There was no way around it. The generous Mexican family that was letting us pitch our tent under their palapa in return for paying $5 a day for meals was serving tamales for Christmas dinner. Despite stomach-lurching memories of dense, gelatinous blobs served...
It is very disappointing that the name of our capital city is projected outside Sri Lanka as a Western name bonded to colonialism. It is not surprising the colonial masters adjusted the simple Sinhala name to Colombo to suit their tongue which we all seem to carry on in apparent ignorance.