I’m back in Santa Barbara. I have so much more to say about Sri Lanka, but having just spent a couple of hours getting some photos online, I really need to spend a little time being present here and less time reminiscing.

For now, I’ll just say thank you, thank you, thank you to all my new friends I travelled with and all the wonderful Rotaractors who hosted me throughout the trip. The last 11 days was one of the greatest adventures of my life.

The photos alone don’t prove it, but they may help: http://picasaweb.google.com/SB.Trailblazer/SriLanka2010#

I’ll share more about the trip after I’ve recovered from flying halfway around the world.

This week we journeyed through a nature preserve where we saw elephants in their natural habitat. Sure I’ve ridden elephants, but there’s something unnerving about being in an open-top jeep with a beast that large (with tusks that big) just a few paces away. On the other hand, there’s something entirely peaceful and wondrous about it.

At UCSB, I got used to seeing a squirrel or rabbit now and then. But at the university we visited a couple of days ago, there were monkeys frolicking about. I thought this was endlessly fascinating. They didn’t beg as directly as all the stray dogs, but they were definietly scouting out the area.

Today we drove to the northwest to go dolphin watching. If you’re picturing the kind of dolphin watching that happens aboard the Condor Express in Santa Barbara, think again. There’s no galley to grab chips and a soda while you wait for the captain’s sonar to lead us in the right direction. Instead, picture a small boat that seats 5 or 6 with a motor tagged on the back. We took that bouncing across the Indian Ocean and did, eventually, find a whole lot of dolphins! It was beautiful to see them racing over the waves and occasionally doing pirouettes in the sky.

The most interesting part of the adventure was seeing the local fisherman haul in their huge net, gather their catch and begin sorting the small fish into their appropriate piles. I’m not sure visitors will be able to see this much longer. Now that the war is over, the area is ripe to develop a tourist industry. Dolphin Beach Hotel, where we spent the afternoon, is at the forefront of this likely movement. But to get there, you drive past a very rural farming community. Goats and cows wander the streets freely. Pigs root around in a yard. It’s idyllic. It’s the last place you’d expect to find a Sri Lankan experimenting with a luxury camping model like El Capitan — with air conditioned tent lodging.

After dolphin watching, we swam in the Indian Ocean. There’s another thing I can cross off my list of things to do in life.

Time to sleep again. I’m fighting a cold and tomorrow we drive to Galle.

Tea growing in Nuwara Eliya

Here's the team of 10 from 8 different countries.

One of many reasons I need to run a lot more when I return home.

When we arrived at the bungalow in Kandy, the Rotaractors greeted us with betel leaves and passed most of the night singing. I was reminded of karaoke in Thailand when they sang both "Hotel California" and "Country Roads."

I climbed this today. I guess that qualifies as training for the Are You Tough Enough race?

Leaving Nuwara Eliya this morning to head to Kandy. While here:

– Toured a tea factory and walked among the tea fields. Yum.

– Visited a Hindu temple.The fog was so thick that it was quite surreal.

– Joined the Rotaract Club of Nuwara Eliya to donate books, paper and wheelchairs to students at a nearby school. There’s so much to say about this… another time.

– Wandering the market where the locals sell Columbia, Nike, Port Authority, Zara and other jackets for extremely cheap. After all, they’re made here. There’s overstock and faulty garments.

– Eating. Eating. Eating. Trying a sip of the local liquor — arrack.

– Getting to know my travelling companions better.

The group is gathering. Off we go!

Here are things I”ve lost count of:

• Number of mosquito bites among our team
• Number of leeches we picked off our legs today
• Number of pleasant people I’ve met
• Number of near-death experiences on the road

Today was our 5-hour journey to Kitulgala, where we went trekking and white water rafting. It was an absolutely beautiful jungle.

I’ll be honest, I was pretty uncomfortable and carsick throughout the whole morning. I was just trying to keep it together. Then, after surviving seven of the eight rapids, we were all out of the boats and just floating along the same river they filmed at for Bridge Over the River Kwai. As I floated there, I was completely blissful. The river healed all the hassle it took to get there.

And that’s why travel is such a dangerous drug! You forget jet lag. You forget that the food burned your taste buds. You only remember the cool water carrying you downstream and the tantalizing spices that accompanied the fire in your mouth.

Saw more than one spider as big as my hand. A chameleon.

We joined the Rotaract Club of Colombo for a beautiful dinner on the beach. Like in Thailand, the band played “Hotel California,” which I now think of as my personal travel theme song.

My roommate is ready to sleep, so perhaps I can update more later in the week. We’re travelling away from here for the next three days.

After 30+ hours of travel, I have made it to Sri Lanka. I’m not sure if it’s the jetlag or the experience, but everything feels a little surreal.

I’m so upside down from sleep deprivation and the time difference that I’m mostly just impressed that I remembered my password to the blog. But it was a real treat to see my aunt Linda in London. We sat and had breakfast? lunch? I don’t know what time it was in what country. But it was nice to chat as though we didn’t live an ocean apart.

My first impressions are great. I’ve met two of the other out-of-towners and 3 of our hosts from the Rotaract Club of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The idea that we all have more in common than we have differences holds true because we immediately fell into easy conversation (in English) as if we’d known each other for ages. The prevalence of English on street signs and billboards is very comforting. The military presence is not, but I imagine I won’t think twice about seeing so many guns on the street after another day.

