Chegamos as 5:45 da matina no Sri lanka. O mais dificil foi abrir os olhos e tentar lembrar o que estava acontecendo...


Sono, muito sono. Gosto de champagne e comida asiatica ainda na boca. Onde estou mesmo?
Ai me lembrei do voo, da perna quebrada da Lia, da nossa chegada na madrugada. Pulei no assento ( sim, nos todos acabamos nos esparramando em bancos vazios e viajando deitados).
Esperamos todo mundo desembarcar e fomos ajudar a Lia a pegar as muletas, mas la veio mais surpresa:
- Nao se preocupe. Ja pedimos a cadeira de rodas para ela.
Se a coisa continuar assim, vou me mudar para o Sri Lanka. Gente mais fofa do muundo...
Vieram com uma versao Sri Lanka do caminhao hidraulico do aeroporto de Bahrain ( versao Sri lanka – velho, enferrujado, ameacando desmontar).
Entramos no caminhaozinho e fomos alegres e saltitantes pista afora. Ate que o caminhao fez uma curva, e a maca onde a Lia estava sentada virou ( nao, nao estava amarrada) e a Lia voou pro outro lado do caminhao.


We arrived in Sri lanka at 5:45am. The challenge was to open my eyes and try to remember what was happening ...

I was sleepy, very sleepy. I could still feel some champagne  and Asian food after taste still in my mouth. Where am I right now?
Memories slowly came back to me. I remembered the flight, Lia's broken leg. I jumped on my seat (yes, we all ended up in rows of empty seats and could lie down and sleep.) 
We waited until everyone was off and started making our way to help Lia get her crutches, to get out too. Before I could get anywhere near her, the flight attendant said:
- Do not worry. We've requested a wheelchair for her. It is on it's way.
WOW! That's impressive. Specially because we never asked for it.
If things continue like this, I'm moving to Sri Lanka. People here are so friendly ...
They finally came with a Sri Lankan version of the hydraulic airport truck that transported us in Bahrain. ( Sri Lankan version - old, rusty, about to fall apart).
But we were experts by now and knew what to do and how to behave!
Lia had a hospital bed only for herself, we sat wherever we could find space for our bums. Everything was great, until the truck made a sharp turn and the bed Lia was on turned and sent my daughter flying to the other side of the truck.

nao, essa nao e a Lia. mas achei a foto bem apropriada. Google search

O funcionario da companhia, que a tinha colocado ali, deixou escapar umas tres “merda”enquanto tentava resgatar a menina voadora.
A Lili nao falou uma palavra, so a carinha de dor e as lagrimas escorrendo pelo rostinho dela entregavam o jogo. Ah Sri Lanka, Sri lanka...
Sei que nao adianta concertar a cagada o erro depois que ele acontece, mas mudei a Lia pra um banquinho que estava devidamente amarrado e fiquei ao lado dela.
Desembarcamos, ja tinhamos o visto pre aprovado ( eles tem e-visto que sai pela internet e vc paga no cartao de credito. Muderno).

All we heard was the employee who "placed Lia" on that bed swearing under his breath.
Lili did not say a word.Only her painful look gave away what she was going through. And the tears streaming down her face. Ah Sri lanka, Sri lanka...
I know it is not good enough to fix the mistake after it already happened, but there was little more i ould do, so I moved Lia to a safe sit and stayed with her - just in case.
We got out the truck, our visas were pre aproved. Sri lanka has a web site where you can apply and pay for your visa before you arrive. It is pretty cool.

Quando fomos buscar a bagagem, nos avisaram que uma das pecas estava faltando. Contei e recontei as malas para nao repetir a palhacada de Londres. Nao lembra? Ta aqui .
E como nao poderia deixar de ser, era mais uma vez a mala da Anita que estava faltando. Justo ela que AMA as suas roupas, os seus sapatos, as suas coisinhas. Ficamos mais de uma hora esperando alguem localizar a mala.
Consegui ate sair pra avisar o nosso motorista que a coisa estava engastalhada, mas que nos estavamos la sim! Pelamor nao va embora... E os oficiais da Policia federal nao tiveram coragem de me impedir de voltar pra area restrita do aeroporto quando viram a furia exalando pelos meus poros.
Sim, sai da area internacional do aeroporto, andei, sassariquei, troquei dinheiro e voltei pela porta da saida.
Mas nada de acharem a mala. E a cada 5 minutos a Anita falava:
- Meu oculos da Armani esta la.
- Meus biquinis da Aqua Brasil. Todos eles.
- Os meus sapatos brasileiros estao nessa mala.
- E as minhas roupas de verao mais bonitas.
Fiquei com o coracao apertado e apesar de saber que nao ia adiantar nada, deixei claro ao pessoal da companhia aerea, que aquele incidente podia ser comum pra eles, mas estava atrapalhando as nossas ferias.
Agora a Anita nao tem uma unica peca de roupa no Sri Lanka. Nada. Nao da pra esperar sabe-se la quantos dias ate encontrarem a malinha dela. Se encontrarem.
A moca da bagagem conseguiu uma autorizacao para nos dar US$ 40.00 para aplacar a situacao ate ver se a mala chega ou nao chega. Oba! Ja da pra pagar a sola de um dos sapatos que estava na mala.
A pobre Anita estava desesperada. E nos todos morrendo de pena, mas depois de mais de duas horas de espera, tivemos que ir embora para o Hotel. Nao tinha mais nada a se fazer ali.

