unawatuna

i know there’s no escape from cross-cultural globalization when there are “La vache qui rit” (“the laughing cow”) stickers on sri lankan tuk-tuks. i have been doing nothing but enjoying the days melt into one long stretch of Just Being, playing and talking with friends while sipping spicy ginger beer and dancing in my chair to the techno interspersed with jack johnson piped through the sleepy cafe’s tinny speakers. Ruta and i visited the more touristy beach town of Unawatuna today, and walked the length of the crescent waterfront, ate a wonderful pizza (we were tired of rice and curry), and shopped along the twisting stretch of pothole-infested dirt road. the dogs here are as abundant as the cats in israel—and they’re nowhere near shy when it comes to parking themselves next to your table while you eat (be it on the beach, or in a restaurant—they are pretty much everywhere). they sort of just stare you down with sweet obstinate desperation, and when you make it clear you have no intention of sparing a scrap, they proceed to impertinently scratch their fleas onto your feet, and gingerly saunter off to try their luck at the next table of gluttonous tourists. what shocks me every time are the people who actually PET these mangy dogs. i feel itchy just thinking about it. hand-sanitizer is my best friend here.