Today was the election. Friday is a Poya, full moon, holiday.

The official program starts tomorrow with white water rafting followed by a dinner with the whole club. They’re celebrating our arrival and their club’s 40th anniversary! The Rotaract Club of Santa Barbara only has four years under its belt, so I look forward to learning from them.

I’m staying in a beautiful home tonight with Sabeeha and her family. I’m impressed by everyone’s friendliness and Sabeeha’s collection of sandals. No joke. If I get more Internet access, there may be a photo. It’s not looking like I’ll be able to post very often.

I also got some rupees at the ATM, so get in your souvenir requests early.

The adventure is just getting started…

On Monday I head to Sri Lanka for two weeks.

When wi-fi is available, I’ll post updates here. In fact, I’m testing an iPhone app for wordpress with this post. Neat! There’s my brother, Drew, and niece, Audrey, who came to visit.

Thanks to my Rotaract club for its support and the Rotary Club of Goleta Noontime! Thanks to Citrix Online for letting me explore the world again. Thanks to friends and family for all the warm wishes. Now if only someone would just pack for me…

Photos and stories to follow!

I rang in 2010 in a cabin in Truckee. My first exercise of 2010 was stepping outside onto a snow-covered meadow and traipsing around in snowshoes. After a peaceful walk throwing snowballs for my friends’ dog to catch, I decided to go for a snowshoe run. I do not recommend this. It is painful and tiring and particularly difficult at over 7,000 feet elevation in fresh snow.

However, if you want to strap on snowshoes to go for a run, why not race? Here’s the information about the February 6 5K and 10K snowshoe  race in Big Bear.

My second exercise of 2010 was a snowball fight. It’s going to be a good year.

(Thanks to Virtual Museum for the image.)

I’m disappointed in my blogging, but not my running. I hope to improve my blog performance by offering some updates now in the hopes of getting back into the blogging habit soon. Here’s a little this and that.

1) Here’s some running reading a friend spotted in the New York Times. It gives you more to consider when deciding what time of day to run.

2) I ran the Thanksgiving 4-miler. There was an incredible turnout for the Goleta race this year. I really enjoy this one year after year, and this year I enjoyed running it with a friend. Fortunately, it left me with plenty of energy to eat a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon.

3) I ran with a relay team at the Santa Barbara International Marathon. My teammates from Citrix Onine, Brooke Fredericks, Katie Davis and Courtney Greenwell, and I placed first among all-female teams in the corporate relay — which is almost a category. We ran 3:39. We all want to do it again.

I got to run the first leg, which meant that after more than 15 years of running, I was at my first marathon starting line. What a scene! Putting aside the frozen fingers and toes, I loved it.

Thanks to the race organizers, volunteers, spectators and my teammates!

4) The Santa Barbara Athletic Association annual banquet was a blast. The room was full of people I have fun with and admire, and it was nice to be doing something where we didn’t perspire. Thanks to Wally, Joe, Jim, all the runners and especially Dan Rudd, who got me some of the McConnell’s ice cream when I couldn’t get out of my seat.

I hope to include some marathon photos and other news soon. But at least I broke the slacker streak.

My morning run started under a pitch black sky. The clocks fall back this weekend, but for now, the morning is dark.

My headlamp cast a dim beam ahead, giving me about 5 feet of visibility. I figured a coyote, mountain lion or ill-intentioned long jumper can leap at least 8 feet, so this did not make me feel good.

Less than a quarter mile from my front door, I had my first scare. Something rustled loudly in the bushes next to me. “It’s just a bird,” I told myself. Just a bird. Justabirdjustabirdjustabird…. As I turned the corner I heard an animal shuffling along the lawn beside me. I whipped my headlamp in its direction and saw the large fluffy tail and ominous white stripe of a hearty skunk. I kept moving.

I learned that street lights don’t run the length of Hollister Avenue. I was grateful for every car that drove by, because the headlights temporarily widened my view of the area. And as my mind wandered to images of coyotes I’d spotted on Farren Road, which really wasn’t that far away, I made myself more and more nervous.

The wind picked up as I jogged along Cathedral Oaks. Unable to see much, I was haunted by the noises. The insects sounded aggressive. The eucalyptus trees creaked and groaned. Dry leaves scratched across the cement as they tumbled after me. A beer can clanked down the gutter. It was comically creepy.

I said hello as I passed three walkers. They didn’t reply. Zombies?

I saw a hint of pink on the horizon as I approached Glen Annie. A moment later a rooster began crowing and screeching, warding off the night.

As the sky grew lighter and lighter, so did my mood and my steps. The comfort of daylight relaxed me, and made the final miles of a long run pretty pleasant.

What’s the point? There are three:

1) Fear could be the next hot trend in training. It definitely gets your heart rate up!

2) All things are relative. Just as running uphill makes me more grateful for the downhills, running in the dark makes me more grateful for the light. I’ve learned this is also true with pain. Sure, my achilles was nagging a bit, but compared to a month ago, it felt great!

3) Happy Halloween. Stay safe, but give yourself a little scare. It’s fun.