Driving A9 south from Habarana to Kandy is not for the timid. First there are the buses, cars, tractors, dogs, and bikes to contend with, but then the real problem arises... spice gardens. Yes, these spice gardens are a tourist nightmare. First you stop out of curiosity and then you stop for the free face massages, the cinnamon tea, and then there are the wickedly good leg rubs with the promise of clearing up skin, varicose veins, and future arthritis or heart issues. It's easy to drop some SL rubies here.
The moment the car door is open, a sincere and expert greeter is showing me a plant and explaining the benefits to me while enticing me with smells of banana oil and chocolate, gels of coconut extraction, and rubbing coconut oil and who knows what into my palm and forearm while sharing plant knowledge and confidence. I tell you I wanted it all, but how am I going to carry it for the next five months? Thank buddha Carlos was there, for I might not have made it to Kandy at all when the free full ayurvedic massage was mentioned.
So back to the driving which is more like a video game than actual driving. There may not be bomb explosions or dinosaurs lurking behind falling rocks, but speeding buses and tractors are definitely playing head-on chicken. Our driver was ok with it all, even the elephant that darted out of the jungle and slowed down for the farmer with his herd of water buffalo, but then his wife called on the cell phone while we were making a U-turn on the major boulevard and his attention waned. It was a near miss but we're now in Kandy and that's all that matters.
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