|
SEA GEM LOG
January 26, 2000
MORE SRI LANKA The last two days we spent in Galle, Sri Lanka were busy trying to get everything finished. We thought we had the refrigeration fixed but have now determined that we
need a new motor which we are having shipped in from the US to the Maldives. We have jury rigged the pump (Jamaica Tom's idea) from our salt water wash down pump to the compressor and so far are able to run the
engine driven unit enough to keep the plates frozen and hold our food. I will say we got to know a lot of Sri Lanken repair men, parts shops, and Tuck Tuck drivers to get around looking for things.
On the twenty fourth Charlie and I decided to go find a sari for me. Our Tuck Tuck driver friend told us he knew just the place and took us to the Natural Silk Factory, a
fair way out of Galle City. For the first time we saw a demonstration of exactly how silk is made, from tiny worm, to the final product. The fabrics are beautiful, the prettiest I have ever seen, and of
course we made a purchase. To wear a sari you have to have a blouse, which is made of the same material and a special slip to go under the sari. They took my measurements and the following day the garments
were delivered to Don Windsor's Office by the port. We met Faizal Manaf, the owner's son and our salesman, to take delivery. He asked us to tea at the Closenburg Hotel. We enjoyed our visit with
Faizal, who is interested in expanding the family business. He went into his perception of the problems facing Sri Lanka with the varying factions vying for the control of limited resources. Faizal is
Muslim and sees the problems from a different perspective than we have heard before. As in most underdeveloped countries the majority of the wealth is controlled by a small number of people. It is always
interesting to talk with people and I always regret our inability to communicate more clearly due to the limitations of language. There were two major dingy dock options for going ashore. One was through the
commercial port, with security check points on both the water and land, the other was through the Naval School, run by a German. The school was the neatest, cleanest and most orderly looking public type place in
Sri Lanka. The young men there were always friendly and helpful when we walked through. The commercial port had cows wandering the street, and when you took garbage ashore the first to grab the bags were the
men laying around the wharf. After they had riffled through the cows stepped up to see if there were any nibbles for them and from there the dogs took over, followed by cats, and I presume the rats then assumed
the sorting. By that time the volume has been reduced considerably. This is not to say there are no clean up attempts. We saw crews cleaning the main promenade while we were in town but municipal
services are limited. Things like cows wandering downtown city streets and roads seem so unusual to us, yet commonplace in Sri Lanka. I cannot emphasize enough the languor with which the people and the animals
move out of the way of speeding vehicles. We had become accustomed to the facilities available and I enjoyed the laundry service, it came back smelling nice and it was dry. We had become friends with the
internet provider. The one computer that we used served us well to send our logs and messages home and the people were friendly and helpful. The internet manager came out into the street and got me one day as I
was leaving and trying to get a Tuck Tuck, saying, "Hot, very hot, you go sit down." The agent we had in Sri Lanka was helpful and his office was a place to stop and check on ongoing projects
and to see if we received any mail. As we left Sri Lanka the evening of January 25, with Tom Williams and Sandra Cook on board we were all a little sad to leave the exotic island of Sri Lanka for we had no idea
of what to expect in the Maldives. Our passage of three days was uneventful for the most part except for keeping the refrigeration going and dealing with the huge stalk of bananas that Charlie had purchased
before we left Sri Lanka. There is something about huge stalks of bananas that attract Charlie. He cannot resist. In the vegetable and fruit market they had twenty varieties of bananas. We
purchased a stalk (about 20-25 pounds) of the small lemon bananas and a few red bananas. Both were excellent and we have added more banana recipes to our repertoire. Sandra is quite innovative with
fruits and vegetables and she made a banana bread that really tasted a bit more like a bread pudding. She also made lentil loaf which was a good main course but she hasn't quite sold Charlie on being a
vegetarian. If you look at the meat and the meat handling in some of the places we visit I have found I lean more and more toward ordering things without meat. On board the boat we are still using meat
processed in Australia. Part of our passage was very fast. We were not able to fly the MPS for the winds were too strong and we did a lot of rocking and rolling but we arrived in Male at 0900 local
time. We skirted the island and found the available anchorage and called the harbor patrol that we had arrived |
