Back in Coffee Bay, a couple introduced me to the website workaway.info. It’s designed for travelers, where you list your skills and the countries you’re visiting, then find locals in each country looking for someone like you. In exchange for volunteering approx. 5 hours/day for 5 days/week, hosts normally provide accommodations and meals.

I thought it would be fun to experience Sri Lanka through the eyes of a local, to feel productive for the first time in 4 months, and to give back to community in some measure. Thus I committed to a gentleman named Alfie, who is building an eco ranch in the countryside and needed help. Since this was something that’s slightly out of my comfort zone, I agreed with childlike enthusiasm!

After arriving Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, located on the west side of the island, I decided to travel by plane to the east side, where the ranch was located. It was only after I arrived at the airport did I discover it wasn’t a regular plane but a seaplane! My inner child smiled once more; my last seaplane ride was when I was 10. From the harbour, I then took a tuk-tuk, local commuter train and another tuk-tuk along this crazy long country road that was more suitable for a motocross bike than a 3 wheeler. This ranch was really remote!

That evening I met another workawayer, Zuzana from Czech Republic, who was helping with social media and promotional pictures. Alfie arrived the next day, and he explained how things work (or should I say, don’t work very well). He was quite disorganized, so the three of us sat down and made a master to-do list. Lemme tell you, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s creating structure!

Alfie was developing the ranch to promote eco tourism, adventuring, trekking and elephant safaris, so we determined the best use of my time would be to create a landscape plan for the ranch. In addition to determining what structures should be build where, new huts needed to be built for future guests, and those huts needed furniture. Great, I said, what materials am I working with? Pine wood pallets :/

Starting simple, I designed and built a coffee table. Then Alfie asked for kitchen cabinets so I built that. Then he asked for a bathroom mirror frame. Then a cutting board, then a drying board. The last 4 things were not on the to-do list; Alfie likes to change his mind, and change it often. No wonder there was never a to-do list, he wouldn’t be able to stick to one!

In addition, between

  • The lack of tools (there were only drills and saws from the 1970’s and getting other items from the closest town was challenging)
  • The lack of material (only 3 pallets were available, but Alfie said more were supposed to arrive every day; they never arrived)
  • Alfie constantly changing his mind about what’s important
  • The little creatures living under the kitchen countertop, and not the kind you want to add to your dinner
  • The sweltering heat, preventing me from working between 1pm and 4pm
  • The super-sized zombie killer mosquitoes from hell

My inner child was sad and decided a week was enough.

Keep in mind, since I didn’t exactly know what to expect, I kept my schedule flexible. If the place is wonderful, I had told myself, I’ll stay three weeks. If not, I’ll leave after sooner. So I felt I broke no obligation leaving after a week.

The other thing still on my mind was the conversation with the resort owner in Goa. So after checking flights, the weather and a tour operator, I decided to book the next 2 weeks in Nepal. It’ll start with a day tour of Kathmandu, followed by a 10 day trek through the Himalayas. Since I really loved trekking in Patagonia, I’m really looking forward to this trip and my inner child rejoiced again!

BTW, there probably won’t be an internet connection in the mountains, so don’t expect to hear from me for the next two weeks 🙂