Trains and Turtles

Lexie (intimidated by Erica's journaling skills) has bravely decided to write today's blog...

We began our day by walking down the beach, randomly running through the waves of the Indan Ocean, when we "stumbled" upon a turtle farm. Right when we walked up, our "conservationist" quickly picked up a turtle as Erica immediately stepped up to the plate to take the turtle from his hands, the first to experience a "once in a lifetime opportunity." Debbie and I eventually worked up the courage to hold the turtle as well.

After our once in a lifetime experience, our conservationists turned into king coconut climbers and cutters and proceeded to climb the tree to pick our refreshments.  Our climber dropped them down to be caught by a sheet on the ground and then our cutter took a knife to cut open the top. 

Put in some straws and we were re-energized!

After a quick lunch, we were on our way to catch a train to Galle.  To bridge the cultural time gap, us three ladies decided to make a bet.  Debbie took the USA safe bet of making the trip on time, Erica took the Sri Lanka safe bet of missing the train, and I took the safe "Lexie" bet of running to the train to make it on time.  Believe it or not, we all won at some point! We arrived at the train station in time, took out our luggage, and Debbie casually and confidently walked to the ticket office. Much to her dismay, Gihan walked up to us hand motioning to us the trains cancelation.  Debbie and I immediately look toward Erica as she proceeded to complete something I can only describe as the "Erica twist" of celebration. At the exact same time, Debbie and I pointed at her and yelled NO! (For her bet was not cancellation and I refused to accept her win). On our way to a different station, my chance arose! Gihan received a call from his wife that the cancellation had been cancelled and the van turned sharply around as we made our way back to the original train station.  We jumped out of the van a couple of blocks away from the station and of course I felt the need to ask Gihan "Do we need to run?" His answer of pushing me forward with his hand was all the evidence I needed for the win. Although we struggled to keep up with Gihan as we hurried to that station and after he had convinced the ticket office that the cancellation had been cancelled, we made it with only standing room left for our two hour train ride.  Sweating profusely, my only saving grace was the view of the crashing waves of the Indian Ocean along the train tracks for a majority of our trip. 

(Too busy running to the train to take any pictures) :)

We were warmly greeted in Galle by two Rotarians and taken to a peaceful and breathtaking 2000+ year old temple. We took off our shoes to walk up to the temple that was located under a rock. A man there graciously showed us around the temple that seemed to be mostly formed naturally by Mother Nature, except for the beautifully detailed paintings on the rock ceiling.

After an exhausting day of travel and an annoyingly slap happy Lexie and Erica, our Rotarian host took us to his sister's house for a much needed good nights sleep.

I'll talk to you the next time the ladies are "patiently" waiting for the boys to get ready for the day... In the meantime, we'll be time betting and losing to the driver. :)