Moving day

We hired a lorry (truck) to transport some furniture from Divulapitiya to our new place in Peradeniya. The children of the lorry owner and our caretaker got in the lorry for the free ride

On the way near Mavanella the lorry was stopped by traffic police for crossing the double white line. Being curious we (Toyota) also stopped!

House Warming

We moved into the university quarters on Monday, January 19th. It’s a custom to boil some milk when you move into a new place.

We boiled milk and then made “milk rice” using the milk. Finally we ate it with bananas.

Laxapana

Kapila has a tea leaf extrusion project in Laxapana tea plantation factory. We were hosted for tea tea by the superintendent. His 'bungalow' sits on a hill above Maoussakele reservoir and commands magnificent views of the reservoir and Adam's Peak on opposite sides.

Biogas

Prof. Kapila Goonasekere took me to several projects launched by him in tea estates in the hill country. This boigas unit is fed by five dairy cows kept by two families. It can provide energy for cooking three meals for both families! In the picture villagers see the gas being lit for the first time and become believers!

First day in Village School

The village school in Divulapitiya is very competitive. About 900 applicants apply for 164 openings. Last year 80 students out of the 164 passed the government scholarship exam in grade V and entered schools in Colombo and suburbs!

The caretaker of our house was very happy that their child was admitted to grade I in this school. This is his first day!

Cooking

At Divulapitiya we have a fire wood hearth. Renuka made chicken curry the traditional way! Cooking in clay pots is back in style due to the great taste as well as for health reasons. Now there are thin clay pots for use with gas cookers!

Supermarket

We spent the first day at our place in Divulapitiya. Weekly fair of the town was held on the same day. We used the opportunity to do our shopping for the dinner.

Vegetables were very reasonably priced about US$0.20-0.40 per pound.

The vendors were friendly and did not raise the prices even though they knew that we are FOB!