On January 29th, 2024, at 3:00 AM, my Week Without Walls (WWW) group of 12 peers set out to drive all around Sri Lanka and see many different culturally significant, beautiful, and historical places. Day 1 consisted of lots of driving mainly as it started with a long drive to Mihintale to have lunch and visit the Kings Pond. The Kings Pond was lovely and was a nice place to write our letters to send off to my parents back in Colombo.
After the King’s Pond began another tedious drive. We drove as a group to Jaffna’s Northernmost point: Point Pedro. Point Pedro was a lovely destination to enjoy the beautiful sunset in Jaffna and send the postcards we had written to our parents. As the sun started to set a cool breeze overcame the group as we took a lovely beach walk to relax. Unfortunately, another drive was to come as we took a 30-minute drive to the outskirts of Jaffna to visit Keeramalai Springs and arrive at our lovely hotel for the night.
The next morning consisted of waking up bright and early to go to Delft Island. Delft Island, also known by its local name Neduntheevu, was a lovely experience, however, the scorching Sri Lankan heat made it one to forget. The day started by driving to the Ferry Location so that we could take the one-hour ferry ride to get there. Whilst waiting for the Ferry, Adam and I had bought matching pink cowboy hats from one of the local vendors posted outside the port.
After the ferry ride, we arrived at Delft Island to meet our guide who led us around the island. Delft Island was full of surprises with stray dogs, unused temples, a beautiful large tree, old Dutch settlements, and ruins around every corner. There was also a lovely lighthouse, a sketchy lunch, and my personal favorite; was an Aloe Vera juice stall which was that served purple Aloe Vera juice. After the memorable Delft Island, the tired group ventured and dragged themselves back to the bus where we took another one-hour bus ride back into the heart of Jaffna where we first got to see the beautiful Nallur Kovil temple from the outside before walking down the road to the famous RIO Ice Cream store where we enjoyed an amazing sweet snack before heading back to our hotel for bed.
As Day three began, we ventured to Jaffna Fort and saw the heritage and lovely scenic views from the fort of Jaffna city. Seeing the city from the fort allowed me to realize the vast differences between Jaffna and Colombo as the infrastructure was completely different despite Jaffna being the largest city outside of western province. As we got caught in the rain exiting the fort we all stepped in the bus wet as the smell of mildew lingered through the bus. Lunch this day was delicious as we indulged in classic Indian food. The bus ride to Mannar following this was pretty tiring as it consisted of playing cards, talking and lots of sleeping. As we finally arrived we made a quick stop to Mannar fort, then to the grave of Adam and Eve (allegidely). After our bus tour we took a quick stop to the beach as we walked to see “sunset in India” from Sri Lankas closest point to India. In the meantime, however, The boys all joined together to play rugby with a washed up bouy.
Day 4 began after a lovely night at 4:30 AM before the sunrise to see flamingos. We started the day with a quick snack and a lovely view of the stars before going to the site to see flamingoes. The flamingo viewing consisted of a walk to the point of observation where we camped behind bushes with Mr. Lockwoods scope and analyzed the flamingoes. After the sightseeing, we headed to the Mannar donkey clinic and Mannar beobab tree where we got to learn about, feed, and pet the donkeys and finish with some refreshing coconut water. After the clinic we headed to Anuradhapura and took a walk of the premises and got to experience the lovely scenery and views of Pidurangla and Sigiriya rock. After our walk we unpacked at Back of Beyond in a treehouse. After cleaning up everyone gathered in the center for our reflection and then we did an activity in pairs looking for biodiversity. As Alex and I got partnered up we set out to look for some interesting life and when we returned the group was gone! we had been abandoned while everyone else was on a biodiversity walk with Mr. Lockwood!! As everyone got back we headed to bed.
Day 5 was my favorite day as we woke up before the sun once again and hiked up Pidurangala rock to see the lovely sunrise. After the hike we all gazed down on the lovely surrounding areas from the large rock face and Vicky took my favorite picture from the whole trip. After this we headed home and slept mostly the whole way.
