Seems we just get started and before you know it seems the time we have to say so long

I have done a 360 on attitude on Sri Lanka.  Staying 5 days in one location has given me the opportunity to meet people and totally relax into this beach town.  I feel like I have made friends here and actually regret leaving.  Not what I was feeling a week ago.

Yesterday I traveled with the gem dealer afahr and we used the tu-tuk driver I had the day before, Chami.  We went to Afahr's village which is about 14 km from Hikkaduwa.  The area he lives in is a moslem village and all the people are engaged in the gem trade.  They buy, sell, cut, polish and make into jewelry the gems of the world.

Afahr invited me to lunch at his home where his mom and sis had made the best meal I ate of true Sri Lankan food.  Rice and curry with a delicious Mango chutney.  there are several small bowls of various veggies and meats that you add to your rice and eat with your hands.

After lunch we went to a friend's place where we watched him cut and polish a blue topaz.  Not a dyed stone according to Afahr but a true topaz with a blue tint.  Then we stopped at another fellow's house to watch him work in silver jewelry.

When we returned to town I stopped in his shop and bought a few things.  First |picked out two star sapphires one ruby and a really bright one.  Then I got a green sapphire, a blue spinel and three cinnamon stones all for $150usd.   As we were in his shop the power went out twice ( a continual problem all over town)  and a massive thunderstorm delivered so much rain it came into his store and he had to bail water out.

I spent today in process.  It took Chami and I over 4 hours to get to the airport from Hikkaduwa because we spent one hour stopped on the road as they were paving one lane of the only road to get from the south coast to the capital.

Now I am in Doha, Qatar awaiting my flight to the Seychelles.  This is the most international feeling airport.  There are a lot of connections to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East here.  A true cosmopolitan feel to the place.  But really bad food court.  Ah well.....