The 5 hour train ride from the Colombo, the capital, to Anuradhapuna, is an experience in of itself. The trains were built 50+ years ago before the civil war and this one hasn't been repaired in awhile. The trains pull in to the station, people hustle and within 3-8 minutes the train leaves. No warnings, no nothing. We get on and find our seats by sheer luck.
Two hours in there is engine trouble, so folks wander outside for minutes, but one blast of the horn and the train lurches forward. No one dawdles. But during this pause, an old, spry man walks out from between the banana trees and along the train. He stops in front of me and we mime a conversation, laughing and pointing. He insists upon me taking his picture but I let him know he would break the camera. I finally comply.
So back to this 6 hour roller coaster in second class with the windows open, some fans working, barreling down the tracks at break neck speed to make up time, pineapple and popcorn vendors walking the aisles, rusty bridges shaking over rivers and ravines, stopping in small towns for minutes, waterbuffalos and cattle grazing in the rice paddies, slash and burn acres surrounded by jungle, clothes drying on unused tracks. tin roof houses built along the tracks -- people hang their heads out the windows just feet from the train as we pass. One man wedges a chair between two houses so he can have primetime amazon viewing of the trains.
People bring their lunch on the train. We bring crackers and fresh cashew nuts. Others bring rice and curry in tin foil packets; they open and eat with their right hand mounding and blending the spices and vegetables with the curry. C says he can barely eat a cheese sandwich without getting his shirt dirty. These folks are masters.
Popcorn vendor returns to collect the plastic baggie and the label to be reused. Nothing is wasted. It's a very clean country. We see several incidents of business men or elegantly saronged women stoop to pick up litter and deposit it.
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