After a delicious and abundant breakfast at the hotel I took off, intent on being the perfect tourist. I even splurged 1,000 rupees (US$ 3) to have a tuk-tuk take me to the small lake on the south part of town where most attractions are reachable by foot. Note to self: Next time book a hotel around the lakes.
My first stop was the Buddhist temple of Gangaramaya, which is old and full of lore and accumulated antiquities. Unfortunately I had a hard time enjoying it because of one of the friendly "guides", who without asking take over your visit, telling you to "come here", "see there", and "go ahead and take a photo". These enlightened souls have a vested interest on seeing you through as fast as possible, all the time droning about this and the other. Among the flood of words I learnt that Lord Buddha had regular Hindi parents, so some of the Hindi deities have spilled over into Buddhism (e.g., the Elephant God, Ganesh). I was also reminded that Lord Buddha went through six stages of enlightment (wait, didn't I learn that it was five stages?) "Ah", said my self-appointed guide, "that is because during the sixth stage he wasted his physical corpse to become light", and with a flourish he pointed to a representation of Lord Buddha looking like a skeleton, an image I have never seen anywhere else.
This particular monastery has the honor of hosting two precious relicts from Buddha. The first is a hair, and the second is a knuckle bone. Both are encased in small gold stupas, and on the birthday of the Lord Buddha (mid April) are taken in procession out of the temple, in one of the most important religious ceremonies of the region. There is another famous relic in the town of Kandy (more about it in the next two days): a tooth of Buddha held at the Temple of the tooth, which is also taken out in procession on the 15th day of the fourth month.
The temple has a huge gilded statue of the sitting Buddha, lots of angels in the Hindi tradition, and a vast collection of gems, ceramics, and even furniture that has been given as offerings, including a magnificent sapphire necklace donated by Queen Elizabeth. And while on the subject of gems "my guide" bundled me into a tuk-tuk and sent me to the temple's jewelry shop, with the recommendation of buying my birthstone for good luck. I quickly notified the salesman that being a geologist I had no intention of buying a stone, and after a feeble attempt at selling he politely answered my questions about how stones were mined in the high country.
Gold and precious stones are very important status symbols in Sri Lanka and India, and precious stones are one of the main exports of the country. The other is tea, of which I will tell you more once I see the mountain plantations.
Free at last I walked to the small lake to enjoy the breeze, visited another small temple, and headed for the Viharamahdevi Park, which is the equivalent to the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I lazed under the shade of a tree for a while, caught my wind, and headed for the National Museum, which has a section on natural history and another on ethnology and archaeology. The natural history museum was a bit run down, but I learned to my astonishment that there are eight species of coconuts, and that Sri Lanka is a big exporter (is there a place where coconuts are bought in large amounts?). There are also a dozen varieties of rice, and a spattering of venomous snakes. I made a little friend while we were there, a 6-year old boy who came to ask me, very seriously, if I was a foreigner. I said that yes, I was, and in perfect English he proceeded to pelt me with questions about Mexico. We went through half the museum together, looking for lions, and finally in the last hall were rewarded by a display on panthers and jaguars.
The Archaeology museum was fascinating, starting at about the 6th century BC, when Indian rajahs moved into Sri Lanka. Some of the sites in the highlands looked very impressive, and I need to see if I will be able to reach them from Kandy. For the record, they had three squat toilets carved of rock on display. They looked like the ones you find all over Asia today, footprints and all, but they were dated back to the 5th century AD (it most be a good design since it has lasted for 1,500 years!)
The part about Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, becoming a part of the of the British Raj, the tea and spice trade, or the granting of independence in 1948 were unfortunately no covered, so I have much to discover about modern Sri Lanka.
The Ethnology museum did a good job at explaining the traditional arts of agriculture, food processing and storage, weaving, fishing, and all the other arts that make life possible at the most basic level.
After killing time in the best way I could I decided to take the plunge. I went back to my friendly motorcycle dealer, took possession of my new vehicle, and murmuring "Virgen Purísima líbranos de una desgracia" I plunged into the crazy Colombo traffic. The helmet I got is too small, and the chin strap doesn't tie, so I will have to buy another helmet. I asked in the shops around the hotel and was given to understand I would have to take a tuk-tuk to go to where they sell them, so I will make due until I get out of the city tomorrow morning and try to find a store along the way. Tomorrow I will head for the city of Kandy, 120 km away. I should be able to get there in 3 or 4 hours, but I have all day to make that leg of the trip.
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