Relaxing days in Arugambay

In the middle of the day, we made our way to Arugambay. So we stopped a bus again that took us to Matera. There we actually managed to get another bus to Arugambay without any breaks. We had seats in the back row. SEATS! Something that you are very happy about when taking the bus in Sri Lanka. After three hours, we thought that there might be another two hours of travel left, so we asked a young man next to us how much longer it would be. He said that we still had about 5 hours ahead of us. We couldn't believe it. Our bottoms were sore, I felt sick from the constant shaking (I remember - the buses drive like idiots in Formula 1 speed), and we were tired as well. You couldn't even hear your own music because the national hits were playing over a large music system with exaggerated bass and deafening volume on a loop for the entire nine hours! We didn't pack any provisions, of course. Eventually, we took a short break in the middle of nature, next to vegetable shops and other buses. The young local guy from the bus, his name was Soorya, bought us two corn cobs boiled in salt water. It was amazing, what a saving delight. What made the bus ride really special was that Soory and I were able to have a long conversation. We talked about trance festivals, his life in Sri Lanka, traditions, and he told me about the tsunami. It was amazing to talk to someone who experienced it all first-hand.

Eventually, by now we couldn't feel some of our limbs anymore, we actually arrived.

In the evening, we met up with Soory and his friend Hara, who lived at the other end of the street. We had beers and went to Hara's friend's club. However, it was closed to others, so we had our private party and played the DJ ourselves. It was a really fun evening.
The next day, Merle wasn't feeling well, so I went to have breakfast alone and then went to watch the surf competition taking place on this and the next day. Later, I picked up Merle from the hostel and we took a long walk along the beach. Luckily, she was feeling better already! In the evening, we got ready for the night and bought beer through the back entrance of a shop (all bars, etc. close at 11 pm)
On the street, a guy from Augsburg, his name was Manu, approached us. He joined us and together we met up with Soory and his buddy Hada. The five of us squeezed into a tuk-tuk, which took us to the Whisky Point Party with great effort. It seemed like every backpacker and local had gone to this party, it was so crowded!

The next few days, Merle, Mano, and I spent a lot of time at the beach, sitting in cafes and restaurants, and relaxing. We also went slacklining!

Yesterday, we took a tuk-tuk to Elephant Beach. We were told that elephants often walk along this beach at sunset. It sounded romantic, but we couldn't believe it!

We drove through dense jungle and savannah-like landscapes towards the remote beach. The drive alone was extremely exciting! Merle saw a monkey.
When we had to walk the last stretch on foot, we came across two crocodile danger signs. To reach the beach we wanted to go to, we had to either step into the water with the crocodiles for a short time, or climb over the nearby rocks. We decided on the latter, which was also not an easy task.
Just as we were drinking a fresh coconut and looking out at the sea, a local guy whispered to us that we could now see the elephants.

So we looked towards the water behind us and couldn't believe our eyes! When we looked at the lake and the jungle behind it, we could observe two huge elephants calmly and slowly crossing the water and then disappearing into the jungle. What an experience. We were speechless and felt hypnotized.

Later, we climbed up a huge mountain and watched the sunset from there.
In the evening, we sat at Hara's pizzeria again, where he worked, and tried to plan our trip to Trincomalee. But then Hara and his buddy, who came from the nearby Panama Jungle, made us an offer to privately drive us to the jungle tomorrow night for a very low price and make a campfire until sunrise. When we heard that, we changed our plans to Trincomalee and decided to stay for two more days, just like Mano does.

And that is now the plan for tonight. We are extremely excited and thrilled about what we will experience tonight.