When I had to take deep breathes and count to ten in order to hold back tears, I mentally checked off the bus ride from Tangalle to Wellawaya as (one of) our worst yet. Standing at the bus stop in Tangalle we saw a bus overflowing with people and when a man told us it was going to Wellawaya we figured we would have to wait for the next one, but he squished us on much to my dismay. Trying desperately not to get pushed to the back where I was sure to have a claustrophobic-breakdown, Nick found me a thin bar that circled the driver where I sat for the next 3 hours causing all circulation to my legs to be cut off. Nick remained standing but eventually shuffled himself to a small corner where he was able to sit on my backpack for the rest of the journey. A quick switch in Wellawaya and we began to climb the mountain roads towards Ella.

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