Easy to Find

The time had come to say "so long" to our seaside hideaway and head East along the southern coast of Sri Lanka.  We were heading for a small guest house near Bundala National Park.  The spot was the Lagoon View Guest House on the edge of the village of Welligatha, just off Tissa Road.  When I had emailed our host for directions the reply was "Easy to find."  Okay, it's outside a village that is not on the map in a foreign country whose language I don't speak.   Cool!   How hard could it be?  

We walked the narrow jungle lane past the local monkeys and dogs to the main road, the A2.  To catch a bus on the open road it goes like this:  Find a shady spot on the wrong side of the road (ex-British colony remember) and wait for a speeding bus to come.  When you see the bus, you won't have time to read the number or the destination board, so just stick your arm out, palm down, and wiggle it like you're doing the Hokey-Pokey.  When the bus slows and the Bus Monkey peers out, shout the name of the nearest big town in the direction you want to go. If they slam on the brakes you said the right magic word. Scramble on as fast as you can, throw your bags in the cage over the engine and see if there is a seat. Good luck, especially with that last bit. 

As an aside, I love the Bus Monkey guys and mean the moniker only as a term of endearment. 

We rode across the open paddy country, skirting the coast to Hambantota, about 60 klicks to the East.  Hambantota was a sleepy fishing town until the President started a series of the biggest public works projects in Sri Lankan history.  The Prez is from here and his family has lots of business connections here. So now there is a new international airport with no passengers, a new container port that is too shallow for modern cargo vessels and a weird new interstate type freeway a few kilometers long.  Progress for the masses!

Suddenly the coast road turns into an interstate. Sorry, they wouldn't stop the bus so I could take a better picture. 

After H-Town we had to start looking for Welligatha.  Our Bus Monkey, the young man who runs, squeezes and climbs over the bus to collect the fares, waved at us to come forward.  We squeezed up to the front and grabbed our gear.  Both the driver and Mr. Monkey looked at us as if we had a clue where to get off. On a whim, I blurted out the name of the Lagoon View and a quick conversation followed. The driver gave the nod and the "I got this" in Sinhala, and lurched the bus into gear. Two kilometers later, in the middle of a marsh outside Welligatha, we all four spotted the building and sign at the same time and had a pretty good laugh over it. 

Engulfed in a cloud of diesel smoke as the bus roared off, we stood directly across the A2 from the Lagoon View.

Yes, with luck and a bit of help from the Travel Gods "Easy to Find"