building travel emotions up....

to make this trip more challenging I am setting some little goals for myself...amongst those I am going to drink some fresh coconut milk everyday, limiting my beers and spirits intake to 3 units or less per week, no wines and allowing myself to eat some "living creatures/beings" here and there (prawns, fish or whatever the local tradition has to offer..)

today I had planned to venture into a long and tiring bus journey that has now taken me to the hill town of Haputale some 1400 metres above sea level...I have left behind the surprisingly nice beaches of the south west...

I had set my alarm at 6:15am so to catch the last of the five early morning bus to Wellawaya for 7:35..

it must have been the two cups of tea I have drunk or a mosquito or the tension of the early alarm (ahahah) but at 3:20am I was still unable to fall asleep....plans changed right there and I moved my alarm to 4:30am and walked out of the hostel to catch the 5:20 one!!!

I was alone in the old town (just met 3 young teenagers at some point!!) till the bus stop where things were much more lively....I ended up buying some local breakfast as I was little hungry from a tiny trolley/shop man.

the spiciest 5 o'clock breakfast ever!!!you buy by pointing and it was a rice ball with chilly pepper that I had to cover up with a little piece of something reminding of bread and a banana and also a potato and vegetables roll...

the bus was also uncomfortable and impossible to fall asleep and recover the lost hours from the night, while sun was rising and the island was seriously waking up...

after a toilet and nourishing stop (that's where I had my coconut of the day!!) in a tiny busy and dusty village we arrived a Wellawaya where the mountain bus would have taken me to Haputale....the road was winding and narrow with astonishing views that recalled little the Jamaican Blue mountains with some monkey here and there and tea plantations allover.....

in the little over 2 hours it took to reach my destination the bus stopped at least a hundread times to drop some people off and collect new ones from the side of the road like a "live tetris" made of people at one point we were more than a hundread squeezed in the vehicle..it was impressive to see how many people have been jumping and fitting on that bus..I had my seat, luckily, eventhough in the last half an hour a old lady was squeezing me to the window (for not real reasons) and I could not even move even if it was for a tiny fart!!

today was election day in Sri Lanka and it is advised to be cautious in the next few days they say...

yesterday in my day out in town strolling and visiting the stilt fishermen traditional old fashioned way to fish back in the days but that today is a trap...

the guys just sit on the stilt pretending to fish (in the 20 minutes I was there I saw none of them catching anything, also because 2pm is not a great time for fishing, is it?? but for pictures maybe yes!!).

as soon as a "white" or anything looking like a tourist passes by one of them on the shores approaches, whether you wanna take a picture or not, asking not very politely for money...if you don't the fishermen "models" will all cover up their face with their hats and middle finger you shouting you to f..k off!!!

                                  I got them from behind...

my lychees supplier of the day.

   stopover in the village and our bus on the way to Wellawaya.