Photos at www.rtsla.photofreeway.com

We went to a very big Buddhist poya day festival 2/11 and posted photos of the two hour parade on 2/12. Also there were a few new house/furniture shots added. We saw 50-60 elephants in the parade in full dress and over 50 Kandian dance troupes. What a special night!

On Sunday afternoon we left for Chilaw, about two hours north of Colombo. We stay at a resort about 20 minutes south of Chilaw and it wa full of western tourists. Not sur what the occassion was but the resort didn't have our reservatons so we took off for Chilaw to check out the mtg. room while they figured out what to do with us. When we returned they gave Ron and me a suite. My goodness, the shower would hold four adults no problem. Monday the team took off for Chilaw while I decided to be a bum! I took a long walk on the beach, collected seashells, talked to locals, took photos, wrote postacrds and got a massage. Lord, how will I ever adjust after this exerience? Who cares! On my walk, I watched fishermen and their wives unload their nets. There were two kinds of nets for two kinds of fish: tiny little silver fish that looked like large minnows and a bigger flat fish that would require at least two for a serving.

I encountered a lovely woman on the way back to the hotel on the road. Her name is Sahayani. She wanted to show me her new home that is being built. She and her family (husband and two daughter and her father) live in a very small hose right next to the new grand home being built. She asked me to return on Tuesay to photograph her daughters before school which I agreed to do.

I stopped by the two tailors and decided to have each of them make me a skirt to match the one I wear four times a week. They cahrged $12 each. The Travelsmith catalogs retails them for $58! The resort, Club Palm Bay has the largest swimming pool in SL so before we left Colombo I tried to find a swim suit but no score. It's been about 10 yrs. since I have worn one. I decided I still was too heavy to be wearing one but lo and behold, after seeing some of the tourists at the resort I realized there is no such thing as being too heavy to wear a swim suit. There were a significant number of very overweight people in bikinis and swim suits. We are talking a 250 pound woman. So I didn't get into the pool since I didn't have proper attire.

The team returned home around 5:30 just in time to get ready for a 6:00-8:00 meeting/presentation with Commissioners and Asst. commissioners. The brand new projector did not work at the training but fortunately another person was coming up from Colombo so brought another one with her. It had been a long day to say the least. Suba was the main presentor at the training and had worked on it night and day for weeks. He is quite knowledgeable about environmental issues. Solid waste collection and disposal is a very big problem here and consequently this results in diseases such as dengue fever, Japanese encelphalitis, and dysentery. The program is teaching techniques such as separating recyclables from organic matter, composting and having predictable garbage collection days. In Colombo last week my garabage was picked up twice in one week. A first for me in the almost three months we have been in the house. No one here has roll carts or garbage cans. They use plasitc bags so if you set your trash out before the collection time/date, the bag will be torn open by dogs/crows or cattle and distributed by the wind. Gross. You are supposed to wait until you hear the collector yell 'dust bin' and then run out with your garbage. Too bad if you aren't home when they come by. That's probably why a lot of folks just end up tossing their garbage on the side of the road or in your lane. It is a system that doesn't work. We now have a compost bin for food waste and garden waste we bought at the local Fred Meyer equivilent and we now subscribe to a free mixed paper pick up service. They provide a large (2x2x3ft) cardboard box and we call when it is full. It is easy to recycle the newspapers as someone will come down our lane yelling the Sinhala word for paper and I give them the newspapers. I have seen the men stack them four ft high on the back of their bicycles.

You probably think I'm a nut case about solid waste and you'd be right. It is a big problem with some really easy solutions. 'Nuff said.

I don't think I have described schools here in terms of the architecture. Not all of them fit this description but a significant number do. They are a rectangular shaped building with walls at each end to support the roof. The sides have a series of columns that are joined by a low (2-3 ft) wall. The rest is open or has pig wire for windows. It's cheap construction and helps with ventilation I would guess. I see a lot of these in the rural areas. All children wear uniforms with shoes not sandals.

By contrast to the luxurious resort out of Chilaw we are now in Anuradhapura and staying in a place that is shabby but by no mean chic! The sheets are stained or torn, the tablecloths stained, torn and complete with spilled food from the last meal served on them. The shower curtain has mildew/mold on it, the pillows are flat and lumpy and the food while tasty is quite oily. The good news is we are located on a huge wewa-tank-reservoir that has great bird watching capacity. The Nuwarawewa was built in the second century AD and is huge.

Yesteray we went to an Internet cafe and didn't stay long as it was about 120 degrees inside. They charged Suba 30 rupees, me 70 and Ron 80. We left within 5 minutes of each other. I didn't post yesterday because it was too damn hot to keyboard.

Before dinner Ron and I went to the ancient sacred city of Anuradhapurua to see the bo tree again (the tree is from a sapling of the tree where Buddha attained enlightenment). It is the oldest documented living tree in the world. Then we went to the Ruvanwelisiya Dagoba dedicated in 140 BC. It was built by king Dutugemunu and is huge (80 meters in diameter and 53 meters in height. A meter is 39 inches.

I am expereincing technical difficulties at the internet cafe so will post this now before I lose it and continue on another post. Sorry. I know you are hanging on the edge of your seat!! HA!