed the next three days in Tangalle.  Our host family allowed us to borrow their boogie board, and Henry wore it out on the beach every chance he got.  On our first day at the beach, an older British man introduced himself to us and gave Henry a few pointers on the board.  He said he’d been working to teach his grandkids to surf, and this beach was great for it.  Henry instantly became concerned thinking that by surfing, everyone here meant using the boogie board.  We didn’t really know, so we just told him to enjoy whatever we could while we could.  He had a ball with it, and the man’s pointers really helped.  Henry was really happy to teach Brian and I how to use it as well.

One day on the way to the beach, we were surprised to see a giant monitor sitting on a pile of rubbish that had been cleared out of the area.  It was obviously trying to figure out how to get away from us, too.  As soon as he saw him, Henry was ready to pack it up and call it a day.  It was colored just like a komodo dragon, and while they don’t go looking to hurt people, they are quite fast and quite capable of doing so.  The lizard made its way down the fence line trying to figure out how to get away, and we walked warily behind it until we could get clear of it.  Henry was a little more than freaked out, but the locals didn’t seem overly concerned.  They just gave it plenty of distance, and we figured we should too.  Turns out that the island has many very large monitor lizards, and this was just the first, and scariest, one we would see.

The Goyambokka beach was fantastic, though.  It was very unpopulated, and there were 3-4 restaurants for us to choose from.  If you ordered food or drinks at one of the restaurants, you could snag their lounge chairs to use also.  It was relaxing and easy, and we spent quite a lot of time soaking in the sun there.  We had considered staying here for much longer, as we really enjoyed it, but we felt like we needed to move on down the coast and see what the rest of Sri Lanka had to offer as well.  Our host drove us to our next destination of Mirissa Beach.

During the drive, our host told us about the devastating damage that was done by the tsunami of 2004.  We drove through one of the towns that was completely wiped out by the waves, and he shared with us how the town has rebuilt.  I remember hearing about the tsunami almost 20 years ago, and I remember how quickly and unexpectedly the water destroyed the coastal towns.  They’d never experienced a tsunami before, and in just a few minutes with very little warning, they lost 35,000 people.  It was heartbreaking to imagine, and driving through the coastline, we couldn’t help to wonder what that would have been like. 

Mirissa Beach is a tourist beach, and we had reservations about going here.  The main section of town is quite busy with lots of hotels and hostels, restaurants and cafes, souvenir shops, and travel companies lining the streets.  We checked in to the ExtremeHost Hostel, and while we thought the place was nice, we felt a pang of regret for having left Tangalle.  We walked to a nearby restaurant to grab some lunch, and we sat, surrounded by the noise and constant picture taking of the backpackers and European tourists.  The area was beautiful, and there were certainly more options to pick from, but we missed the peace and solitude we’d just left behind.

We decided to make the best of it, and we found the Mirissa Beach after a short walk.  The beach was very nice with beautiful sands, calm waves, and a good breeze off of the ocean.  There were restaurants with tables and beach chairs lining one end of the beach, and on the other, there was a rocky promontory that you could climb.  We climbed up to see the view, and it was beautiful.  On one side, you could watch all the crabs scurrying around the rocks as the waves crashed on them.  On the other, you could watch the sea turtles swimming through the larger boulders.

While in Mirissa, we also made a day trip to the Secret Beach, a not-so-secret area of the beach that requires a bit of a hike to reach.  We had moved over to the Resort of Happiness after our first two nights, and this guesthouse was much easier to hike from.  We followed our map and the locals helped us along the way until we walked up to the rocky beach hidden from the main Mirissa beachfront.  It was nearing sunset, and the little cove was perfectly situated to watch the sun go down.  Henry played in the waves as best he could, but with the rocky bottom and the rough waves, he could only go in to about knee high in the water.  This beach was less sand and more shell remnants, so it was less comfortable to walk or sit on.  We stayed and enjoyed it for a while, but it wasn’t quite our kind of place.

On another day, we took a trip over to the Weligama Beach.  We had heard that this was a great beach for surfing, and sure enough, the shores were lined with surfboard rentals and surf schools.  We grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant, and while Brian and Henry paid $2.50 to rent a surfboard for an hour, I paid $2.50 to rent a beach chair for the afternoon.  Henry and Brian had a great time getting thoroughly beat up by the waves, and I watched with amusement from the comfort of my lounger.  A good time was had by all, but I’d like to think that I got the better end of that one.

After several days in Mirissa, we decided we needed to move on again, and this time, we were moving to Hikkaduwa Beach.  Brian had made a friend in Mexico the previous January, and she happened to be in Sri Lanka as well, so we were heading here to meet up with her.  We got into town a few days before she would arrive, and we found a room at the Mount House Hotel in Dikwella. 

