Beagle It really felt like the worst of times. We were a few months into the economic crisis and peoples lives were looking dire. Sri Lanka was looking so very lost. I was conflicted about our trip. In the midst of fuel, food and medicine shortages, was it right to be traveling for fun? Yet, part of me knew, it would save me. These trips usually did.
As I walked into the opulence of the reception I could feel the escape of the trip gnawing at me. Through the large glass windows of the first floor we could see a dark blue swimming pool. I made a mental note that the pool would definitely be visited. We gulped down our herbal tea welcome drinks and sauntered towards our rooms. Yes! big white fluffy beds against the view of a beach in the distance. A quick change of clothes and we were walking briskly towards the beach. The late afternoon sun was not too strong and the smell and sounds of the waves beckoned. As my feet touched the fine white grains of sand, I felt my mind succumbing to the spell of it all. A quiet and deserted bay held my gaze. The water was rough, and a security guard came towards us to warn us not to get into the water as the currents were strong. ‘It will drag you away’ he said. It comforted me that balance of power seemed right for a change. Nature was strong, and I only trespassed in her presence in awe. Against the man-made and short-sighted disasters that I sometimes cannot understand why I feel so strongly I have to resist, this natural world made sense.
Plans to see turtles and more hermit crabs filled our conversation as we walked a couple of kilometers along the beach. As my feet sunk into the sand on our way back, a dark shroud gently engulfed the bay. The walk meant we were hungry, and the conversation turned to dinner and drinks.
As the evening set in, I am captured by my holiday. I give into the normalcy of our conversations, the smiling faces of my company and the excitement of sleep in a cool and cosy hotel bed. I am a grateful captive. As I slowly let go of the guilt and anxiety that clings to me from the weeks of contemplating economic rights of the poor and responding to violence in homes, I am reminded that it is okay to have fun, to want to feel pampered and to enjoy wasting time on never ending and riotous rounds of the card games.
