This is our first chance for some time to update our blog. We had a nice break over christmas back in Colombo before starting another adventure to central Lanka and the tea country. We began this leg of the journey spending 4 nights in a remote village near Eheliyagoda at our friend Divanka's house. The caretaker of the house, Madurapala was very nervous in having us stay as he could speak no English and we couldn't speak Sinhala. In the end we managed through a series of head wobbles and smiling, and enjoyed the experience immensely.
Life in the village was very simple, including cooking on an open fire and bathing in the local stream. We met a lovely family down the road whose three children, Carson (13), Charmuda (10) and Yanika (3)became our shadows. They helped us to learn to count in Sinhalese by playing numerous games of "Go Fish". We also had fun making boats out of bamboo, tea and banana leaves and racing them in the stream. The family took us for beautiful walks through the surrounding tea fields and described things in great detail despite the fact that neither of us could understand each other.
We left Eheliyagoda for Haputale and World's End. Haputale was amazing little town, perched high up in the tea country (1500m +). Everywhere we went there were spectacular views of hills, valleys, waterfalls, rice paddys and tea fields. We took an early morning trip to Horton's Plains for an 11km hike to World's End. The view was breath taking and it was hard to do it justice in any photgraphs.
It was at this point that we got word from Divanka about Tiana's birth mother in Gampola. We decided to adjust our itinerary and caught the next train to Gampola, 5 hours away. The train ride was horrific (3 hours standing and then 2 hours sitting on the floor between the carriages) but it was all made worthwhile by the splendid views all around.
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