SRI LANKA: ICONIC FISHERMEN, A SEA TURTLE SANCTUARY, AND SOME SOUVENIRS

On our last day in Sri Lanka, we were slowly making our way to the airport, trying to see every bit of the country that we could along the way. Sanjay stopped at one of several places where fishermen were at work--but according to Sanjay, their work is getting tips from tourists. They sit on a tiny platform mid-way up a tall pole, perhaps made from the trunk of a slim tree, and cast their lines out into the waves:

If you look very carefully, you can see that the man on the right has a very small fish at the end of his line, which he kept dangling where we could see it. It doesn't exactly look like dinner:

The expanse of rocky shore and the tropical green water was gorgeous. I wouldn't mind sitting on a pole and looking at this for an hour or two:

If there is an iconic photo of Sri Lanka, the fishermen are probably it, which means if there is an iconic souvenir, this woodcarving is it. We saw them in numerous places and bought a small one--about 8" tall--at a woodcarving shop:

Next on the itinerary was a sea turtle hatchery/conservation site:

We had a little tour, during which we saw an adult version of each of the five species that are brought here as rescued animals or that are being bred/hatched here. Some of them (like the one below) are missing limbs because they were caught in a net:

This is a loggerhead turtle:

I love the scale-like pattern on the head and fins and the starbursts on the carapace:

This hawk's bill turtle has such a serene face, almost bird-like with its yellow snout, which is probably where it got its name. We were told not to touch it as it can deliver a nasty bite:

Our tour guide holding a jar with two sea turtle eggs in it:

Bob was excited to hold this green sea turtle, which was approximately 14-16" in diameter:

There was also a tank of newly-hatched Ridley turtles that we also got to hold:

At first we thought this was a turtle cemetery, but it is a hatching ground and nursery, with each clutch of eggs buried in the sand. The "tombstone" gives the species and date. There were two of these with at least 50 labeled spots:

For a mere 1500 rupees (about $8.50), visitors could take a baby turtle 50 yards to the edge of the ocean and let it go. We passed on the opportunity. Sanjay told us later that it is a horrible practice as the birds can see them in broad daylight and probably eat a lot of them. He said that if they were truly interested in survival, they would release them at night, but it is a big money maker for them, and money is also important in the conservation effort.

This sign has lots of good information--if you can interpret the English:

We made one more stop before lunch at a woodcarver's shop. I wish I had gotten the name of it or taken a picture of the outside, but I was too engrossed in selecting something "elephanty" to take home. 

The owner was proud to tell us that many of the pieces for sale in his shop are his own design. He showed us the different types of wood he uses, and explained how many colors are contained in a single piece of wood. There were a couple of men at work in the shop, and it was really interesting to see the designs emerging from the blocks of wood.

There were lots of designs to choose from, including ceremonial masks, Buddhist and Hindu figures, and many styles of elephants:

Even Bob got caught up in the elephant craze and purchased a beautiful natural (unpolished) mahogany elephant. This is the owner of the shop and chief designer/carver:

I thought about this one, the Hindu god Ganesh, but had a hard time imagining it in my home:

I settled for a wall-hanging instead, and between our two purchases (plus the little fisherman mentioned earlier in this post), we went from having no checked luggage to checking both our bags and having maximum carry-on luggage:

And here it is, hanging in my family room in California:

Except for the frame, it is carved from a single piece of mahogany wood. The variation in color comes from the variations within the tree itself: