Off to the beach

We went to a local village today and played some Sri Lankan games. A kind of hop scotch, blindfolded smash the pot (like piñata), a game a bit like cricket with a piece of rubber tube and a stick (C felt no remorse at catching me out!), and a game where you balanced on a log and had to put one hand behind your back and legs off the floor and hit each other with a filled bag. Chris and I competed, neither showing much restraint in our wacks - we won one each so a draw!
The local family had made a delicious snack of cassava, with onions and coconut, plus the obligatory cup of tea (very nice), and we headed back to the bus on trailers towed by tractors. Really good fun.
We lunched at a house built by the tour company after the tsunami for a woman whose husband was lost and never found. The guides spent weeks helping with the aftermath and beyond and the company keep in touch with all the families they helped.
We spent the afternoon sitting on the beach in front of our hotel after a swim playing in the waves.
The evening started with a beer watching the sun set by the pool (the picture). Our meal involved confusion over orders, tables and bills - there seems to be an overly complicated system here, which our trainee waiter unsurprisingly struggled with!
The food has been another highlight of the trip. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can cook when we get back home.