033 creepy and cute creatures

It is eight o'clock in the morning, the 29th of December 2011. I am close to Mirissa Beach, Sri Lanka. To be more precise, I am walking on a shortcut from the guest house I just checked out of towards to main road, where a bus will hopefully take me to the next beach town. The dirt road runs along the back of some overgrown gardens next to a small waterway. Most people in this sleepy village are still asleep, the path is empty, a lone rooster calls out this mornings unheeded wake up call. I hear something up ahead, and lift my head to have a look.For a moment I think I might still be sleeping myself as well. Did I just see a huge green dinosaur crawl across the path? Can't be. I look again. it's gone. I walk down the path a bit, trying to remember hearing any warnings for man eating alligators in this area. Not that I can recall. I look to where the creature disappeared into the undergrowth, and there it is. Not an alligator. But an humongous lizard. Easily two meters head to tail. It sees me looking at it, but in stead of scurrying away as any sensible, smaller reptile would, it cranes its neck and stares back at me, its tick green tongue slipping out of its beak, tentatively tasting the morning air. Good morning Mr. Lizard! Later I am told that the Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus Salvator) is known for eating dogs, but usually not humans except for when they are small.

The beaches here are the stuff of the Bounty commercials; white sand, palms, little huts to eat and sleep, the works. Well, maybe there are a few too many huts and there are a few too many actors about, so the term unspoiled paradise doesn't quite apply. I move to Unawatuna beach to meet the Scots again that I ran into in the mountains earlier. But before I meet them again, I have to find a place to stay in this currently overcrowded place. Half of Colombo and all the islands tourists came down to the Southern beaches to celebrate New Years Eve, so this isn't going to be easy. The first place I go to ask is fully booked. So are number two to five. Hotel number six has one room available. There is a good reason for that, they ask extortionist prices. The seventh place has no rooms either, and tells me it'll be virtually impossible to find an affordable place. I'm getting desperate, so I ask him if he doesn't have some spare room somewhere in his hotel. I travel with an inflatable mattress and sleeping bag, so I can camp down anywhere. Luckily my fear-fueled-boldness pays off, and he shows me a storage room with a bed in it. Looks good to me, its clean, I can use the downstairs' bathroom, and the rest of the hotel, including a nice restaurant and a quiet garden, are top notch. For about 6 euro's a night I am the proud renter of probably the cheapest room on the beach, even if it has the size of a cupboard.

The Scottish guys teach English in a government school in this town, and know their way around. They show me their favorite hangout, including a much quieter beach. They are also invited to a private New Years Eve party by a British lady who runs a charity here, and who owns a villa on the beach. The invitation includes me as well. the party is a blast. An eight-headed band plays traditional Sri Lankan music, and after 12 there is a DJ. This is definitively the most idyllic spot to celebrate NYE, with the rolling waves on the background.

After the new year has started, it is time for me to leave this green island. I spend two days in Colombo, the capital. The city itself is not very exciting. It is, however, my first couch surf experience here, and I stay with a very relaxed dude from New Zealand who is here to teach in a design school.
The park in the center of town is nice, because the big trees house the biggest fruit bats I have ever seen, sleeping upside down. They are shrieking at each other, and every now and then, one flies up, makes a circle above the foliage, and hangs himself down in another tree. Whenever one flies over, Batman's silhouette stands out in deep black against the spotless blue sky.