It’s the end of our trip. Two weeks gone nearly instantaneously. We’re all a bit tired, and the heat and humidity is wearing. Personalities clash a bit as we all show signs of fatigue. The ride to Galle, an upmarket, fortress-village is quite. Once we arrive we find  a burger restaurant, desperate to avoid any more rice. We spend the afternoon wandering the Dutch-colonial town in a bit of a heat-stupor. We later watched a sunset with moods lifting as heat dissipated.

We didn’t spend much time in this tiny town, though we would have liked to. A major downside to group tours, having zero influence over our itinerary. We had an early night with a looming 5:45am wake-up the next day.

Lest we thought we’d leave Sri Lanka without another adventure, our early morning departure quickly turned into a free for all fight to get train seats, we didn’t win. Even our 81 year old companion wasn’t offered a seat by a local. And so, we’d all stand subway style for two hours. To keep from overheating we kept one side of a door open and hoped no one would fall out. As the journey continued more and more people came aboard until we couldn’t fit another person. Luckily, we arrived shortly after.

Colombo is just another big capital city, dirty, loud, with few redeeming qualities. Aside from this candy-cane mosque there is little of interest for tourists. But it is the end point of our tour for transit reasons. And so we spent the last day together eating, talking, and enjoying the infinity pool. I really lucked out on this tour with incredible travelers. At the end, one woman turned out to be on the outs with us, but the rest of us formed quick tight bonds. While in general in travel I prefer a bit more independence, having instant friends to share the experience with is priceless.

Sri Lanka, I wasn’t sure what to expect. And while tourism infrastructure could improve, it’s a pretty incredible country, visually stunning, kind people, good food (most of the time). For those seeking a country a bit off the radar, similar to India without the chaos, it’s a great option. I’ve loved my two weeks here, but I’m ready to head into the next adventure. To India!!