Galle to Istanbul: 4100 Miles

All packed up and farewells said, I prepared to begin the journey from Galle, Sri Lanka to Istanbul, Turkey.

As we left the harbor for the last time, my faithful retinue of dogs surrounded us, and proceeded to escort me out the gate. These guys were always super happy to see me and would sprint my direction whenever they saw me approaching. Maybe it's because I fed them whatever snacks I had carried for that very purpose..

This little guy was my favorite. He was there every single time I entered or exited the harbor, and was so sweet!

Matt and I boarded the train to Colombo, and were favored with fine weather and beautiful views of the ocean.

We hung out in Colombo for the rest of the day, then made our way by bus to the airport. After a stressful time convincing the airline that our bags really would fit in the overhead, we boarded the plane with relief. Our first flight took us from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. After a short layover we boarded our second and last plane to Istanbul, Turkey. This flight took us over a wide variety of landscapes, from deserts to snowy mountains to the green forests of Turkey itself.

Finally, we arrived! After a short shuttle ride, we were deposited in the bustling Taksim Square.

Hello, Turkey, Europe, and cold weather!

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Martin!

This is Martin. He is from Austria, Europe. We first met him in Luganville, Vanuatu at a small cafe; we were each using the wifi there and I was enjoying a particularly good chocolate muffin. We saw each other next in Darwin, Australia at Dinah Beach, and again at Danga Bay in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. We spent the most time together when our WTP and his Anima III were hauled out in Pangkor. He and I both love cats, and we even shared a kitten between boats during our time there.

Everyone on the WTP was very happy every time we spotted his very pretty boat at the same place we were. Our last night on the boat in Galle, Martin made a delicious farewell dinner on his boat and both crews enjoyed a lovely evening of reminiscing. The next morning Matt and I shouldered our packs and balanced our way down the lego-docks one last time. It was very sad to say farewell to Martin, but it wasn't goodbye. Until we meet again, Martin!

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Change Is On The Wind

The s/v William T. Piquette has been the constant for me in this journey. The boat was my home, it was where I returned to every night. It was where my bed was, where we cooked and ate meals, watched movies and played card games, went spinnaker flying and swimming, had friends over to hang out and talk late into the night. Another constant has been the water. Wherever we've gone, we've arrived by traversing oceans, bays, straits, and even rivers. And while I usually greeted the sight of land with joy, it always felt right to push the dinghy away from it and go back out onto the water, heading home to the boat.

My life has revolved around this boat for the last eight months. That sounds strange to me because before joining Eye of the World in Tahiti I had never sailed before. It was an unknown way of life, and an unknown way of travel. I have definitely learned an incredible amount over the past 9500 nautical miles. I can raise, drop, pack, and reef sails; check fluids and start the engine; hold a course at the wheel; refill fuel by siphoning it through a tube; drop and raise the dinghy; pick up a mooring; drop anchor and set the snubber. I finally mastered the windvane, and overcame my nervousness at docking; I even looked forward to it. I can cook a delicious meal while the galley and everything in it is rocking madly. I've learned to see the wind on the water and feel it on my face. I can hold us on course in storms when it's most important. And before the WTP, I had no idea any of that existed, let alone that I could and would do it all.

I believe our decision to continue overland is a good one. The piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden and beyond is growing worse, and although boats may pass through just fine (and I sincerely hope they all do!), the consequences of not making it through are dire. With the time we have left, we will be able to see much more by traveling overland, fully immersed in the cultures of the cities we travel through. And our heading remains the same: due west.

Life on the boat has been amazing. Sometimes it hasn't been easy, but it's always been exciting and challenging. I have pushed myself and gotten out of my comfort zone, only to find that zone expanding and my confidence increasing with the new experiences. I have met great, inspiring people and made new friends, witnessed so many breathtaking sights, and seen a plethora of exotic and wonderful animals. Although I'm sad to leave the boat, I will approach the next part of this adventure with the same attitude I had when I stepped on the WTP in Tahiti, and embrace it fully.

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Galle Puppy Saga - Vol. 6: Encore

Of course there's an encore! Animal SOS is such a great place, especially because our little harbor puppies are there. The walk to the boat definitely feels emptier without them.

In the days between visits, I had some time in which to gather a few toys. Adam is quite good at breaking flip flops, and the remaining flops had just been taking up space on deck. They were now soon-to-be puppy toys. On one of the last crossings Matt spotted a ball floating in the middle of the ocean. He turned the boat around and we picked it up. That was also to be a puppy toy. Finally, I spent some quality arts and crafts time making monkey's fists out of spare line on board. I imagined the puppies playing tug-of-war with each other and figured this particular knot would be difficult for them to untie or destroy with their sharp little teeth.

