Birds, Beasts, and Flower Curry, January 7, 2006, Part 4

It is our general rule to give to beggars, not as much as we'd (or they'd) like, but always something. Usually we discouraged guides, though, because we've done our homework already, but at Mihintale we were fortunate to have very qualified, articulate guides, who taught us a lot more than any of the books had to offer. These days many in Sri Lanka are feeling the pinch of few tourists. Last year it was the tsunami. This year it is rumors of war. As Visakha's guide elaborated, "The usual tour leader always asks, 'Which would you rather do? Climb 1350 steps or go back early to the hotel and swim?'" That's a loaded question for the mainly European tourists on holiday here. Visakha didn't go up all those stairs, but she saw as much as she wanted and appreciated it when her guide left her alone for some meditation under a Bodhi tree.

		Medirigiriya
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The monks were quite thorough in visiting the various sites, but Ken and our Canadian friend went clambering over rocks and exploring caves like mere boys. Ken proved that his Birkenstocks were just as good as, if not better than, our friend's hiking boots. Whenever he got to a particularly interesting vantage point or discovered something out of the ordinary, he would give Visakha a call on the cell phone with an account of his adventures if there was telephone service. Visakha went up a lot of steps herself, but was thoroughly sensible.

		Sigiriya
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In 1983 she could have gone up Sigiriya, the great sheer rock fortress, but she opted out then because she didn't like the look of the rusty old handrail that was all there was between the climbers laboring against gravity up and down the rock face and an unforgiving fall. Now she couldn't do it if she wanted to, even though they've installed iron stairs (think very narrow fire escape stairs, already rusting). Ken was rather disdainful of the new arrangement, but everyone else was grateful, especially since those going up and going down had separate stairs and didn't have to compete for a hand or foothold!

	Pidurangala
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Everywhere we saw signs saying, "Don't feed the monkeys!" Right! Try not to! They are amazing. One day we were carrying cake and crackers left from a snack, hoping to give them to a mangy dog along our way. After exploring ruins that afternoon and returning to the van, our Canadian friend reached inside and picked up the plastic bag from the back seat. He hadn't had time to even step back from the car before a whole troop of monkeys surged forward, their full attention on him and the sack in his hand. They completely ignored the rest of us. He was quite taken aback, and we still have no idea how they knew there was food in there! He hurried toward the hopeful old mother dog, monkeys close behind. An old man selling postcards wordlessly offered to feed her, patiently giving her piece after piece, all the while carefully keeping the monkeys at bay.

	Dambulla
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Everywhere in Sri Lanka we see dogs sleeping calmly and trustingly beside the road. On this journey, in places off the beaten track we encountered dogs who didn't even bother to get up from their comfortable spot in the very middle of the road. They were right to be so confident because cars, vans, trucks, and buses all went around them! It must be a Buddhist country!

We saw no road kill anywhere, but elephant droppings were another matter! One long stretch of jungle road has barricades at both ends, and at the end of the day vehicles are tallied and the road closed by 7 o'clock because of elephants. As we were traveling along a stretch of jungle road between Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya we noticed that a van in the distance seemed to have stopped. Aha! There was a wild elephant in the trees near the road. A foreign passenger took a photo out the window, which must have been pretty boring because only the elephant's forehead could be seen, as it scratched behind its ear. We stopped. Other cars made a rolling stop, pictures were snapped, and they sped on. A bus didn't even slow down as it raced past us. We stayed on quietly, watching the beautiful creature scratch its other ear on a large tree, which bent under the weight. Then it moved slowly closer to the road. We kept taking photos, talking to it, wondering if perhaps it wanted to cross the road. When a big bus or truck roared past, we hoped that it wouldn't try! It came closer, pulling the lush grass, feeding calmly and methodically. What a pleasure to spend all that time with this awesome animal, unchained, untamed, wild to roam free through the elephant jungle! Lucky us!

Wild and free		Tame and bathing

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