Aayu-bowan!

Before I get into a handful of blog posts ranting and raving about Bali and Lombok, I thought I would let everyone know that I have arrived in Sri Lanka. The voyage was looooooooooong... and tiring. I arrived in Sri Lanka at 9:00am on July 1st after having traveled for nearly two days (I left my last hotel room at 6:30am on June 29th). It took a taxi, public ferry, private bus and three flights to get to Colombo, Sri Lanka from Sengigi, Lombok. I had a 20 hour layover in Singapore and an 8 hour layover in Chennai, India... but I've finally arrived.

I am in a hotel in Colombo (the capital) for the first night. It is included in the program I signed up for and is allowing me to get some proper sleep. I just got done with dinner with a very friendly woman named Emilia who will be my primary contact while in Sri Lanka and she went over the details of my placement. I will be living in Galle, Sri Lanka which is a town of approximately 90,000 and is located on the south western tip of the island. The town's main attractions are the 16th century dutch fort and picturesque beaches. I will be working at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital with two other volunteers (both are guys from England). The hospital is quite large with a staff including over 400 doctors. It is also the primary hospital for Sri Lankan medical students to do their internships and rotations at. I'm sure you'll be sick of hearing about the hospital over the next few weeks... so i'll leave it at that.

Emilia pulled out a map and gave me a quick rundown on the current political situation. Sri Lanka is a small country (about the size of Ireland), but got a lot smaller after she indicated areas which are not advisable to visit. Unless you only watch Fox News, you should probably have some idea of the current situation in Sri Lanka. The northern region is occupied by the Tamil, who are decedents of southern India and predominately Hindu. They make up about 18% of the population of Sri Lanka. The rest of the island is populated by the Sinhalese who are predominantly Buddhist. The conflict doesn't stem from a difference of religion, but rather the Sinhalese government disenfranchising the Tamil. The history of it is a bit long and confusing (see wikipedia...), but essentially the Tamil want an independent region of Sri Lanka. A small subpopulation of the Tamil known as the Tamil Tigers have been fighting the Sri Lankan army for over two decades towards this goal. Recently the violence between the two groups has increased as the Tamils have moved from military style attacks to terrorist attacks... predominately in Colombo. Security has been increased dramatically in the capital to prevent future attacks. Nearly every bridge, government building and major intersection has a few military officers with semi-automatic rifles in hand. Roads are continually being closed and opened again for high ranking government officials to move around the city. It's all a bit unnerving.

But don't me paint a completely hopeless picture. Despite the always looming threat of an attack, the capital is still a bustling mecca center. Markets are packed full of people, the streets of full of traffic and temples are full of worshipers. The city has a palpable energy and is a fascinating place. I took a tuk tuk around (three wheel glorified golf cart) and went through Pettah market (Colombo's most crowded street market) and to a Buddhist temple. The people are very friendly and full of smiles... it's a quite a paradox from the news reports.

I off to bed now, I have to wake up at 5:00am tomorrow to head down the coast (don't worry, in a private car) to arrive in Galle by 9:00am. We are stopping at a small town on the way for breakfast. I can't wait to see what rural Sri Lanka looks like. The area we will be traveling through was hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami and the damage is apparently still very noticeable.

Aayu-bowan! (Hello or Goodbye)