The Mount House was an apartment building, and it was gorgeous.  Pulling up to it, even our taxi driver was impressed.  The house was large and well kept, and Kumari, the caretaker, was very helpful.  One evening, Kumari helped us light his BBQ grill and we were able to grill some chicken.  It was such a normal thing for us to do that at home, but on the road, we haven’t been able to enjoy that at all.  It felt nice to prepare our own meal and eat in the privacy of our ‘home.’ 

Our favorite thing about the Mount House though was the wildlife.  We saw another giant monitor, several monkeys, and a peacock.  The monkeys were my favorite, though.  We’d been warned that they were mean, and while they look really cute, they like to fight.  We watched them from behind the safety of our balcony each time they came around.  Several of the bigger ones had babies, and mean or not, there’s nothing cuter than a baby monkey.  One afternoon we were visited by 20-30 monkeys who were climbing and playing in the trees surrounding the building.  They would wrestle on the deck and race up and down the trees, and they seemed to be particularly amused by the giant water tank in the back yard.  They must have figured out how to get the top off of the tank, and once they did, they spent hours taking turns dipping down into the water, climbing in and out, and occasionally, going for a swim inside.  When I told Kumari about it, he immediately closed the tank back up so that they couldn’t get in there.  I’m not exactly sure what the water in the tank was used for, but my guess is that this is one of the many reasons you don’t drink water from the tap.

Of course, we checked out the beach while we were there too.  The Hikkaduwa beach is a small cove that is perfect for surfing as well.  On the right side of the cove, the waters tend to be calm, and swimmers can enjoy playing in the clear turquoise waters.  On the left side, though, intermediate surfers can catch some rather large waves.  Unfortunately, in the middle, you get a very large group of beginner surfers who have no idea what they are doing. 

Henry and Brian decided to rent a board and try the waves for a bit, but they didn’t have much luck.  The waves were a little unpredictable.  You’d have two or three good ones, and then nothing for a time.  Then out of nowhere, you’d get a big one.  And did I mention that there were a lot of people who didn’t know what they were doing?  It was very crowded.  Surfers were lined up very close to one another, and swimmers were out in the water doing their own thing.  When a good wave would come along, all the surfers would give it a go, and most would wipe out precariously close to every one else.  The few surfers who made it further in would do their best to not run down the swimmers on their way. 

And so we should have known better to try to be out there, but it was beautiful, and we just couldn’t resist it.  About 45-minutes into their first rental hour, Henry was trying to catch a wave, and he and another surfer got too close.  Her board flew up and came crashing down right on Henry’s cheek.  Brian went out to get him, and he tried to be brave and shake it off, but he was hurting.  We returned the board and decided to play in the shallow waves instead.  We’d had enough surfing for now.

While we were in Hikkaduwa, we were able to catch up with Brian’s friend Pauline.  Pauline is from France, and she is traveling round a bit until she starts her new job in the travel industry very soon.  We met Pauline and some of her friends for dinner at a local restaurant near the beach.  We had a great time chatting with everyone about their adventures and learning how these people were living out their dreams.

After almost 4 weeks in Sri Lanka, it was time for us to begin a new chapter in this adventure, so after we got our COVID tests for traveling, Kumari set us up with a taxi ride to the airport.  We’d experienced so much in a short time, and we had met so many wonderful people along our way.  I touched on this earlier, but Brian and I just could not get over how kind and warm the Sri Lankan people were.  They went out of their way to be friendly to us, and when we needed help, there was always someone there and willing to do whatever they could for us.  During the tuk tuk incident, those men who stood with us on the side of the road made an impact on us that they probably aren’t even aware of.  Several of our hosts checked on us for the days following our leaving their homes.  And everywhere we went, people would walk up to us for no other reason except to just say hello and welcome us to their land.  Of all the places we’ve been, I’ve never felt more welcome than here.  The Sri Lankans seemed truly grateful for us coming to visit their country, and they have left an impression on us that we will remember for a very long time.  Coming here, I expected to see beautiful beaches, breathtaking mountains, and all sorts of paradise in between.  I never expected that the most beautiful memory I’d take away with me would be of the people.

Traveling Well

On By Expedition Fresh Start2 Comments

You don’t have to be rich to travel well.

Eugene Fodor

When we first started telling people about this idea of traveling the world, there were two questions I got asked repeatedly. The first was ‘Did you win the lottery or something?’ and the second was ‘How can you afford that?’ I tried to answer the questions the best way I could, but at the time, I didn’t really know if my answers had much truth to them or not. We’d read about people traveling the world on the cheap, but we had no idea how to make that happen. I imagined them sleeping in their cars, not showering for weeks on end, and living off of ramen noodles for every meal. If that’s what traveling cheap meant, I didn’t want any part of it.

