JAN 31 FEB 1 NEGOMBO

GETTING TO NEGOMBO
We catch a tuc tuc to the rail station. Our train is an hour late and finally arrives by noon. We have a 6 hour ride to Colombo by train and then a couple hour bus ride to our destination which will get us in after dark. Our first class coach has no air conditioning but all windows are wide open and it is a comfortable ride. We pick up some Sri Lankan pakoras and othe spicy nibbles at the rail station and buy peanuts and sliced pineapple from buskers plying the train. In discussion with the conductor he suggests to Don that we get off before Negombo at a train junction and catch another train to Negombo rather than go all the way to Colombo and then take a bus. We take a chance and it works brilliantly with only a 20 minute wait between trains. Only problem is there is only 3rd class coaches so we hop on with all our luggage to full cars and standing room only but within a few stops we have seats. We get to our destination before 6 so the gamble pays off.

WAITING PATIENTLY

NEGOMBO
We have a layover day in Negombo, the closest town for tourist arrival and departure from the International airport. It is known for its fish market so we take bikes from our home stay and bicycle to the market. The market is basically closed with the fishermen on strike to protest against illegal fishermen who set dynamite in the waters and kill not only their catch but every other living fish around. We catch the fishermen marching in the streets. We still get to see the drying process they use for calamari and mackerel as well as for larger fish. The women clean the innards, the men wash them in baskets in the ocean, the women salt them and Lat them out to dry for one day and then turn them the next day, and
Resto died fish which will keep 6 months.

THE PROTESTORS

GUTTING THE SQUID

WASHING THE FISH

DRYING THE SQUID, MACKEREL AND BIGGER FISH

Across the way their is a girls school field day event taking place and we walk by as the young girls give us the eye and big smiles. We continue biking along the Oceanside and find a nice seafood restaurant for lunch.

GIRLS AT ATTENTION

Mani has booked a massage for the afternoon and Don and Rob walk the beach, swim in the ocean, tan in the late afternoon sun, and admire the homemade outrigger canoes used for fishing and more recently to take tourists on little excursions along the coast.