vaga #5 /1 Sri Lanka

Part I

Sri Lanka, I will go quickly, it will be more of a photo gallery since very little is known about its landscapes and culture. It is a large island in the southeast of India. The first thing that impressed me was the asymmetrical boats with their psychedelic paintings and the fish. Sea and active life, so intense I report the proximity of Galle, since landscapes and customs change depending on the place.

There are protected coves for large fishing boats, however, the vast majority of artisinal fishermen use the beaches as coves. As I have said before, in Asia there are no robberies compared to Central and South America, therefore everything is exposed day and night, big and small boats, nets, etc ... Small boats are made of wood, which is a concave tree trunk, and those last a couple of years and the medium ones are made from acrylic. They are asymmetrical, that is, a pole parallels to one side, balancing so as not to turn, but only on one side, which caused me tremendous concern, how does the physics of floating works, I never got on one. The big ones with masts, the ones that were made of sticks tied with rope apparently improvised, and it made me nervous as to how they withstand a storm. They paint them with colourful designs as they strive for each to be special and give their personal touch. The crows are everywhere, which replace the seagulls, giving it a unique and curious touch.

The fishes !!!! what a wonder    !!!! festivals of colours, shapes, brightness and opaque, fat sizes, long too stretched like pencils, without exaggerating I could count about 20 different fish, never seen before, as nature is so wonderful, there are exclusive fish from those seas, the abundance is surprising, I photographed some. They are sold on counters or simply on the pavements on top of a newspaper. Around there I had the pleasure of eating a huge crab, deliciously served in a broth with dressings and chimichurri, an unforgettable pleasure.

THE UGLY ONE AT THE PARTY

The life of an island on its coasts, everything is mixed, there are no limits; fish sales, collecting nets, boats beaching, tourists surfing, bathers,… .. there are no hammocks woven from yarn, like hammocks, they are like a wooden 'pallet', comfortable no way …… markets and makeshift graveyards along the sands.

I put photos of the market and it has nothing beautiful, it is not the classic indigenous market, not even an established and bustling market, you only see a piece of paper on the ground and what they plant they sell, there are no resellers, I felt poverty, faces of anguish, not so among the fish sellers who are 20 meters away.

always in the Galle area, there are these fishermen "unique in the world" and only in that bay of the island. They fish in the afternoons from 5 pm until sunset. The image of seeing it is phenomenal, how every corner of the world is looking for its solutions in creative ways for its subsistence, and in the year 2020, they have not changed one iota, it makes you think, but it makes sense, you fish, you eat period. The spectacle left me speechless, they swing on those poles that are not thick with their fishing rod and the sunset as a backdrop, then they go down and swim to the shore with their baskets of fish. It was difficult to choose photos I have many because I went mad myself taking photos since it was a very strange and peculiar scenery that I would never see again with the sum of the beauty of the sunset. Solemn, magical,  

this video shows the swinging and balancing, his rare fishing techniques, and I was fortunate  happy to share it