Still in Sri Lanka, and still pretty much blissed out.

Remember the foot rub? Well, that evening I walked clumsily off a slight step in my bare feet and wrenched my left foot like an idiot. And wiped out onto the ground in super slo-mo. When I woke up in the middle of that night to get a drink of water, I could hardly put weight on it. I'm fine now, but it's those moments when you second-guess yourself while far, far away from the familiarities of home. No broken foot story to report, thank goodness!

This island is one visual surprise after another. We've been from Colombo, and the Bellands' home, to Udawalawe Nature Reserve, staying at Kalu's Hideaway, a riverfront retreat owned and managed by a former Sri Lankan cricket star, Kalu (Romesh Kaluwitharana). What a stud he is! Totally gorgeous and gregarious, warm and welcoming, but a REALLY BIG DEAL back in his day on the pitch. It was as though, for many Sri Lankans, we walked into a hotel owned by Michael Jordan and he was actually there to greet us and hang out all weekend.

We met Kalu's family, the kids played New Year's Games (yesterday was the Sinhalese New Year, with all the traditional trimmings---fireworks, games of Draw the Eye on the Elephant and Bash a Pot of Water With a Stick--both blindfolded, sweets, and family togetherness). The fireworks popped and boomed into the night, hopefully scaring away the large grey garden snake (not venomous) that slithered into a tree while the kids were playing. No Chinese floral patterns in the sky, but plenty of loud cracks to welcome the Buddhist New Year. (Sri Lanka is made up of 70 percent Buddhist, and otherwise a mix of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. The violent conflict here was between the Tamils, or Hindus, and the Buddhist majority.)

And then there were the elephants. Lots of them. Babies being rehabilitated in a nearby transitional center, who would then be released into the wild.

And the Udawalawe Nature Park, where we rode in the backs of open Jeeps and tossed and pitched like we were in an ocean, all for the 10 or so minutes where we stood in awe of this scene:

The park itself was lovely, full of elephants that dotted the landscape like large rocks in the distance, or, as was the case a couple of time, that blocked our way for a moment while they lumbered across the dirt road. Every tree looked like some artist's rendering of a tree, by which I mean they were all so strange and exotically beautiful, with leaves like feathers or tendrils or paddles. Peacocks kept their unfolded fan tails facing us, as they dallied in the bushes with their hoped-for mates. Eagles flew out of their nests (Sri Lankan eagles, more patchy brown-and-white, but still quite impressive in size) above us, and water buffalo shuffled in herds toward their watering hole.

The sunset played a pivotal role at the close of our adventure, and layers of mountains came into view that no camera (particularly mine, with its fast-expiring battery) could capture.