I would rather have taken off my shirt than my shoes when I first arrived in Sri Lanka. The July heat overwhelmed me. I thought I’d drop in the streets giving the flies a delightful morsel fresh from Chicago. At the time I visited, Sri Lanka was a country at peace and poised for tourism. Modern boutique hotels were my respite.

I quickly acclimated to the heat and began walking the paths, steps, hills, and shores of this island country barefoot. I followed local people in and beyond the country’s cultural triangle of Kandy, Polonnaurawa and Anuradhapura. In some instances bare feet indicated poverty and low social status. In other places it was a sign of respect and humility to spiritual traditions. Sri Lanka’s majority population is Buddhist but there are also Hindu, Muslim, Christian and indigenous Vedda communities. Continue reading→