A last week in Unawatuna, as beautiful as it could be

From Sigiriya, we made our way back to Unawatuna. We had a wonderful time in the inland, but now we couldn't wait to return to our favorite place on the south coast and spend our last week in Sri Lanka there.
After a five-hour bus ride, we were greeted with joy by Jen and Cartoon at our beloved Hideaway Hostel.
The rest of the evening, Jen, Cartoon, a cute Dutch couple who planned to travel all over Sri Lanka with a TukTuk, Lonneke, who is also from Bremen and incredibly lovely, Merle and I sat together in the garden, ate delicious curry, and played a simple but incredibly amusing card game called 'Believe it or not'.
Throughout the days, we played this game a hundred times and yet it never got boring for me.
To all my dear friends: Get ready. I will teach it to you when I get back!
(and rip you off! )

The entire week in Unawatuna went roughly like this:

After sleeping in, Jen made us delicious banana pancakes and we sat comfortably in the garden with tea. Sometimes, we also had traditional Sri Lankan breakfast. This was white bread with Dhal, which is an incredibly delicious, super spicy porridge made from chickpeas and beans.
Then we relaxed in the garden, writing, drawing, and watching Jen and Cartoon get creative in their garden or play with Leo, their cute dog. Every now and then, we saw squirrels, birds of various species, and a monitor lizard that apparently lives in the hostel garden, as it came by almost every day.
One day, Merle and I spent hours painting the exterior wall of the house. We had so much fun that we couldn't find an end and completely forgot to protect our clothes from paint. Oops.

Every afternoon, we squeezed into Cartoon's TukTuk and drove to the surf spot. Once there, Jen and Cartoon disappeared into the water faster than you could see. Merle and I also borrowed the beginner boards every day and practiced diligently.
It was so much fun, and the feeling when you catch a wave is indescribable.
Afterwards, we usually had tea at the surf bar. Sometimes also beer.
We usually stayed at the beach until sunset.
Almost every day, we got fresh and ultra cheap (about 90 cents for a meal) Rotti or Kottu on our way home, which became our favorite Sri Lankan dishes.

In the evenings, we either had a relaxed beer at the hostel or shared a bottle of traditional Arrack schnapps with Ginger Beer. DELICIOUS.

One evening, we spontaneously went out partying with Lonneke, Jen, and Cartoon. We had a blast together and danced like crazy until the early hours of the morning. At some point, my shirt was so wet that it had taken on a darker shade :D.
The TukTuk ride to and from the party was the funniest experience of the whole night for me. We drove along the sea the whole time, the breeze was incredibly refreshing, and we sang random songs that came to our minds.
(well, the four of us girls on the backseat sang, Cartoon, who as always drove the TukTuk, had to endure us better said :D )
Before we drove home, we got a Rotti as a midnight snack.
When we ate it at home, it turned out that it burned our throats more than satisfying our party hunger. Seriously, I have never eaten anything so spicy. Thankfully, Jen's coconut honey helped.

On another evening, after surfing, we went to the opening of a beach bar owned by Cartoon's friend. It had an incredibly relaxed atmosphere, live music was playing, and we had the cards with us. So we played and played, drank Arrack, and danced. Later, Cartoon did a fire show right on the beach.
On the way to another party, which was so bad that we didn't stay for five minutes, Cartoon's TukTuk was empty.
So all of us (six people) got out, then we tipped the TukTuk on its side for a short moment, shook it, and off it went. I couldn't stop laughing.

The hostel was full again in the last few days, so our 'family' suddenly consisted of two Norwegians, two Pakistanis, a Swiss, three more Germans, and us.
We spent the days together, ate dinner together in the evenings, and had incredibly nice hours at the hostel. The harmonious family feeling remained, no matter who joined or left us (with a 'unfortunately' every time).

The farewell was very difficult for us. Merle and I didn't want to leave. We had gotten so used to the relaxed Unawatuna surf lifestyle in that week and would have loved to continue like this.

In the morning, when Cartoon was waiting for us in the TukTuk to take us to the bus, Jen stood at the door with tears in her eyes and said goodbye to us.
We also felt like crying, but the thought of someday, maybe even soon, returning to Unawatuna cheered us up.

Because that is for sure.