Even in late December, Sri Lanka was hot. Walking around the urban areas of Colombo and Kandy meant dragging ourselves through the thick humid air, squeezing in between so many bodies pushing through the narrow sidewalk space. Biking around Anuradhapura and hiking up Sigiria and Adam’s peak (posts to come!), sweat was pouring out of us much like the athletes in those gross gatorade commercials where the sweat comes out orange.

No need to carry around a bottle of anything to rehydrate, though, because the King Coconut is for sale all across the island for a mere $0.15 – $0.25. We bought them off of street vendors, snack shacks, wholesale fruit stalls, even off guys who would hack one off for us from the bunches of the coconuts tied onto the back of their bicycles.

With a few skilled chops of a machete, a vendor would hand over the coconut and wait as we chugged it standing. (Check out this clip Amy took of a vendor in Colombo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdBhcgec8)

Slightly sweet, mildly tangy, so watery. Taking a biking break at a produce stand in Anuradhapura.

Friendly, smiley coconut vendor.

Sometimes after guzzling all the liquid out of the coconut, the vendor would split the shell for us, giving us access to the white, mild, jelly-like flesh.

A shard of shell was my spoon.

The perfect pick-me-up pit-stop, we’d be on our way, electrolytes replenished.

Amy, inexplicably, is not a fan.