I felt like Santa on Christmas morning when I entered the puppy pen with my plastic bag full of goodies! The puppies were excited just to have a visitor, let alone one who brought them fun things!

The ball was first. They seemed a bit confused when it kept moving on its own, but they all pounced on it anyways. It's too big for the puppies to bite but that's probably a good thing. For now they can just awkwardly try to climb on it!

The flip flops were also very popular, because they are small and light enough to be carried around! But, I fear they will soon be in pieces.

Finally, the monkey's fists. These were very popular and excellent for tug-of-war; four puppies can all tug on one at once! Plus, watching a tiny puppy try to carry a big rope toy up steps is very comical.

The puppies were very excited with their new toys and played for awhile. They ran all over their pen, growling and barking at each other and chewing on everything (sometimes even my shoes, which were NOT puppy toys). Eventually, they grew tired and all they wanted was a lap on which to take a nap. I had such a lap, but could only fit three or four puppies at a time.

Here's Coffee Black, who is looking very much like Mama dog! She's still very sweet and smart, and Debbie (the shelter's manager) told me that a Sri Lankan family recently came to find a dog and applied to adopt our own Coffee Black!

These puppies certainly aren't the only dogs at Animal SOS, and while I did spend a lot of time with them, I also hung out with the other dogs. Animal SOS sits on a big chunk of very pretty land, and there are well-worn paths through the grass that mark the dogs' favorite paths.

Even though there is a lot of space to run around, the dogs still prefer to lay around the shelter's buildings, because that's where the people are!

My last trip was a day trip only, but this time there was room for me to spend the night! There are plans for Animal SOS to rent a house, which would allow the full time, long term volunteers to have a quiet place to go to each night, and would also free up space for shorter term volunteers to stay on site. I was warned that it could get loud at night, especially because it was almost a full moon. The dogs did bark a bit, and a couple times put on lovely howling concerts, but I was able to get some good sleep. Plus, when I woke up in the morning I was greeted happily by the pack!

This is George. He's my favorite, other than the puppies, because he is super clever and laid back. He snuck into the kitchen on my first visit and was eating out of the big bowl of food before it was dinner time! He's very good at slipping past you as you open the gate to go inside, and once inside is also very good at seeming innocent. When I let him into my room on purpose, he immediately jumped on the bed and curled up. His tactic for trying to stay inside is a good one: when I tried to pick him up to put him back outside, he rolled on his back and went limp to make it more difficult!

George again!

This is Fraggle. He's a small pup with huge ears, and even though he's a little guy he bosses the big dogs around! Somehow he ended up in the puppy pen (probably snuck in at feeding time for a late night snack) and spent the night trapped with the harbor puppies!

Some dogs get to stay in the apartments with the staff. These two live in Debbie's rooms. The black one (Funny Fing) she brought in as a puppy because he was battling a bad virus and was in rough shape, and he needed the extra attention. The tan one (Blondie), was living there when Debbie arrived and refuses to leave!

When feeding time rolls around, mayhem begins. The dogs must be put in cages according to size and behavior. This is Nanda's specialty. He's the resident dog whisperer and knows which dogs to put where. The dominant dogs get put in individual cages. The younger and smaller dogs get put into one big cage together. Smaller groups of adult dogs that get along go into the sheds to await their dinner. Nanda hoists dogs into the air and deposits them into the correct pen, or instructs others to help by pointing to dogs and motioning which cage they go in (it's too loud with all the dogs barking for talking to do any good).

Here's a pack of younger dogs waiting for dinner. It's a challenge trying to put a dog in, because while you're getting one inside three will escape!

The dogs get dry dog food (biscuits) for breakfast, and a veritable feast in a bowl for dinner. Seriously, their food smelled delicious! Every day a giant pot of rice is made in the morning so it has time to cool before dinner. Along with the rice, a pot of ground chicken, pumpkin, onions, cassava, lettuce, garlic, and more dry dog food is prepared. Every dog gets a bowl of this mixture, still warm from the stove! Nandini and Latta are the chefs, and you can tell the dogs love their meals based on how quickly they eat it!

Here is Doc, eagerly awaiting dinner.

The dogs at Animal SOS are awesome to hang out with. They're all friendly and just want to be loved on, and maybe sit on your lap for a bit. The people who run this dog haven are equally as awesome. It takes a lot of work to just take care of the dogs day-to-day, let alone work every day to accomplish their mission: educate people about animal welfare, provide medical attention including surgeries, spay/neuter and vaccinate street dogs, and rescue even more puppies and kittens and provide a safe place for them to grow up. A big task, but certainly a very inspiring and significant one for Sri Lanka. Check out the Animal SOS website and the Animal SOS facebook page!

