In The Wake Of The Tsunami

A toddy-tapper.

 
      In the first light of dawn, I thought that they were monkeys flitting around up there, in the crowns of coconut palms.  Then I saw one balancing heel to toe, heel to toe between the tree tops, like the Great Wallini on the high wire.

     Eventually I learned that they were men collecting "toddy" -- the nectar of coconut flowers.  And that they were called "toddy tappers."  In bare feet, sarongs tied off into a knot below their belly buttons, chewing betel nut and occasionally spewing the reddish juice, they impressed me with their hands-on-hips, can-do attitude.

     The nectar is deposited into into wooden barrels on the ground and used to make a type of liquor called "arrack."  Very popular in this part of the world.  Local rot gut, if you will.  The collection process takes place mainly along the coast and this was where I discovered something else about Sri Lanka  -- the impact of the Great Tsunami.

The Sydney Hotel.

Twelve types of arrack on the "menu" inside.

     In my guidebook the Sidney Hotel is described as a deep, dark hole of iniquity. Curiosity got the better of me one day and I ventured in for a look-see.  A few shadowy figures hunched at tables waved and invited me to sit.  "Do you serve food here?" I asked one.  "No food 'ere," came the response.  "Only liquor."

      I looked around.  Sit?  Are you kiddin'?  I was afraid that something might crawl up my leg!

     On the way out, I snapped the picture of the arrack offerings shown above.  Then I noticed a photo on the wall of the bus station across the street, taken shortly after the tsunami...

     

Remnants of the bus station at Galle.

     

     I was astonished.  On December, 26, 2004, the entire bus station had been obliterated and hundreds of people along with it.  They had no warning.  It was a holiday weekend and many bore bags of gifts and food.  One minute they were sitting waiting for transport and the next they were flailing about in angry brown water.

     The entire southern coast had been ravaged, with the water three and four stories high (30 to 40 feet) in some places.  Approximately 35, 00 people perished.  About half of them were washed out to sea and never found.

     Seemingly everyone there has a story about that awful day.  Most go something like this:  My...(friend, neighbor, cousin, etc.) set out to do something that morning and that was the last we ever saw of him or her.

The old Dutch Fort at Galle present day.

The same view in 2004.

      Most heart-wrenching were the train stories.  That morning the Ocean Queen Express was running the coast from Colombo to Matara when the waves struck.  The huge diesel/electric engine was slammed one hundred yards and the rolling stock crumpled up like tin cans.  Most of the passengers never had a chance.  It remains the largest rail disaster in world history by death toll, with 1,700 fatalities or more.

    In completing my loop around the country, I rode a train along that same route.  Often it ran only a few hundred yards from the ocean.  At one spot, among the palm trees, a mass grave containing about 1,000 victims of the disaster.  Even though it was twelve years ago, don't think that I wasn't casting an anxious eye seaward as the journey proceeded!

    For what it's worth, an historian there told me that he could find no evidence for previous tsunamis going back five- or six-hundred years.  This event was an aberration unto itself and the people, and the government, unprepared as a result.

Part of the Ocean Queen Express.

      In many ways, Sri Lanka is a country on the mend.  In addition to the tsunami, a civil war wracked the island for decades, killing additional tens of thousands.  I saw people from time to time missing an arm or a leg or with burn scars only to learn that they were victims.

     Even though the conflict was settled in 2009, it made for a double whammy upon this tiny nation  -- the tsunami in the south and the war in the north.  The government was drained of resources and unable to provide as it should.  Litter and garbage disposal remain a problem, as do poverty.  Facilities for travelers are emerging but still on the rough side.

Some tourist "infrastructure."

     Despite this, many of the people are impressively educated and speak English well.  Almost to a person, they were genial and pleasant.  Even in the Sydney Hotel, where the sunlight rarely penetrates, the denizens were friendly.  My biggest concerns about crime, as it turned out, were from the monkeys.

     I came to consider the sparse tourist trappings to be an advantage -- there weren't yet many foreigners there.  All the better to experience the place and the people firsthand.

     All in all -- the culture, the food, the scenery -- added up to some memorable travel.  My advice?  See it before high-rises line the beaches!

[END OF SERIES ON SRI LANKA]