You just can't tell the whole story about Sri Lanka and skip the story about the local spices and herbs the whole country is really proud of. And the best way to learn a thing or two about them is to take an one-hour walk around some of the spice gardens around Dambulla, the most well-developed agricultural region on the island.

On the third day of our trip we had a delicious breakfast made by our local host Tharaka (check out his place here) and we took a small walk around his garden - a place that is always attracting local monkeys trying to steal some of his amazing fruit. He walked us around and showed us all kinds of local plants including a strange and very spicy leaf that turned out to be something that locals often eat.

After learning that we are so interested in food, our driver Suresh asked the locals about the best place to explore such things and brought us to the so called Old village spice & herbal garden where we found a highly knowledgeable guide to show us all kinds of local plants starting from coconuts, pineapples sandal tree and cocoa and going to Sri Lankan cinnamon, curcumin and lemon grass and their use in cuisine, medicine and cosmetics. We quickly learned about the huge difference in the taste quality of the local black pepper, curry, cloves, ginger and cocoa and the ones we are able to buy from the stores back in Europe.

Actually, our guide was currently studying medicine in Kandy and was working in the garden to collect money and go to Munich, Germany, to specialize dermatology.

During the short tour around the place he was able to explain to us that Sri Lanka is highly focused on its own resources and develops a medical philosophy called ayurvedic medical treatment which is focused not on treating the symptoms of a disease, but the actual reasons for it to occur. Currently, there are 17 government-run ayurvedic hospitals that treat patients mostly with natural products like herbs, spices and creams. Its main weapon is a detox tablet form containing 48 different herbs. According to the locals, a 4-month treatment cycle with those pills can detox all organs in the body to an extent that wouldn't require further detoxification for the next 8 years.

Of course, all those herbs and spices are used also for different kinds of cosmetic products and aroma oils for massages. So as a part of the tour we had to experience some local techniques for a relaxation massage before we start traveling to the next part of our trip.

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