LIVE FROM SRI LANKA:

So our streak of at least one post every month has been broken. Really there's no one to blame for this but Pat, since he is not in Sri Lanka right now. But since I'm posting this, he'll probably get all inspired to make a post of his own, much in the same way that if you give a mouse a cookie, he'll probably ask for a glass of milk to go with it. Anyway, on to the update.

The program here is more than halfway over and we're settling into our second round of classes. I'm taking a Mahayana Buddhism class taught by an ex-monk who may or may not have been thrown out of the order for doing too many drugs. I'm also taking an Environmental Studies course, which took a field trip last week to Nuwara Eliya, a city located south of Kandy higher in the hills.

The temperature there is much cooler than Kandy, cool enough to have to wear a jacket, which was a nice change for us. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous. Bright green hills covered in neat rows of tea plants that periodically disappear into rolling misty clouds. We visited a tea factory as well as vegetable farms in the hills. Though human agricultural use of the land may be beautiful, it's also encroaching on the supposedly protected forest land and destroying the soil. Much of the weekend was spent debating whether or not Environmentalism and Development have to be at odds.

We also visited a hydro-electric project, the damn of which will result in the loss of a waterfall and the relocation of 500 families. The project was a hot political topic here, but compromises were eventually made. The original plan called for the destruction of several waterfalls, but that was brought down to just the one. The people are being moved farther up the hill and having brand new houses built for them, which they will have complete ownership over. This is very expensive land that they could not otherwise afford and it's predicted that many families will choose to sell their new homes after a couple years and move elsewhere.

Sri Lanka is actually leading all Asian countries in terms of environmental programs. They have a very large amount of land set aside as wildlife reserves and they are paying particular attention to watersheds, realizing that such a small country has little room for error when it comes to water pollution. In fact, the massive hydropower development project that began 20 years ago has actually resulted in more land being set aside for wildlife reserve than for development. Sri Lanka currently gets 50% of it's power from hydroelectric sources. Once the newest dam is complete, it will be 65%.

While in the hill country, we traveled to World's End, located 7500 ft. above sea level. It's so named because there's a sheer drop at the edge of about 1000ft, but also because the entire country is laid out before you. One can mark the transition from rainy hills, to arid plains, and (on a clear day) can even see the shimmering of the Indian Ocean (keep in mind that Nuwara Eliya is almost in the center of the country). From that point onwards, there's no more land until Antarctica. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Sri Lanka is that it has so much environmental variation packed into an area about the size of West Virginia.

That's about all I have to report for now. I suppose that if you don't much care about the environment, this update was a tad dry. I'll try to get possessed by a demon or something this week.

Take Care,
Alex