This Must Be The Place

In Sri lanka it is common to see wild animals crossing the road as one is trying to pass. You might not think much of this, but when you see a elephant crossing at his pleasure you don't want to piss it off. Traveling back and forth from Colombo to Arugam Bay you typically see elephants, monkeys, monitors (large lizards), water buffalo, cows walking right down the street or hanging out in town.

The wildlife here is amazing. Dan got some great shots from Yala National Park:

Green Bee-eater. These suckers can run.

Water Buffalo

Peafowl

Monitor (Big Lizard they can get 5 to 6 feet long)

Purple Heron

How many crocodiles do you see?

Painted Stork with Egrets

Now how many crocodiles do you see?

Hornbill

Deer

Bee-eater

Water Buffalo with white egret sitting on him

Elephant Rock

Bird in Tree

Yes it is a leopard and we were lucky to see one.

This leopard was just walking down the road, hanging out and stopped by our car.

So pretty...

What a look...

Pink Painted Stork

Lots of Storks hanging out in the trees.

Elephant most likely a young male, they hang out alone.

Up close and personal.

Crossing watch out.

I was a bit spoiled in Colombo, I could pretty much find just about anything I needed or a good substitute. Walking distance to two different grocery stores. Here in paradise things are a little different. Who would have thought fresh milk would be an issue. Commonly used words "not available." Really this means not today, didn't look hard enough, need to go to the next town over to find, or have to get in Colombo. I knew I would not be able to get cereal, so stocked up four whole boxes but no milk to have with the cereal.

Typically I send the driver to do the shopping due to there is not real grocery stores here, just open markets where they sell their goods. Prices are not marked and I am what you call frecking white or Dan would say snow flake white. They like to double or even triple prices on my behalf.

Fresh cheese as been another issue, I asked if I could get fresh cheese, " oh yes no problem." However, Happy Cow is what I got, not great for shredded cheese on tacos. The strange thing is I did find vanilla yogurt that is very delicious and to my surprise found a bottle of wine for $15, have not tried yet but will stock up in Colombo. Available veggies change on a day to day basis which is completely understandable but I just wanted a cucumber and some cilantro. No salads either, can't find green or red leaf lettuce and basil has been scarce as well. Not easy cooking in paradise.

Then Razac our driver shows up with fresh milk, hot in double lined plastic bags. My first thought was what the hell do I do with this. Trying not to burn myself I poured the milk into a container and placed into the frig. You can say "Got fresh Milk!" Not exactly sure how many days the milk will last, but had in my cereal yesterday.

Update on the cockroach killer the evening after the cockroach in the bed found another one in the bathroom. Completely upset another had to die and still the finger not feeling the greatest went to get the shoe. There is a God! Returned to the bathroom and a gecko was having dinner. Gecko's are my friend. As for today there has been four killings and one got away....

For the first time ever we went bird watching with some friends outside of Colombo. I was not really into it, but being polite and was looking forward to getting out of the city for a bit and it was free. The first hour I could not see much, it is not like the birds fly up next to you and have a seat while you look at them. The binoculars are difficult at first to look through. Then I was amazed at how many different birds were hanging out in this wetlands area. Our friend brought a bird book with her, then we ran into the author of the bird book trying to get some pictures. We got his autograph and Dan was jealous of his telephoto lens it was massive. Here is some pictures, since Dan was not completely happy with the photos he has ordered a new zoom lens, it comes next week.

In the heat of the passion could not take it any more it must die...

I have come to terms with the ants getting into everything, the mosquitoes are around and the baby crabs at night in the sand trying to trip you, as you are not sure what is crawling around. However, I can't seem to come to terms with the fracken cockroaches. Is it the long antennas they have, they move fast and sometimes fly, they disappear as soon as you go to get the flip flop to kill them, if you get the chance they make a crunching sound when you hit them with the flip flop, or the fact I found one in my bed when pulling the sheets off to wash. I think a combination of all of above, but defiantly the last straw for today and the sucker had to die. Catching him was not easy and I received a finger wound in the process. But of course I caught him with a cup and piece of paper as Dan walks through the front door. A nice husband would have killed the cockroach for me, instead he smiled and said have fun. I really hate the crunching sound when hitting it, because you have to do like five times to make sure it is die. Just for the record I used Dan's flip flop. Also, I am going in invest in a cockroach trap when we go to Colombo next week

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to "This Must Be The Place, The Garbely Adventure." I can not believe I have almost been away for two months, it feels like I just got here a week ago. Well actually it has not been a week since I have been in Arugam Bay. The first month Dan was working in Colombo where we had a two bedroom apartment with a nice view of the ocean and the city below. We had our friend Greg visit us for about a week. Then our friend Carrie came, who I entertained for about a month. So you can say I have been busy. We made sure Carrie saw most of Sri Lanka and than Dan got some time off, due to New Years, yes weird but Sri Lanka and India celebrate New Years in the middle of April. We went to India, which will require a new entry and lots more pictures.

We are officially in Arugam Bay until the project is over, most likely December. The beach cabana is small but nice, it is equipped with AC, electricity, cable TV, internet, the smallest kitchen in the world (a small bathroom turned into a kitchenette), a good bed, and of course a bathroom with western toilet and hot water. Really I could not have asked for more, oh except the couch does really suck I need to work on that in my spare time. We have our bad ass treehugger hammock setup ready for sitting pleasure. Enjoy the start of many photos to come...