Sri Lanka kick-off

Exhausted! What a great kick-off to our trip. I have become accustomed to the heat and humidity which at first felt like a steamy towel when we first arrived. We are staying at a luxurious hotel in the Sri Lanka highlands for a few days, surrounded by ancient ruins, rice paddies, and an illustrious population of local farmers. The birdlife is astounding and the short list of sightings include, in order of appearance bee eater, painted stork, white necked stork, king fisher, black headed ibis, hornbill, crane billed king fisher, barn owl, flames back woodpecker and many more.

Today we mountain biked through the ruins of an ancient capital city stopping often to explore the carved stone Buddahs and other special religious sites. The are groups of wild lemurs about providing entertainment. Our progress is halting as we stop many times along the way to admire the birds.

Along the way we've seen wild elephants, monitor lizards, a gray mongoose, and a 4" Giant wood spider. Really glad I did not walk into that web unexpectantly.

The group has bonded well and we are all enjoying each others company. Our minibus has large windows and the driver stops often along the shoulder of the narrow roadways when we spy interesting distractions.

Hard to tap out more prosaic text on my iPhone but I am looking to more prodigious posts later.