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Galle Puppy Saga - Vol. 5: The Happy Ending

It has been a week and a half since the puppies were smuggled out of the harbor and deposited safely at Animal SOS. Walking through the harbor just hasn't been the same without seeing the six of them sprinting toward us at top speed. I missed them. So I called the shelter and made plans to go hang out and volunteer!

When I arrived, the puppies were still in their cage inside the clinic, above another cage containing five other puppies. I played with them inside for a long time, and also made friends with the resident one-eyed cat, Boris. Boris (a girl cat) climbs up and down the cages and loves playing with all the puppies. The puppies liked to run directly at her and then hop around her in circles, barking. For her part, Boris just looked at them and occasionally tried to rub her face on them; she even lets them chew on her ears!

That very day the puppies were scheduled to be moved to an outdoor pen. The pen is set a little ways back on the Animal SOS land and is gated off from the main pack of dogs that have the run of the property. This would allow them to be outside and have more room to run and play, plus the two cages of puppies were being combined to form their own puppy pack. Eleven puppies!!

Here's what their new home looks like from outside:

And here's the view from the inside:

Ok I'm kidding, but that is how most of my pictures turned out. Here's what it really looks like:

The puppies were very excited to have company in their new space. I sat down on the bench, which prompted the puppies to try and get up to sit next to me. They're still pretty little and needed some help. I obliged Two Spot here.

This pen has many amenities, including a tree in one corner. At the base of this tree is dirt. Very quickly, paws became muddy as they started working on digging a hole. (Very important puppy business.) Air Bud looks so innocent but the evidence is all over her feet!

The stairs were also a very exciting new feature; they enjoyed running up and down them at the only speed puppies know - as fast as they can. They're all clumsy but determined, and even a stumble down a couple stairs couldn't deter them from trying it again! Here's Three Spot, victorious at the top.

Although the puppies knew I was there, every time I stood up it was like they had momentarily forgotten. They swarmed my feet excitedly and it was hard to walk around!

Eventually it was feeding time. That was a sight to see! Three trays of food were brought out, but instead of spreading themselves out evenly, all eleven finished the first tray, moved to the second and inhaled that, and finally demolished the third. Gone at light speed!

After dinner, it was nap time. Two Spot and Skinny Brown curled up right behind me in a pile. Skinny Brown used to be the shyest and hardest to catch, but she was jumping around me for attention more than any of the others! She's become so friendly!

The stairs also make a good napping spot, as Air Bud and Big Spot can attest to. Three Spot is more interested in my camera...

... or maybe he just wanted the top step.

And now for the Coffee Black Collection. All these puppies are adorable and personable, but CB is still my favorite! She's very smart, attentive, and incredibly bouncy. She liked to lay close to me. Really close!

So cute, look at that face!

Paws make good pillows.

Eventually it was time to go. There were 150+ other dogs to play with and feed, and our puppies were tired out after their first day playing in their new, bigger pen. Animal SOS is an awesome place full of dogs who all want to sit in your lap, be held, play, or at least bark at the new person! I think a trip back may be in order. I don't think I can stay away from this...

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Galle Puppy Saga - Vol. 4: Puppy Smuggling

Our happy days of cavorting with puppies recently took a turn for the scary.

There are many, many stray dogs in the harbor, around Galle, and I can only assume Sri Lanka in general. These dogs wander the streets and are often terribly skinny and covered in fleas and mange. Many are very friendly (especially if you have food) and we see the same dogs around the harbor every day. However, the locals treat these dogs with complete disregard, and sometimes violence. We've heard that the crew of some cargo ships that come into the harbor will actually catch and eat the dogs roaming around; the friendly ones are the easiest to catch. One construction worker told us that there used to be a very friendly female dog that the workers would feed and pet; she was one of the dogs caught by such a crew.

Some of the personnel from the harbor (we're not sure what their job is or who they were) recently took notice of the attention we gave to the puppies. For whatever reason, they decided to catch one of the puppies (we're also not sure if it was one of "our" puppies or a different one, as there are many litters around the harbor) and abuse it right at the end of the dock, in plain view of all the boats tied up there. We weren't on the boat during all this, but our neighbors on the dock were and told us about it. These people obviously did this because they knew we loved the puppies, and they were trying to get back at us for some reason unknown to us or just to feel big.

