By Marjie Courtis
Negombo beach from a five-star hotel (c) Marjie Courtis
Negombo had its beautiful Indian Ocean Beach. I’d been there, when I’d first arrived in Sri Lanka via Sri Lankan Airlines and Bandaranaike International Airport.
But after my sojourn in Sri Lanka, it was time to break out beyond the tour boundaries– itineraries, sights, maps, guides, beaches, buffet meals. Even just a little.
A good way to do this in Negombo, Sri Lanka was to snatch my short two hour time slot to hire a tuk tuk driver instead of lounging around in the pool. There’s usually something to return to that you’ve seen on your way on the big tour bus. A passing Church or Hindu temple. A shop. An alleyway. A view of a lagoon. An unexpected building.
Rodrigo, my tuk tuk driver had plenty more suggestions. The Hindu temple in the main street wasn’t the best example, he said. And St Mary’s Catholic Church in the back streets, was more impressive than St Sebastian’s in the main street. It offered ceiling paintings and a statue of Christ on an outdoor bench…that you could sit next to!
And then Rodrigo commented on his own life in Negombo. Yesterday had been “the day of the dead” and he had paid tribute to his dead father at the Catholic Church’s grave site. So I suggested we visit there. It was easy to get ideas.
And then “why don’t we go down here?” “And here is the dried fish fair.” He drove his tuk tuk down between the stalls of dried fish and parked. All the women serving seemed delighted and delightful.
This market added the retail component to the overall fishing village picture of Negombo.
Earlier in the afternoon, on the way into Negombo, we had stopped ever so briefly at the Fishery Harbour, the Fish Market Complex and the Dry Fish Processing Area.
We had seen the fishermen, the fresh fish, and the fish being dried on enormous plastic sheets by diligent men and women dodging rain showers.
We had seen outriggers and trawlers that were part of the local fleet, the outriggers making the prettiest backdrop.
And Negombo smells like the fishing town that it is. Smell the sea and the salt and the fish. Expect lots of fish dishes at the local restaurants.
Rodrigo’s back lane tour also showed me goats grazing along the waterways, the ubiquitous stray dogs roaming around, kids playing, colorful Hindu temples unaccustomed to people like me turning up and Catholic Churches adopting some of the style, I thought, of Hindu and Buddhist temples. Even in the Catholic Churches, “shoes off” was the norm. Religious statues were decorated in a local, colorful Sri Lankan style regardless of the religious strand.
The majority of places of worship In Negombo are Catholic, reflecting its Colonial Past. It was a big contrast to the mostly-Buddhist temples we’d been visiting in other parts of Southern Sri Lanka.
What I like about travel is finding the different aspects of a destination. The things that aren’t on the itinerary. My little tuk tuk excursion with Rodrigo was just the way to do it. After all, by the time I boarded the bus again to head out to my flight to Australia, I needed no more beer. No more swims. No more cocktails.
No, by now, I needed a little freedom and independence. Thanks Rodrigo!