Hi all,
Just wanted to update. We're at the airport in Colombo, flying to the Maldives in 4 hours. We thought security would be way tighter than it was. WiFi works for email, but they put a block on social media which includes WhatsApp, so we can't use those for now.
We left Colombo at 9 am yesterday morning, an hour before the bombings. We were heading north to Wilpatu National Park for a safari.
About an hour later we were in Negombo and got rerouted. Our driver mentioned something about something going on at a church. We had a feeling something was up. About a half hour later he told us about the six bombings, one of which was the reason we got rerouted. We spent a long time talking to him about terrorism and the 30 year war here and how all in all the religions here live together peacefully so it's a huge shock after 10 years of peace.
We weren't worried, since we knew we were going away from the areas affected. During our safari, they instituted a nationwide curfew so we had to end early. We hoped to make up for it this morning but the safari was supposed to be at 530 and the curfew only ended at 6 so the safari couldn't start until 8 and they were worried about checkpoints and security on the way to the airport.
Anyway we're fine. It's a bit weird. We were at the Kingsbury hotel Friday just for a bit of AC, the bathroom, and water. Our host also kept telling us to go to the buffet at the Shangrila which we skipped because of Passover.
It's definitely very sad. We passed the hospital in Negombo today where many of the victims were taken, and our driver explained that private hospitals also took people in and donated supplies free of charge. There was a line outside since apparently visiting hours are only 12-1. There's army presence everywhere we drove today, and white flags up to represent sadness.
Negombo Hospital (public)
Line to visit friends and family for visiting hours
We're ready for a different experience and to see what it's like in the Maldives!
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