The long-awaited Week Without Walls post…

As January rolls on in, so do the highly anticipated Week Without Walls trips. This year, I was placed on the Nothern Narratives trip that takes us to the northern part of Sri Lanka, primarily in the Jaffna area. In my opinion, the most notable quality of the Northern Narratives is the multitude of historical and culturally significant landmarks housed in Sri Lanka that we visited. A key characteristic of the Sri Lankan north is its importance in the relationship between Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamils and the Civil War. Now, I am not the biggest history buff, nor am I good at keeping up with historical events, but I think the reason I was able to appreciate this trip was because of our chaperones who explained the significance of each sight we visited: Mr Lockwood (my homeroom and CAS teacher – known for his extensive knowledge of all things Sri Lanka), Mrs Lockwood (my service coordinator), Mrs Gayani, and Mrs Melinda.

I’ll be honest; the start of the trip was definitely not something I was particularly fond of because of the 4:00 am start and super short (over 8-hour-long) bus ride that took us from Colombo towards Jaffna, with a number of stops on the way. First, we stopped in Anuradhapura for a quick local breakfast and to stretch our legs before heading for Mihintale to write postcards and explore some of the natural life found as we began to move northward. Then, we set off on the longest stretch of the drive where we had a chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep as we approached the highest point of Sri Lanka, Point Pedro. This site is not known for activities to do there, but it has a great view and is a landmark to visit, which makes it a ‘must visit’ attraction for tourists who venture to the north of Sri Lanka.

 

After a quick walk on the beach, we set off on the bus yet again to find food because a bus full of starving teenagers is a nightmare I am sure anyone would prefer to avoid. Then, miraculously, we came across a roadside shop that was willing to feed all 12 of us, much to all our relief. Now, I don’t know if it was the exhaustion of being on the bus for so long, but I swear that was some of the best food I have had in a LONG time. After a filling lunch, we were racing against the clock to make it to the Keeramalai Springs in time before they closed so that those who wanted to swim could do so, but by this point, I was exhausted and the sound of sitting in that bus again, wet and sticky, felt like my personal hell. So I made the executive decision not to swim and spent my time enjoying the sunset from dry land instead.

Finally, this tiring day concluded with us arriving at the Thinai, the hotel where we were staying for the next couple of nights. It was suspiciously nice, but I definitely had no complaints.

On the morning of day 2, we were up bright and early to go to the dock and get to the boat that took us to Delft Island. In my opinion, this day really embodied what WWW is because it highlighted how our school shines a light on the hidden areas of the country, giving us a chance to visit new, undiscovered places. However, this does lead to some of the places we visit being so unexplored that we essentially have to come up with plans for the day in the moment itself.

The trip to Delft itself was a lot of fun because the boat ride, even though it was excruciatingly slow, was peaceful and serene. Once we were at Delft, we set off on yet another bus, which took us to see some of the sights, which included old baobab and banyan trees, as well as some ancient archaeological ruins that provided some insight into the history of the island. It was also a particularly hot day, so I cannot say I was too appreciative of the activities on this day, but after a really last-minute, make-shift lunch, we headed back to the hotel. Now, the boat ride back from Delft felt like some kind of a fever dream because of how it went. We had all been starving and annoyed with the heat, so once we were on the boat, the majority of us fell asleep on the deck of the boat directly under the sun. I must say, the nap on the bus had to have been the top 5 spots to sleep of all time because I remember falling asleep for the entirety of the ride with no interruptions.

Meanwhile, halfway through the ride back, we encountered another boat that needed to get to the same dock but, for whatever reason, couldn’t make it the whole way themselves, so the crew on our boat decided to essentially tow the boat along with ours. Then, as we got slightly closer to the dock, we met yet another boat, this one slightly faster than ours, who decided to lend a helping hand to us, the two boats, and lugged the boats along with them. To put it simply, by the end of the trip, we were a row of three boats attached, one lugging the next to make it to the dock. The best part of the whole encounter was that half of us slept soundly through the entire thing! Eventually, we reached the hotel and had a restful night of conversation and dinner before heading off to bed and calling it a day.

