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shadow of Adam's Peak at sunrise |
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shadow of Adam's Peak at sunrise |
Dec 18 we flew to Sri Lanka where we
met the Gertzes, a family we teach with. They have a year-old
baby named Gabriel. First we drove to the North, figuring that
if we are going to meet Tamil Tigers, we might as well do it right
away. We toured several beautiful ruined
cities that I can't spell or prounounce.
Very photogenic. We rode elephants into the jungle. Patrick sat on the elephant's
neck with Jeshua in front of him, while the other family and I
lounged in one of those box-saddle things on the back. The guide
gave Jeshua a bunch of tiny bananas to feed the elephant one at
a time as she reached her trunk back. We spent the 25th at a tiny
hotel at the foot of a very tall mountain. At 2:00am we woke up
and climbed the mountain. The mother and baby from the other family stayed
behind, but Jeshua really wanted to try it. We walked straight
up many flights of stairs in the dark until 5am, when I was too
tired to go any farther. Jeshua elected to stay with me, so we
stopped at a shack that sold bowls of tea to pilgrims. The guide
gave me a dagger with which to protect myself, and took the men
on up to the top for the sunrise, and to see the footprint at
the top of either Adam or Buddha, depending on your religious
leaning. Jeshua and I also had a beautiful sunrise from 3/4 of
the way up the mountain. Pulling the leeches off of our ankles
got a bit tiresome, but otherwise it was a great adventure.
Other highlights were the elephant
orphanage where they train elephants
whose mothers have been killed by poachers, or elephants who have
been injured themselves. Jeshua got to pet a little baby, and
we saw them feeding the youngest with bottles. We also took a
jeep safari in an animal reserve where we saw wild elephants, pecories, water
buffalo, huge lizards, and very nice birds. We spent several days
on the beach
where Jeshua worked on his body surfing skills. We went to a turtle
hatchery where Jeshua played with turtles that had been born just
the day before, and twice, we met nice gentlemen who draped pythons
around Jeshua's shoulders and then wanted money. He even got to
hold a baby crocodile
while we took a boat up a river inland! Unfortunately, it bit
him becuase the fisherman who was showing it off thought it would
make a great picture to put it on Jeshua's head, but then it fell
off, and Jeshua grabbed at it, and the crocodile got scared. Jeshua
cried a bit because he doesn't like blood, but now he likes telling
his crocodile story.
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