We are going on a Buddhist Pilgrimage to Sri Lanka
We are going on a Buddhist Pilgrimage to Sri Lanka
Strong storms and heavy snow have battered the Eastern part of the USA, causing deaths and damage.
A major unseasonal summer storm has just battered New Zealand as well, but in the mountains of Colorado, where everyone actually prays for snow, we still have very little snow on the mountains.
We have not gone skiing yet, since so little of the mountains’ terrains are open, but Jules did talk to a neighbor who has lived in Colorado most of his life.
He told Jules that he took his grandkids skiing the other day and it was the worst snow he could ever remember.
In Aspen, they mentioned that this has been the worst snow year since the 70’s.
Locals remembered how back then they drove all the way over Independence Pass to New Mexico, where they could ski the powder snow of Taos mountain instead.
So, since returning home from Christmas in Florida, I have used the time I would have otherwise been skiing very productively.
I shampooed all of our Tibetan rugs with a professional machine, I cleaned our house very thoroughly, I organized things, and then, finally, I just gave up.
Instead of hanging around, hoping for snow, we decided that it was the perfect time of the year to visit the island of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist, and I have dreamt about doing a Buddhist pilgrimage there for quite awhile.
This time, we will not be walking on this pilgrimage to visit all the sacred sights, some dating back to the time of the Buddha, with many temples still standing that date back to the second century BCE.
Because of time constraints, we plan to hire a car and a chauffeur which comes at a reasonable price, and is a much better option than waiting for trains, scheduling buses and asking taxis to take us to sacred sights.
It doesn’t take long to plan a Buddhist pilgrimage in a predominantly Buddhist country.
There are so many sights to see, amazing rock carvings, ancient temples and cave monasteries.
I also wanted to make sure that we visit some of the highlights of Sri Lanka, like the Colonial British hill towns and the beautiful beaches.
We applied for an E-visa online and got the approval within hours.
Our long flight will take us from Denver to Frankfurt, then on to India and finally to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
So we are leaving tomorrow .
See you on the other side of the globe...
Tali
