Hikkaduwa finally arrived

Now we have been in Sri Lanka for 13 days. And we have already experienced a lot..

From Negombo we headed towards Hikkaduwa. We took a tuk-tuk to Colombo. It was an exciting first tuk-tuk ride that lasted about an hour and took us through various and interesting streets. In Colombo, we took the train to Hikkaduwa, which cost us about 80 cents.
It was a miracle that we even managed to get on the train, as the platform and the incoming train were packed. We somehow managed to squeeze in. The journey was supposed to take 3 hours and there were no seats available. It was swaying and stuffy, felt like 4000 degrees. There was a fan hanging from the ceiling that seemed like it was about to fall, but it managed to keep us alive. The good thing was that we didn't have to hold on to anything because we were being held from all sides.
Luckily, for the last hour, we managed to get seats and enjoyed the lovely view of the sea, fishing boats, and passing beaches (as the train was running along the coast the whole time).

The first evening in Hikkaduwa brought a mix of emotions. We were sitting in the bar 'Mamas' right on the beach, listening to the waves and drinking beer. We had made it and couldn't believe that we were really here.

It was something that I had been dreaming of for years. After school, I wanted to go. Then I decided to do volunteer service. After that, I wanted to go, but ended up starting my apprenticeship. After finishing the school part, I wanted to go, but decided to do my recognition year. Yes.. I had been dreaming of that moment for years, to go on a journey completely freely and start exploring the world. All of this was running through my mind. And as I looked out at the sea, thinking about it, and drinking my beer with Merle, a feeling of 'Oh dear Lucie, what have you gotten yourself into!?' also crept in.
I was really glad not to be alone in that moment. We chatted and chatted until late at night.

We spent about 3 days in Hikkaduwa. We were in the pool in the morning and evening. During the day, we relaxed on the beach and drank smoothies.
One evening, we met some backpackers with whom we had a few beers and got some good travel tips.
Our highlight in Hikkaduwa was encountering a huge sea turtle. It had a diameter of about one meter and came very close to us. What an exciting experience! However, we were not the only ones with the turtle, even though we would have liked to be, so we planned to get up early the next morning to visit the turtle again at sunrise.
So we got up at 5:30 am, motivated and looking forward to the sunrise. But on the way to the beach, we realized that it was already getting light and we had missed the sunrise. We were dog tired but continued to the turtle bay. The people we encountered on the streets looked at us strangely, the dogs were sleeping, and the streets were unusually quiet. But the turtle didn't feel like being with us this morning. Sometimes we saw a fin coming out of the water in the distance, but it didn't come close to us. We took an unsuccessful tuk-tuk back to the hostel and caught up on our sleep.
In Hikkaduwa, we also encountered many stray dogs (once they followed us, growling.. Creepy moment!), saw a firefly, and watched bats from the pool where we were swimming at night.