About two years ago, we made the decision that we wanted to travel long term. At the time, we didn’t really know how we could make that work, but we knew we had to change our lives in order to make it happen. So we did what we knew to do at the time. We tightened our budget – we stopped spending money on things we didn’t really want or need and started whole-heartedly saving what we could. This helped a little, but at the rate we were going, it was still going to take forever to save up enough to travel for a year. We both had good paying jobs, but we spent enough money each month to not have much left over at the end for our savings.

We started reading blogs and watching videos on how to manage our money differently. For years, we had one checking account, one savings account, and one credit card. We put our monthly expenses on a credit card and paid it off at the end of the month, which allowed us to use the credit to live on while our money was in the bank earning interest. This strategy had worked well for us for a very long time. Several ‘travel hackers’ that we learned about advised playing the system to take advantage of extra points or bonuses that you could earn to help pay for travel. There were lots of different checking/savings accounts and credit cards out there that offered significant sign up bonuses and rewards on specific items. We took their advice and opened several strategic accounts so we could earn more on our normal every-day purchases. We weren’t spending any more money than we had been, but we became very strategic about where we put the expenses.

Dining expenses were charged to one card because we earned 3% back on those. Groceries went to another card because we earned 5% at grocery stores on that card. Gas was charged on a third card because we got 2% back on fuel charges. We also took advantage of our grocery store benefits when we could. If we had a big expense coming up at Lowe’s Home Improvement, we’d buy a gift card for Lowe’s at our grocery store and then use it to purchase our items at Lowe’s. This allowed us to earn extra fuel points through the grocery store and 5% back on the expense through the credit card (grocery stores earned 5% whereas home improvement stores only earned the standard 1%). We’d also fill up both vehicles with gas at the same time so we could max out our earned fuel discounts. To be completely honest, I thought Brian had lost his mind when he told me about his plan, and I wasn’t crazy about it. I knew he’d done the research, but it just seemed like a complicated mess to me. I’m still not loving the idea of it, really, but now those points are coming in very handy, and I’m glad we tried it. For example, our Southwest flights to Cozumel would have cost us almost $600 if we paid for them outright. Because of the travel hacking, we only ended up paying $105 for all three of us to get to Mexico. We had to use up some of our banked points, but the flights cost us only a few of the points we earned just for signing up for the cards and saved us quite a lot of money.

By the way, there is a lot of information on travel hacking available on the web. If you are interested in learning more from us, please leave us a note in the comments and we can add a more in-depth post later.

So we saved our money, and we earned a lot of bonus points in the process, but traveling is still expensive, isn’t it? Well, it is and it isn’t. Vacationing is expensive, or at least it is for us. When we would go on vacation, we would want to go everywhere and see everything while we could. We’d splurge a little every day because, well, we’re on vacation. The travel that we are doing now isn’t really a vacation, though. Neither our budgets nor our waists could afford for us to vacation for a year, no matter how much we wanted to. So we are living here more like we might live at home. For us, that means eating moderate meals and splurging only occasionally, staying in decent lodgings that may not be overly luxurious, and visiting free/inexpensive sights where we can. We are living well, but because we are in this for the long haul and not just a week’s vacation, we have to maintain on a modest budget.

Playing cards after dinner

We had read that you could travel the world on $50 per day, and while we initially thought the guy who touted that had to be crazy, we hoped he wasn’t. Fortunately, over the past 11 days, we have managed to easily keep our expenses in the same range. With travel insurance, lodging, transportation (including our flights to Mexico), food, and all our supplies, we’ve averaged $146/day. When you consider that is for 3 people, the $50/day number feels pretty real. Today, for example, we spent $35 on our hotel, $45 on our food, and $8 to have our laundry done. We have been resting by the pool and catching up on Henry’s schoolwork, so it’s been a bit of a lazy day for us. Our travel days are more expensive, but bus fare for all of us from town to town has been about $35 so even that isn’t too bad. The rest of the world won’t be like it is here in Mexico. Some areas will be much more expensive, but some will be significantly cheaper as well. We’ve found it pretty easy to live at this range here, so long as we stay out of the touristy areas mostly. We are eating very well, we’ve had nice private hotel/hostel rooms everywhere we’ve been, and we’ve gone and done quite a lot.

Money is important for traveling, but it can be an excuse that keeps you from enjoying it also. We could have worked longer and saved more, but how much is ever really enough? One day we may return to our jobs and work a while longer, but for now, this is what we need. We aren’t living in the lap of luxury, but we are well fed and happy, and we are together. I’m glad we had the courage to try something new and to invest in us. We might not be rich financially, but we have each other, and for today, that’s enough.