(The group resting at Situlpawwa – photo cred: Ms. Desline, Eleez)

Day 2 of Down South

Day 2 of WWW was a lot more active than Day 1, and we were able to get a lot of activities done in what I believe was a short amount of time. I think that Day 2 was one of the most memorable days from this Week Without Walls trip.

After waking up rather early (it was kind of hilarious to see everyone being so sleepy) we got ready to be out the entire day. We headed off to Situlpawwa on the bus, which was a much longer ride than I thought would be – and almost everyone seemed to catch up on sleep on the way there. Something interesting about this bus ride was that on the way there I got to see some familiar landmarks and routes which my family and I take when going to Kataragama – the hit of nostalgia was quite nice.

We finally arrived at Situlpawwa (and saw a lot of wild boars) and climbed up the stairs leading to one of the other stupas, it was over there that we took pictures of the amazing views. I found it astounding that we were so high up. Afterward, we did some walking and had a local man from the temple teach us about the historical significance of one of the large slabs of rock at the place. He talked about the 27 kings who made their mark upon the rock, which I found to be quite amazing at how they did it.

Then, we headed off to a place of worship in a cave – this place had many statues of the Lord Buddha and I found the placement of them in a cave to be very cool. It was over there that I had to inform some of my peers on the regulations against taking pictures with the Buddha, I was overjoyed to find them being so understanding of this.

Finally, we made the walk to our main destination – Situlpawwa. I didn’t expect the route to the stupa to be so uphill, and definitely was not prepared for the scorching sun, however, when with friends those issues seemed like mere trivialties. Climbing up the mountain was quite steep, and I was very nervous about going up the staircases that weren’t so well-defined, half-jokingly stating that this was it for me!

However, when we finally reached the top it was 100% worth it to go through that climb. We came back down and rested while waiting for the teachers. It was a very interesting place to sit and chat, as we were surrounded by nature and a strange sense of serenity.

(At the historical sites – photo cred: Ms. Desline)

After some pictures, I found that going back down the mountain was a lot easier than going up – and after a stop at a shop we were off to Bundala. The bus ride to Bundala was rather calm, and I did not quite know what to expect once we got off.

After a quick lunch it turned out that we were doing a safari – this was highly exciting for me and I couldn’t wait to get on the jeeps. I was at the back, which I quickly learned was the ideal place to sit if you wanted a rollercoaster-like experience on the jeep!

It was all good fun, and we saw many different types of birds such as: myna’s, ospreys, blue-tailed bee-eaters, green-tailed bee-eaters, grey herron, cattle herron, purple herron, painter storks, peacocks, jungle fowl, spoonbill, etc. We saw a lot of other animals too, such as elephants and many monkeys.

(A painted stork, osprey, and crocodile we saw on the safari – photo cred: Peter)

During the safari trip we were able to observe a multitude of animals and take many pictures of them, I used my binoculars quite a lot in order to see the different birds and animals up close. It was fascinating to see how they move around and react to us – I think that we were able to get many great shots during this safari trip.

I was definitely sad when this safari trip had to end, and would surely redo it many times again. We left Bundala at sundown and it was quite dark and quiet on the bus ride back – mainly as everyone was sleeping.

After some dinner and socializing, Day 2 was officially over!

(The view to make heads turn – photo cred: me)

Learning objectives:

• LO5 – Showing perseverence and commitment 
  • I was able to discover that when at the front of the line, I was pretty good at keeping my pace when hiking – the people around me spurred me on to keep going.
  • Despite being so tired and warm, I was committed to reaching the top and reaching the end of the route was extremely satisfying. As the picture shows, the view was beautiful and something that I believe I will remember for a very long time.