13 Mar 2023
What can I say? This was my first day trip after landing to the west side of Sri Lanka. It was a perfect half day tour from my hotel in Kosgoda. Mila was my tour guide and immediately I felt at ease and ready for the adventure ahead.
We traveled down to Galle, past the fort and stopped by a turtle hatchery. Here we saw many turtles in recovery due to the effects of humans -- boat crashes, lost limbs, plastic bloated turtles. It was definitely a hard scene to take in, but one I found necessary as we need to know the effects of our actions.
From there we went to a very cool spot through the woods and to a hidden little beach in the town. It's well known around the island country and was very peaceful. This moment was significant for me as I was very strung up from my work week before. I landed on the sandy beach covered in perfect shaped concha sea shells and corals that had passed away and floated to shore. I had to mentally and physically untangle my stress, my life, everything that led me up to this point. Once I sat down and a few minutes on the beach, I started to feel it all melt away. My work facade, my life complications, and the magical splurge of gratuity that filled my body to be there at that moment. Mila understood and left space for me to process as we looked out onto the sea horizon and onto the city of Galle from afar.
The moment had passed and we were ready to go into the UNESCO world heritage site, the Dutch fort of Galle. This was definitely more populated with tourists (like myself). Here you can see why it is a world heritage site. Something about it was both romantic (in the transcendental nature kind of way) and a fantasy of exploration that seeps through the blaring obvious statement — colonialism and its maring effects in different countries. Yet, it was a true feat and testament to architectural structures built with the materials from the surrounding area. A lot of the walls and walkways are composed of either crushed or full coral specimens. A testament to sustainability practices that are losing its trend in today's waking life.
Ok, so a more basic review if you should go on this tour or not? ABSOLUTELY! Mila is very sweet and loves his city and country very much. He is truly a natural tour guide and really loves to show people around. Please don't think twice on signing up for this tour as you will be traveling with a local who genuinely cares about everything around them.