Traveling seems to have it’s own way of how the world works and through time, whether it’s expanding or seemingly taking an extra day off your life, has a profound effect on the self. Wondering if you have been in a new place with new smells and faces, takes time away because the moments are so new your mind is trying to grasp everything in that moment thus making time shorter than you think. I have made pilgrimages to enough places to figure how much time does play an effect on the mind and body but for this one destination, through the hardships of multiple layovers and sickness, has brought me to a world that I knew my time here would never be enough. Time itself seems to stand still and the world moves so effortlessly around you, a place where the future is the present and the past is new memories that drive the soul. I have travelled across the planet to what is considered the “bellybutton” of the world, Sri Lanka. What followed in the next two weeks could be described as nothing short of a spiritual awakening as we experience nature in its finest form amassed with people, animals, and the quality right hand point breaks.
Heading to a new country with an open/clear mind is the ideal train of thought before stepping off the plane. A couple of months prior to my journey, Sri Lanka was confronted with a terrorist attack in Colombo where three luxury hotels and three churches were the targets killing over 250 people including 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, with more than 500 people injured from the incident. A travel ban on the country was issued during the time of my travels but a story I read from a Salty Swamis website gave me hope that the trip was something I needed to experience. Fighting the mental urge to resist the trip while accepting the fact that lies ahead isn't something that I should keep a locked cautious approach, instead open up to the positiveness and good vibes that the countries people resonated.
Arriving on the East Coast of Sri Lanka after a grueling 9 hour drive across the island landed us in Arugam Bay. Fortunately while upon arriving, the positive mind set I got from the Salty Swamis article was a truthful representation of positivity as the first people we met were the Tissera brothers Yanik and Yhevinn who wrote the article. The brother duo welcomed us with open arms setting the stage for what was to be an authentic representation of what good vibes should embody. A pure sense of family was the ongoing feeling while spending time with the brothers and their close friends. The personal ego doesn't exist in these parts of the world and the acceptance of each unique personality is a resemblance of what world peace should encompass. We enjoyed each other's company even more when we were riding waves that felt like playing in an captivating playground of right-hand point breaks and the world worries outside of that line up just simply melted away.
As surfers, the dream of any trip is to find a place or breaks that haven't been accessed by the masses with a crowd that makes up of good friends with positive intentions. As a surfer, I finally experienced surfing tranquility but as the trip went on, my train of thought shifted from a surfers dream to self realization, something I thought was achieved by finding your perfect wave. Instead the waves added to the experience but what was more captivating and heart filling came in the form of a 5-ton Sri Lankan Elephant.
When around these magnificent giants, especially in their natural habitat, vulnerability of een smashed is ways on the mind heavily it more important was sharing the same space while gazing into their eyes was a very blissful, content feeling. A feeling that makes you feel so small in the world but significant enough that the experience between animals and humans is an integral part of life. Words can't express this type of tempestuous state and the best way to explain this feeling is there is a higher power watching out over you and guiding you to inner peace.
What Sri Lanka has to offer is so much more than what is perceived in this story. The experience from this trip was nothing short of divine in which seemed too short to encapsulate all of it in two weeks. I have met multiple people on this trip that led very successfully on one visit to Lanka changed all of that. Some have left and came back looking to make a new life while others just simply didn't leave from their first trip.
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