 |
|
We are in the Maldives. The capital is Male (mal-A),
which is a few miles away from where we are now anchored. The town covers
the entire island, so it looks really strange from a distance, like a
floating city. We went there to check in and get mail, but it hasn't
arrived yet. So, yesterday we motored over to this anchorage. It's really
beautiful with clear water and a good breeze. Our only protection from the
chop is the reef, because the little island here is off to the side. The
island is
small but it has three resorts on it. There are an incredible number of
resorts here. This is a great anchorage. The water is great for swimming
in, something we haven't had since the Great Barrier
Reef. So, we spent yesterday with school, swimming, dinghy sailing,
swimming and a few boat things. We all got sunburnt because we were
actually out in the sun instead of hiding from it, for the first time in
months. Anyways, we really like it here. The only problem we have with the
Maldives is we had to use a very expensive 'agent' to check us in for
$150, and when we went to town the people didn't seem as friendly as they
have in other places. By law everyone here has to be Muslim; there is no
religious freedom.
Before here we came from Sri Lanka, where we spent
about ten days. There is a civil war going on there in the north because
the Tamils, one of the two ethnic groups there, wants to break away.
Today we heard that the 'Tamil Tigers' just bombed the capital. Scary,
when we were there so recently. We didn't stay there though; we were in
another harbor. Anyway, I'm glad we got away before that happened. I hope
they resolve their civil war because it seemed like a friendly country.
There was a really old Dutch Fort in Galle, where we stayed. Inside it
there we lots of people trying to sell us things though. They would follow
us around for ages with the same lace dress. Our conversations went
something like this: 'No, thank you.' 'No, we just don't want it.' 'No.'
'Don't you understand? We don't want a lace dress!' I started not even
wanting to smile at the women because I would be sure to find that they
had something to sell us and would take my smile as encouragement. As for
the men, they constantly said to all of us, 'Hello. What's your name? You
from?' Their way of selling stuff was 'Hello madam. Want a tuktuk?'
Tuktuks are little taxi-like things, except that they have only three wheels
and are really small. Three people can fit in the back on a bench-seat;
the front is taken up by the driver. We had to sit on laps to fit, and it
was a real squeeze. The strange thing was that if we wanted a tuktuk, we would
tell them. They must think that if they get in your face you are more
likely to take their tuktuk. Bad reasoning. The men would also tell us
they knew us from our hotel, which was quite interesting, because we
hadn't even been to a hotel. The scams they try to get you to go for! They
probably just wanted us to believe that they were a special hotel driver
or something, I don't even know what. There was also lots of cricket going
on everywhere, official and unofficial. It was the only sport we saw going
on there. Sri Lanka is one of the best cricket teams in the world.
We went on a land trip in Sri Lanka, taking a train
up to the hills, where it was actually cold. (Well, not cold by your
standards, but we had to wear sweatshirts and long pants at night.) The
trains are really cheap there, which is great. The
trains were also generally very crowded, but I had fun talking to people on
some of them, especially one local family. Maybe it was just because I was
American, but they talked as if they thought that the U.S. was the source
of all good things. They said how they really wanted to visit but were
unable to get visas, and told me that I should take their 5 year old
son with me when I return. I don't think they had ever met
a cruiser before, or even heard of one. They were very friendly.
We visited a tea plantation up in the hills,
because of Sri Lanka's tea fame. It was really beautiful up there, with
lots of picturesque houses and people picking tealeaves. Tea bushes just
wouldn't have inspired me to pluck the leaves and let them sit in boiling
water. I wonder how tea was invented. Anyhow, we enjoyed Sri Lanka.
.
|