We were, of course, very angry when we heard this. These puppies had only just learned to trust us, and now there were people hanging around who had no problem hurting them for no reason at all. The only solution (besides enlisting six new, furry crewmembers on the WTP) was to take the puppies to safety. I did some research and learned there was an animal shelter a mere 40 minutes away. The name of this shelter: AnimalSOS. It was founded by Kim Cooling, from London, after she saw the horrible situation of stray animals in Sri Lanka. AnimalSOS operates from a large plot of land in Midigama, where they take in strays, give medical attention and regular meals, and most importantly spay or neuter them. Most of these dogs live the rest of their lives at the shelter, although the organization also operates an adoption program.

With this destination in mind, we set about planning our trip. The harbor is surrounded by a tall concrete wall, with a gate at the entrance; we must show our shore pass upon entering and exiting. The guards (some armed with guns) are required to check this pass and also search our bags, to prevent us from importing any goods we've brought from the boat into the country. They had never checked our bags before but we thought carrying six puppies out might cause a problem.

Our solution: Puppy Smuggling.

I had a duffel bag big enough for all the puppies, and our plan was to load them into it and see if we could get out of the gate. Hopefully they would be still and quiet long enough for us to get past the guards. If that failed and the guards forbid us from taking the puppies out, Adam was going to take them behind the bathrooms near the harbor's encircling wall, while I made my way out of the harbor to the other side of the wall at that same spot. Then, Adam was going to throw the bag over the wall, and I would catch it. We were very determined and vowed that nothing would stop us!

We packed the puppies into the duffel bag, leaving it unzipped until we were close to the gate. We approached the gate. Only three guards, fewer than normal - good. The puppies were quiet. We handed our passes over. The puppies were still quiet. The guards made small talk while they recorded our information. A puppy whined. One guard looked behind me, convinced himself that was where it came from, and looked away. We breathed a sigh of relief. The guards were sure taking their time with our passes. More puppies started whining, and then barking. All the guards looked in my direction, at the bag, and then asked the inevitable question: "What's in the bag??" I calmly responded, "Puppies!" The guards grinned a little and looked puzzled. "We're taking them to the vet for shots!" I said. One guard walked over and motioned for me to open the bag. I opened it the tiniest little bit, one puppy stuck her noise out, and I moved to zip it back up, reasoning, "We have to keep it closed or they'll all fall out." The guards continued to look extremely puzzled... but handed our passes back! We were all free to go, puppies included!

Once outside the gate we called Upa, our tuk-tuk driver. While we waited for him I opened the bag so the puppies could get some fresh air. A local woman in a nearby shop noticed the puppies and came over to where we were sitting. She asked to hold one of them and we obliged. She then asked an odd question: "Any boys?" I was ready for this, though, and told a white lie: "Nope, all girls!" She handed the puppy back and returned to her shop. While perusing the AnimalSOS website, I had read that locals prefer male dogs... because they don't have puppies, and one dog is all many households want. They may not physically have puppies of their own, but an unneutered male dog is just as much a cause of unwanted litters as an unspayed female dog. And, as the majority of stray dogs in Sri Lanka don't seem to be spayed or neutered, there are many unwanted, uncared for litters that grow up to have litters of their own. Eek, what a huge project AnimalSOS has tackled!

Upa arrived and we all clambered into his tuk-tuk. The puppies, who had grown up next to a construction site, responded calmly to the noise of traffic around them. Most of them even fell asleep!

After a few wrong turns and stopping to ask for directions, we found the bumpy back road that led to AnimalSOS, or the 'dog house' as many of the locals called it. An apt nickname, I think! While waiting outside the gate I grew nervous. What if the shelter was full and they turned us back? I had emailed the contact on the website a few days ago, but as things in the harbor had escalated we were bringing the puppies in before we technically had the go-ahead. My fears were unfounded though. Debbie, the shelter manager, opened the gate, took one look at the puppies in the tuk-tuk, and said, "Well, let's each grab two and take them inside." Hooray!

We were greeted by a chorus of dogs barking as we followed Debbie into the intake room. Once there, the puppies were placed on an examination table, where Debbie conducted an intake exam. She checked them for ticks and signs of mange, and declared that they looked pretty healthy. She then gave them each a dewormer pill (Adam and I helped administer these). Three Spot managed to spit his out twice, and then just held it in his mouth until it foamed up and dripped out! Debbie then sprayed them each with a flea and tick spray, and transferred them to a cage in a seperate room for their first few days. The puppies have roommates, though, in the form of another litter of puppies and the shelter's three resident cats!

After a long, exciting journey from their home in the pipes at the harbor, they had arrived in their new home, safe and sound!

And don't worry, this Puppy Saga isn't over yet. AnimalSOS loves volunteers, and I'm going to visit the puppies there! I will keep you all updated! In the meantime, check out the AnimalSOS website for more information about this awesome organization!!

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