Day 3 marked WWW history because it was the first time we were allowed to wake up past 6 am! 😱  We had a late breakfast and packed up before setting off on a full day of exploring forts, temples, and other popular sights that Jaffna had to offer. Ironically, even though Jaffna is known for its dry landscape, we started the day with really heavy rain, which made things a bit uncomfortable when we had to get back to the bus after walking around the fort. We started by visiting Jaffna Fort, which gave us a chance to get some activity in because we climbed and walked around the ruins.

Then, after getting entirely drenched in the rain that came from nowhere, we crowed onto the bus, ready to enjoy the incredibly very soggy and smelly 4-hour bus ride to Mannar. Now, the lunch on the ride to Mannar was possibly the best part of the trip because I got to fuel my chai addiction at the dosa spot we stopped at. Mr Lockwood had raved about this place, and I was honestly just happy to finally get some good tea again after these couple of days. A small observation I made was that as we moved through the northern region, I could see more and more parallels between south Indian culture and the culture of the north of Sri Lanka than what I usually see in the Colombo area. After lunch, we headed off to sightseeing around Mannar, kicking it off with the Mannar fort, then more trees, visiting Adam & Eve’s Grave, and finally, stopping at a beach to see the ‘sunset in India’ by Adam’s bridge. This essentially marks the point where people have claimed to be able to see India from Sri Lanka, and though I am a sceptic who refuses to agree that you can actually see anything, the walk on the beach was really pleasant, and the sunset was gorgeous. I also bumped into the CUTEST kitten, who I am pretty sure I still have some kind of emotional connection to, and I seriously regret not bringing it back with me.

Day 4 was exhausting but in a good way. We started the day at a measly 5 am to go see the famous Mannar flamingos, which, in my opinion, are the bird equivalent of the saying ‘never meet your heroes’ because, though they were cool, they did not really look anything like that flamingos I had seen my whole life. Although, in all fairness, it was 5 am, and it was definitely possible that I was just being irritable, so I couldn’t appreciate it fully. Following the birdwatching, we wrapped up at the hotel and started off for the Donkey Orphanage and Clinic, where we could feed, and pet rescued Mannar donkeys, as they are a famous characteristic of Mannar.

The orphanage does great work to rescue and educate people about issues regarding the animal welfare of these donkeys as well as give back to the community which really inspired all of us since we tend to do similar work with our own service groups at school. Finally, after a lunch stop on the way, we reached Back of Beyond in Pidurangala, the last spot on our trip.

That night, we settled into the hotel and did a slightly competitive scavenger hunt-style night walk where we were broken off into groups and told to spot and identify species we could find since we were in the forest region. Obviously, the competitive person I am, I ran around the forest like a crazy person, pulling my team along with me, and we were able to spot 15 different organisms of animals and bugs, winning the competition (mainly because everyone else gave up, but that doesn’t matter, we still won.).

After all that, we capped off our trip with one final expedition on day 5: climbing the Pidurangala rock early in the morning to watch the sunrise from the top and enjoy the view of the natural world surrounding it. The temperature and atmosphere in the morning in the forest were really pleasant, which made the whole waking-up-before-sunrise thing a lot more bearable. The climb up the rock was relatively easy and the view from the top was breathtaking, serving as the perfect ending to the trip. We spent some time at the top of the rock to enjoy the full sunrise along with a lot of foreign tourists who doing the same.

After spending some downtime on the rock, we had a big breakfast back at the treehouses and stopped for a quick coffee before heading back home after a long 5 days of fun. To close the trip, in true Northern Narratives fashion, we had yet another long drive (which I am choosing to call a joyride in the title of this blog for the sake of alliteration and satire) to get back home to Colombo.

Overall, the trip was a great experience, and I truly appreciate how it gave us all an opportunity to take a break from our monotonous routines and intense workload, replacing it with some exploration and adventure. Through this trip, I was not only able to get a breather from all the work waiting for me at home and in school but also learn a great deal about Sri Lanka, its varied cultures, the people, nuances in the language, and the history of the country. Exposing and giving us first-hand experiences in different areas enriches our minds and encourages us, as students, to actively engage with what we are learning about, as well as garner an appreciation for the country we live in. In my opinion, the trip was a great balance of activity, education, and relaxation (the big three), making it a top-tier WWW trip that I would definitely recommend to anyone in the future.