We went to Srilanka. Still is a beautiful place, I remembered that part right. The last time we went, we had a wonderful time, just the two of us. We went with two backpacks. By the end of the week that we spent there we had
* knotted calves from climbing down Adam's Peak too fast
* nasty dirty clothes filling the backpacks
* a wonderful feeling of satisfaction in our bellies...
We took local transport except for one place where Pere, a friendly young fellow, insisted on driving us in his (rental) car. Buses. Trains. Standing in line at the train station. Exclaiming at the quaint-ness of it all. A gorgeous, slow, train ride through the hills. A bus to the Seetha Temple. The botanical gardens in pouring rain. Tea tasting. Arrack tasting. Bednbreakfast inns that were the cutest things ever. Watching in fascination at the shooting of a Sinhalese movie - all the ladies dressed in pink frilled frocks. All this was in early 2000. The last time we went there.
This time we had a planned itinerary. We went with friends. Of course the monster. It was much more organized. We did what was definitely a sensible route. We went to Horton's Plain (which I ran through of course, a wonderful 9 km trail). Guns & I ran on country roads and were chased by dogs. We ran on city roads and were hounded by buses. The gyms were fantastic. I did weights after eons. We hit the beaches too. We drank some poisonous tasting local stout beer. We stayed in at least two spectacularly magnificent hotels. All close to nature and rocks inside the hotel complex and a dude playing the flute sitting on top of rocks and everything. Food was great too, we nosed out several local places serving yummy veggie food. It was all wonderful, but in such a different way.
But, But, But. On day three or so, the monster rolled off the bed in the middle of the night. How? Why? No one knows. She injured herself pretty badly. We spend three hours in a hospital in Kandy. Getting her X-ray. Waiting in line for the very popular orthopedist. She is fine. It was a hairline crack. I would have expired of guilt if left to myself. But she recovered real fast too. She climbed rocks and played in the ocean just as if there was nothing wrong with her. And when she cried in pain, I was strong and held her (loosely, so as not to hurt her further). She lost weight. Her father took over the task of coaxing her to eat (May I say he did a wonderful job of it, its the most painful job ever).
I did not wallow and rue the ruination of vacation. Heck, it was NOT ruined. On hind-sight, it was just great. Children are that way such cool creatures. She wore this nasty clavicle brace happily with no acknowledgment of the stares she was receiving. We possibly relaxed a little more than we would have normally - I mean in terms of pushing ourselves physically, the gymming and running which are a good part of our vacation usually, was reduced, just so we could hang out together. For myself, I did not climb Adam's Peak as originally intended. But aside from that, we had quality family time. We met other friends (who were also there) - albeit briefly. We hung out drinking beers and listening to the IPOD several nights in our hotel rooms. The other child (who is a good eater) could be heard trying to teach mine to eat well. They were so cute together, those two girls! We have a billion pictures taken.
You learn from every experience. I learned to appreciate what a trooper my little monster is, over this vacation.