At the baggage claim, we noticed one bag was missing. I counted and recounted the luggage to avoid going through what happened in London. Do you remember it? It is here
Of course,as Murphy would have it, it was Anita's suitcase that went AWOL. And she loves her clothes, her shoes, all her things.
After an hour waiting for the bag to show up, we had to give up.
I even managed to get out, find out driver, let him know we were there, but not ready to leave yet, and the I simply walked back inside. Customs decided not to stop me as soon as they saw my face.
I guess I can be quite scary sometimes.
Every five minutes, Anita would sau something like:
- My armani glasses were there.
- And my leather shoes.
- I had all my brazilian bikinis in that suitcase.
- And my best summer clothes.
My heart broke. Poor girl. And I knew nothing would change things, but i made sure I explained to the airline that could be routine for them, but for us, it would bring bad memories forever.
And now Anita had nothing to wear Not a single piece of clothes. Everythig was in the bag they lost.
After a while, the attendant managed to authorize a $40 payment until they find out what will happen to the luggage.
That will not cover a single shoe, let alone all she had there, but after over two hours batling in the airport, we decided to finaly leave.
Anita in tears, fabio and I witha  broken heart.

O sono bateu de novo. Eu apaguei. De tempos em tempos, eu quase acordava, abria os olhos e via um cenario paradisiaco a minha frente, mas imediatamente eu apagava outra vez.
Quando chegamos a uma cidade perto do hotel, pedimos pro motorista nos levar ate uma loja para compramos umas coisinhas basicas pra ela.

Um maio, uns tres shorts, algumas camisetas, calcinhas... o basico dos basicos.

Quando perguntei onde estavam os maios, a mocinha super sorridente me levou pra ver umas pecas que pareciam saidas de obra de ficcao. Imagine um maio de corpo inteiro. Agora acople uma saia franzida que vai pelo menos ate os joelhos da modelo. E pinte flores coloridas na lycra. Tchan Tchan!


On our way back, I felt so sleepy, it was not even funny. I simply fell asleep. From time to time I would open my eyes and see the most beautiful beach, but in a second, i would go back to my sleep.
When we were almost at the hotel, we asked the driver to stop in a shop, so we could buy Anita some basics.
A swimming suit, a couple of shorts, some tops and underware.
Every time I asked where the swimming suits were, the girl would take me to see these old fashion suits that our great great grandmother wore. They are one piece with a long skirt sewed into the body. And most of them were in bright colors. Tchan Tchan Tchan

Esse maio ta moderno perto das opcoes que tinhamos aqui
This suit is fashion and hip compared to the ones we saw

Se eu mostro um negocio desses pra Anita ela nunca mais para de chorar.
Fomos a 4 lojas diferentes. Todos os maios tinham o mesmo estilo. E as roupas eram saias e blusas. Nada se short, muito menos camisetinhas baby look. Na ultima loja consegui UM short, umas 4 camisetas e demos a odisseia por encerrada.
Quando chegamos ao hotel, a Anita decidiu usar o MEU maio ( que apesar de ser de veia coroca, ta dando de mil nas alternativas locais). E foi alegre e saltitante brincar na praia e na piscina. Com a Lia* . Eu fiquei tao exausta que dormi por 3 horas consecutivas. Juro. Fui da van pro chuveiro e me enfiei debaixo dos lencois ate a noite cair. Fabio fez a mesma coisa. Estavamos mortos.
As duas adolescentes, a do pe quebrado e a sem-roupas passaram um dia maravilhoso nadando, andando de caiaque, passeando pelo resort e o escambau...


* Eu explico. Comprei pra Lia uma daquelas botas que sao removiveis, assim ela poderia tira-la la pelo 4 ou 5 dia, se estivesse sem dor. A mae dormiu, a primeira coisa que ela fez foi se livrar da bota e cair na farra agua...


Thank God Anita was also sleeping and she did not see it. She would have a heart attack, cry her eyes out and probably never recover from the trauma.
We went to 4 different shops and they all had the same kind of clothes - nothing suitable for a western teenager at all. Even I could see that. And I am fashion blind.
At the last shop we managed to get ONE pair of shorts, 3 t shirts and two pieces of underware. Anita decided to wear MY swimming suit - it looked so modern in comparison...
As for me and Fabio, we were so emotionally exhausted, we simply crawled into our bed at the hotel and slept for 3 consecutive hours.
Anita and Lia*  had a great day. After the ordeal, they went swimming, caiaking and had a blast.

* I bought Lia one of those removable boots, so she could venture into the swimming pool after 4 or 5 days rest. But as soon as I went to bed, she took the boots off and jumped straight into the pool, then walked to the beach, got herself insto a caiake...the works!