The Coast Unawatuna and Bentota

Our hotel (below left) looks brand new.  That’s because it basically is.  It was one of the few buildings along the coast that has already been rebuilt, and it stands right next to a pile of rubble (below right).

Galle Fort, five miles north of Unawatuna.  The fort hails from the Portuguese colonial days.

Friendly Galle schoolkids.

We left Unawatuna for Bentota, a great beach town.  In addition to the soft sand and warm water, it offers bodysurfable waves.  Bentota suffered significant tsunami damage, but far fewer casualties than Unawatuna.  The people here are also extremely friendly.

We met this nutcase trying to spell his name in the sand, and somehow were convinced to follow him on an excursion to witness a “giant salamander.”

The “giant salamander” turned out to be an ordinary water monitor, but this guy was such a character, it was still fun.  Along the way, he challenged me to a flex-off.

The next day, we went on a successful deep sea fishing expedition.

Note: There must be direct flights from Frankfurt to Bentota.  This town is packed with Germans (and other Europeans), but devoid of Americans.  So we had fun forcing innocent locals to guess where we were from.   They would first guess that we were British or German, then they’d guess 4-5 European countries (usually from among Norway, France, Holland, Italy, Ireland and Sweden).  Most would then be stumped.  Others would, after a long pause, guess Australia, and after another long pause, maybe Canada.  Not one person got past this, even after I hinted that our country was "very big" and directly south of Canada and north of Mexico (one guy excused himself at this point to consult a map, returned with the correct answer, and then had the gall to say "I could tell by your accent.")  Once we revealed our nationality, though, everyone seemed astonished, then broke into a huge smile and insisted on shaking our hands.  It was an interesting change from SE Asia, where everyone immediately knew we were Americans.

So I like sunsets and dogs.  Big deal.   Next stop: Kuchi, India.

Postscript:  I finished up the Sri Lanka webpages and left Bentota directly for the airport on Tuesday, April 11th, looking forward to India immensely.  Then we hit a slight snag with our visas.  We were turned away from the plane and sent back to our least favorite place of the trip—Colombo.  After spending a day in the Indian embassy waiting in a series of interminable lines, twice next to a person with truly nauseating body odor, we are now sitting in Colombo, patiently waiting.  We’re stuck in this hellhole for a minimum of four nights, possibly seven.  To make matters worse, everything is shut down for two days because of a holiday, so my earlier description of Colombo is probably too generous.  It seems fate is not without a cruel sense of irony.

Sri Lanka was devastated by the Tsunami, and not just the East Coast.  The Tsunami wrapped
around the island, battering the southern and the western coasts as well.  Tourism has fallen
precipitously everywhere on the island.  Unuwatuna--once a popular beach destination on Sri
Lanaka's southwest cost--was almost wiped off the map.  Buildings along the beach were decimated,
areas further inland were severely damaged, and the death toll was overwhelming.  Unlike Phuket,
which seemed well on its way to recovery only a month after the tsunami, Unuwatuna is still leveled 3
½ months after the tsunami.  People live in tents while the slow rebuilding process continues.  It also
seemed that every westerner here was a volunteer relief worker and that we were the only tourists.  
While almost every local has some sort of tsunami hardship story, virtually no one begged for money
here (or anywhere in Sri Lanka for that matter).