March 8, 2019

A full day of sightseeing in Jafna yesterday. The fruit tree is in our yard. It is the Jackfruit which is used for curries to replace mutton and for sweets.  It is very strange to look at.

Jim and I took a tuk tuk to the old Portuguese fort which was also used by the Dutch and then the British. The colonial past brings lots of problems ( hierarchy, religion, culture loss) and some benefits ( transportation, health and schooling). The fort is huge covering 65 areas.

Then we happened across the Battle of the North., a three  day cricket match. it was noisy and totally exuberant. The brown and blue team had somehow installed flags on the old clock tower!

Then we got another tuk tuk to take us out to the islands. On the causeway we saw hundreds of fish weirs. ( and we thought fish weirs started on the Bay of Fundy).the island we saw was very low and swampy and the beaches were shallow and the water weedy and murky. We stopped at one resort and Jim asked them if they served beer. NO beer they said!