Unawatuna & Galle

It’s hard to capture all of the things we encounter on these trips without getting too lengthy. The best way to convey this past week is in small descriptions. Our friend Greg is arriving today and we could not be more excited to share the people, food, and spots we’ve discovered with him.

In the last few days we’ve been pretty busy. We dove Napoleon reef, and were treated to Morey eel, triggerfish and a huge grouper. The reef is hurting, but apparently on a bit of a rebound. In 1994 the ocean changed temperature very quickly (2 degrees). What may seem like a small change was enough to wipe out 80% of the live coral. Again, it’s making a come back due to replanting and protection, but an obvious canary in the coalmine for climate change. They estimate 5% of the reef was destroyed by the tsunami as well.

We found a fantastic roadside rotti shop run by our now friend Cecil. Cecil and his sweet young and mute son/sous-chef have been great with giving us the skinny on the presidential election, local news and the lowdown on cricket (everyone here is fanatical about the game!). You see pick-up games, kids and adults, everywhere you go city to country. Cecil also makes great buffalo curd lassi’s, bang and all.

We took a day to scope out the rest of the beaches on the south coast, though we didn’t make it to Tangalle. Mirissa was by far the clear winner. About 1/10th the size of Unawatuna, so it doesn’t have the variety of guesthouses and restaurants, but it more than makes up for it with its amazing beach, a good surfing break on the west bay, and fun climbing outlooks on the east. We are definitely going to suggest it to the team once every one gets here.

As far as food goes in Unawatuna, our favorite veggie place, South Ceylon Vegetarian Restaurant, is perched on the second floor balcony over the guesthouse. As Sri Lankan’s cook in their kitchens with internal wood ovens, the second floor is perfect for smelling the bbq and keeps the mosquitoes away. It’s aromatically hypnotizing. The lonely planet mentions Jina’s Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant, but South Ceylon is the original, and much better quality. South Ceylon is run by a Sri Lankan woman and her British husband, and they and their place rules it! We have a food specific post coming, and we will go into detail.

Another day trip was to Galle. Reported to be the best-maintained colonial fort in South Asia. It was first build by the Portuguese then taken over by the Dutch in the 16th century, and then the British. Walking the perimeter of the fort was great. Apparently it is THE place to go for young courting couples. There were tons of boutique hotels, and crafts in the interesting different Muslim section of town. We even caught a Sri Lankan film crew in action. We bused there for 17 rupees (15 cents) but opted for a tuk-tuk home, we would have spent a good bit more time, but it was raining

At the end of the day we opted to walk up to the temple and dagoba (stupa) at the west end of Unawatuna bay, we also wanted to see if we could find a great beach we read about on the other side of the outcropping, jungle beach. We made it to the top, and then felt very bashful about not having pants on (having your legs covered at a religious site is the right thing to do). We jumped down the rocks and discovered an amazing makeshift sunset bar on the top of the rocks, right next to a bellowing ocean blowhole. We sat in the seats and sure enough a waiter comes up the hill out of the bushes to take our beer order. Cold and delicious Lion Lager, with a sunset that pictures cannot do justice.

Yesterday was lil Mrs. Ringo’s 27th b-day. Starting with a delicious breakfast at our fave vegetarian/vegan restaurant (though we have been loving traditional brekkie) we opted for huevos rancheros and coffee. Later, the cute guys at guesthouse surprised Blair with an extra special lunch plate. Still later, after some mean rain, I surprised Blair to a full body Ayurvedac message, apparently the oldest form of documented medical treatment in the world – think like gentle oil message. Dinner was special too, ending with birthday tiramisu and a candle.

To update:
Greg got here yesterday (February 1st) safe and sound. He was a trooper and stayed up until roughly 9 p.m. so he could get on our time schedule. Drew and Greg just set sail in a boat to do a reef dive so Greg could get reacquainted with the dive gear and acquainted with the water. Tomorrow we will do the wreck dive, Rangoon, first thing in the morning and in the late afternoon we welcome the arrival of Dave and Aparna!

See our photos of Sri Lanka!!!

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