April 13

On the twelfth… we awoke at 0408! 22 minutes before the alarm!! So we got up and about. Heard call to prayer at 0449 as we were heading downstairs to leave. 0450 in taxi and on our way to airport. 0500 at airport. Through security, through immigration, and through a second security check. Then we sat and waited at the gate.  Our flight is at 0735. I walked about the small airport to get steps. We boarded at 0710 and backed out at 0738, not bad. 

We have a short flight to Sri Lanka, like an hour and a half. Up in the air, seeing the scattering of the Maldivian Islands for the last time – hopefully this trip, as we would like to come back, it is just so gorgeous!! The amazing greens and blues of the ocean with the contrasting greens and browns of the islands… well, it's MARVELOUS!

The flight was quick. I was watching The Music Man, and did not even get halfway through! We landed no problem. Welcome to Colombo, Sri Lanka!!

We went through immigration pretty quick also. Found the baggage claim, but took a hot minute to find the right carousel/belt for our flight. There were eight belts(?, as I recall). We were looking for #1, which was tucked away, like in a room! Strange!? Maybe due to expansion of the airport? Questions?? Anyway, we got our bags and through customs, then got an Uber to our place – it is through Booking.com.

Our host was waiting at his place. We had not been able to get in touch with him, because we did not get a sim card – due to very, very long lines at the airport. So it was very nice to see him! The second floor apartment is all ours! It is a three bedroom/3 bathroom with a living space and kitchen, but the other two bedrooms/bathrooms are locked (which is fair). It is still quite big enough for us, and our week in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He showed us the particulars, the cooking area outside, and the roof top, which has some good views. He even offered to take us in his car to show us about some!

Then he kindly dropped us off at Shanmugas “The Vegetarian Restaurant,” as we were starving – we haven't eaten yet nor had any coffee! (It was only noon, but we have been up for eight hours!) We had an Onion Rava Masala Dosai; a dish of Garlic Cauliflower with Garlic Naan; and a Cucumber Raitha (yogurt with chopped cucumber, green chillies, and onion). Jeff had a mango lassi, and I had a chocolate milkshake. It was good and filling. 

We then walked about a bit, going to the ocean. Then it started to spit some rain ☹️ so we went back to our place via the pharmacy. I needed something for my ear – it's been plugged since diving. We arrived back in time as a good rain storm unloaded. Siesta time. We had some fresh King coconut milk from the yellow King coconuts our host left for us! So good and refreshing! Then Jeff went back out during a break in the rain, to the grocery store and an ATM. I worked on our one year anniversary blog. During this time there was an amazingly, shocking clap of thunder. I felt it in my body!! Quite a thunderstorm! When Jeff returned, he said he was in the store when it happened, and that he had felt it also! We finished the one year anniversary blog.

Now, during another rain break, we both went out. We explored. Many things are closed today for the Tamil and Sinhala New Year tomorrow, so we struck out on getting a sim card again. We went back to the grocery store, Keels, and picked up a bit more stuff. Back at our place we had a light supper of cheese, bread &butter, and cookies. Bed around 2130.

Today, we got around by sixish. So nice, not any calls to prayer! Breakfast was some muesli with milk, yogurt, and mango juice. Very nice😋!  We watched some You tube, getting caught up on some of our 'fav-vloggers.' Our host came and collected our trash. He said he will come by everyday for this🤔.  Must have been problems in the past? Questions?? Anyway, we went out after this.

We decided we wanted to cook our lunch so back to a different grocery store, Cargill's (Jeff's mom used to work for Cargill – don't know if they are same company?) This store is smaller than Keel's from yesterday, and more limited on what is available. But they had a big produce area, and a great meat counter. We picked out some fresh tuna! Got other stuff and went back to our place – stopping a small local produce stand for a lime and then a bakery for a loaf of bread.

At our place we made pan sauteed tuna steaks with a fish mustard curry rub we found at the store. We also cut up a mango (our host had left for us) with some red onion – soaked in juice from half of the lime, and some King coconut milk (also from our host). It was a throw together meal, that turned out nicely! Had a siesta, since almost everything is closed except for grocery stores and bakeries. So will be a laid back weekend. Plan for a light supper and hopeful for a sunset – but it is very overcast. 

Hope to see many tomorrow and get with family. Tata from Sri Lanka!