U want a tuna?

Relaxing on a grey Saturday watching the seas from the balcony of Hotel Dhammika, Unawatuna.

Emelie and Alex relaxing under a tree in front of the Happy Banana.

Well, I would offer you a piece of my tuna, but it's overdone and dry like jerky. That's what the tuna I had this weekend on my skewer was like. Aside from that, I had a lovely weekend in Unawatuna (you-na-wa-tu-na). Another gorgeous Sri Lankan beach and with great company yet again. I was invited out by Alex and Emelie, a couple from Sweden to join them and what was going to be a few others. Those few others turned into eight so they broke off and did their own thing. Glad I brought a friend, Laura, along so I wasn't a third wheel!

The view from our guesthouse on Sunday morning!

Arrived on Saturday to rainy skies and great big grey clouds. We checked-in at the wonderful Hotel Dhammika (recommended by Alex and Emelie - 3rd time in Una I think?) and got a room without air conditioning for a reasonable 2500LKR (22CAD) that included a little mini fridge and a TV - not common at guesthouses. After sitting through the afternoon at the laid-back Bong Spice Chili Cafe (which was beside Happy Banana, who is neighbours with Lucky Tuna ... all restaurants), we retreated to our rooms to wait out the rain and enjoy the view from our balconies.  Cooler yet was an adventurous American/Australian couple (hi Jennie and Greg!) knocked on their door on Saturday afternoon and asked if Alex and Emelie wanted to have dinner with them and then of course Alex and Emelie invited us along. Good times! Dinner on the beach with a couple torches in the sand and under the stars. Awesome. Sunday was a much nicer day, but alas, it was time to head back to the city to get ready for the week.

What Unawatuna really is all about. Blue skies, blue waters and soft sandy beaches.

Got back late afternoon on Sunday and wasn't feeling great so I rolled into bed instead of going to yoga. Ended up feeling pretty sick and slept all night and basically until Tuesday morning (yeah, 36 hours-ish) only waking up occasionally to boil some water, take some Tylenol, and freshen up to feel better. I think it was another case of stomach flu/food poisoning. To make matters worse, the traffic authority had changed the traffic pattern in my area permanently as of Monday so I now live on one of the busiest roads in Colombo. As I was trying to recover, dozing in and out of sleep, I would occasionally get a really loud honk from those crazy bus drivers, along with a bunch of honk honks from tuk tuks, cars, and motorbikes, that interrupted my rest. I found some solace that I wasn't the only one who thinks this arrangement is crazy: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110717/BusinessTimes/bt10.html. I'll have to try and do some before and after photos of the traffic difference for you guys later.

Unluckily through all this, red ants decided it would be nice to binge on my protein stash in my cupboard. They broke into my soybeans, cashews, crackers, noodles, rice, and oatmeal! Buggers! They ate through both plastic and foil packaging. GEEEZ.

Observe the holes in the foil packaging. They ruined my crackers. :( 

Those are all (dead) ants after I sprayed a dishwash detergent & water solution on them.  And that wasn't even the worst of it. I was too freaked out then to take a photo!