Everything was against the beach barkers - a broken German, picaresque expression, Lala's name. "My restaurant is here, a Russian tourist is walking around, writing my book, you're reading!" "I looked in the barnyard, saw images of smiling faces, signatures - Novosibirsk, Tomsk. Without batting an eyelid, he began to translate out loud: "Lobsters are small, like cockroaches, Lala serves warm beer." Neighbors on the deck chairs - Zurich Germans - laughed. And I felt as if I had deceived the child - before that comedically offended was the face of a Sinhala named Lala.

The guy was with a sense of humor, and in English he spoke quite decently . And when in his restaurant (several plastic tables directly on the beach sand, under a canopy of palm branches) we were given a really gorgeous seafood at a price five times cheaper than in a hotel - it was the beginning of a wonderful friendship . Every day we came to Lala, lobsters were made more and more, their mustaches drooped slightly not up to the ground . Plates with shrimps on m brought in such a way that the British clients could not see the general's portions. . The special attitude was explained by our interest in the life of the islanders, expressed in visiting the wooden house of Lalina and handing it to the children of the tennis balls' banks: in any wasteland they play cricket . Not the least role was played, of course, and several daily dollars "for tea" .

As you know, after about a week beach laziness, the tourist begins to feel the pain of conscience and thinks about the "excursion program" . Lala offered us a three-day trip: the capital of Kandy, built by the English colonizers, the fortress of the mad king on the "Lion's Rock" in Sigiriya, the "Ayurveda Garden", the Buddhist center of Anuradhapura and the elephants - do not consider . Cautious only the price for this tour: according to my calculations, the requested amount could not pay back the hotel-meal tickets and rent a new minibus . Not to mention the services of the driver who changed his shirts every morning . The only cunning of Lala was that he did not say how much we should pay him, as an interpreter, upon returning to the hotel . "Decide as much as you want" .

Such magnificent landscapes, the best tea in the world, caves with countless Buddha sculptures - well, you understand ... We drove into a complete wilderness where no one expected coins for photographing street elephants, and monkeys , like dogs, waited expectantly on the sidelines. I even managed to wander through the streets of the town, where there are no "tourist traps" and take pictures of everyday life. Lala drove away uninvited assistants: they say that this white man is already busy.

- Bear with me, the European hotel is about 20 kilometers away, "Lala said in response to a request to stop at the nearest toilet. I convinced him that we are not real Europeans. You would see, my Sinhalese friend, a boardwalk in any village a hundred kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road, how would your idea of ​​the "white people" change!

When the time of departure came, Lala brought a coconut similar to the royal power, and a pineapple on the stem - a regular scepter. So they took a picture for memory.

And then the tsunami washed away the restaurant of Lala and took away its shack. He managed to save the children, took them to relatives in the foothills. The hotel in the village of Vaskaduwa is the only source of work for the entire district, the tourists have repaired, gradually returned. Find Lala, to find out about all this, I was not easy, because all the villagers have the same surname Silva, in memory of the Portuguese, settled in these wonderful lands about five hundred years ago. But you, if you meet him, immediately recognize: he already speaks Russian, even as badly as in German.