Sunday, Free Day
A group of us walked to a catholic church this morning, we got there a little late because we couldn't figure out what time it started. It must have been 730am because we got there before 8am. The mass was in Singhalese. Palm Sunday, the church was overflowing 100 + people outside in addition to the several hundred inside. We were in the shade, outside and sweat was already dripping off our faces. The building was beautiful, statues and crucifixes. Once again back to the 1950s. The women had lace doilies on their heads.
Sunday is our day off, so we went to a very nice beach not too far from the farm in the city of Negombo. We pd 800 rupees for the use of the pool, beach, towels and lunch buffet. Not a bad deal seeing the buffet was fit for a king. They really go all out on the food around here. Various rice, curries, veggies, salads, fruits, breads, soup and deserts. Upscale old country buffet.
I applied sun screen that the girls from work gave me, but I didn't reapply after swimming. I bought a green sundress from a beach vendor, later on that evening when I put the dress on they said all I needed was a star on my head and I would look like a Christmas tree all red and green.
The really cool thing we did was rent a catamaran. The boat was hand made with unfinished huge logs with such a simple design it was amazing, big rectangle sails that the Sri Lankan men handled so gracefully. The water was perfect, a nice wind and we were off. We were out about 45 min. 5 of us on each boat. 550rs not bad.
The beach vendors had various things, lots of fabrics, most unusual was a small trained monkey. He climbed on top of one of the gal’s heads, and just sat up there and played with her hair.
It was a good day, until I got back to the farm and there were a couple of big guys in my bathroom, big brown spider and big cockroach. I just worked around them.
