It's the greeting we've been hearing everywhere — from hotel staff, from strangers, from the dancers we found ourselves moving alongside this morning in the city of Kandy. If you haven't guessed already or peeped our Instagram this week, we're a few days into El Camino's first Sri Lanka trip.
We started in Colombo, where we visited an artist cooperative in the middle of the city that had one of the coolest listening rooms I've been in. From there, upcountry — tea-covered hills that genuinly look like scenes straight out of The Jungle Book, with mornings where mist rolls over emerald green as far as you can see. And this afternoon, we arrived at the beaches of Trincomalee — just in time for sunset on the eastern coast.
While we've been meeting so many incredible individuals along the way, we've also been eating extraordinarily well: hoppers, curries of all types, water buffalo curd, roti. My first meal off the plane was fish curry at the hotel. As soon as I took my first bite, the spices exploded in my mouth. I took a big inhale, closed my eyes, and remembered exactly why Sri Lankan food is some of my favorite in the world. The flavors are like no other.
I'm logging off to get back to our travelers and whatever's coming next on this itinerary — but before I do, here's a glimpse of what it actually looks like to be on an El Camino trip.
All photos by the talented Alina Tsvor.