We ported in Colombo, Sri Lanka and were able to disembark the ship at 8:00am. We were greeted by native dancers.
We hired a driver, named Silver, for the day. Silver drove us around in a tuk-tuk; a motorized trishaw, with 3 wheels and no air conditioning. The temperature was in the 90’s with high humidity. The urine aroma was overwhelming at times.
On the back of the tuk-tuk, Silver had a bumper sticker that said “God Bless”. The majority of people that live here are Buddhists, so I asked if he was a Christian; and he is. So, the first stop was the Wolvendaal Church, a protestant church, the oldest church, built in 1874. This was the church elder. Wolvendaal is located at the top of a hill. When ships would enter the harbor, it was the tallest building and the first thing they would see. They built it so it could be seen from the harbor to let the incoming ships know there was a Christian church amongst the predominately Buddhists. Today, a factory blocks the view.
Jerry sitting in the Governor’s chair in the church. Their pipe organ is beautiful. Interesting though that the floor was a burial ground so headstones are still in place. The headstone with the skull and cross bones meant they died of poison.
Next, we visited Pettah, Colombo’s bazaar district.
Then on to Gangaramaya, a huge Buddhist temple, it even had an elephant!
We then went to a local park. We saw a snake charmer with a load of snakes and a monkey, all whom were out of control! We saw hundreds of “flying squirrels” or bats. Jerry was way too close to the snake charmer for my taste! The snake bite the charmer numerous times.
We went back to the boat. The Balika Niwasa Orphanage put on a show for us with singing and dancing. The passengers raised $2,500 and Holland American matched the donation. The $5,000 will definitely help them as the poverty is so very evident throughout the whole city. These girls, ages 5 to 18 pulled our heart-strings hard.
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