It was a very calm morning on Sri Lanka's south coast. We walked briefly on the beach and it seemed we were the only ones up. We had scheduled a driver to pick us up around 10:00. He was an hour and a half late. It wasn't the best start of our journey up country to Ella. When he did finally arrive, he felt the need to keep asking directions or inquiring about shortcuts despite google maps confirming that we were on the correct routing the entire time. At one point he stopped to ask a man holding balloons -- which I think we can all agree is the universal sign for someone who knows there way around.
And thus, a 130 mile drive took more than five hours. I was having flashbacks to Cuba, but instead of the car breaking down, it was just a really slow drive entailing getting stuck behind tuk tuks, swerving for cows or stray dogs, and stopping to ask directions. Eventually, however, we did arrive in Ella, up in mist-draped green mountains in Sri Lanka's interior. The temperature here is much cooler and the sounds of the local wildlife (namely insects) are quite pronounced, especially now at night. It is like listening to a sound machine that helps one sleep.
With such lush green mountains, it was apparent that this area gets a good amount of rainfall, and it only took an hour from checking in to the 98 Acres resort, that it began to rain quite hard. We scurried to the restaurant for dinner where Nicole and I both had rice and curry with various toppings ranging from beets to cabbage and finished it off with some curd (and beer obviously). We are staying at a very nice place overlooking the hills. We essentially have our own little villa of sorts. There were a few resident moths already making themselves comfortable, but who can blame them. It's a nice place. After relaxing for a bit, we put the netting down around our bed and settled in.
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