Off to the Jungle.. - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Colombo, Sri Lanka
When I was in Colombo on my project, there was a guy living in the house who was studying at the University of Colombo, but his family lives in a jungle village, so He invited me and Victoria (other volunteer who was in Colombo) to come with him, so that's what we did this past weekend. Thursday evening after my project I hopped on the bus to Colombo for 3 hours and then from there, drove 8 hours to the small village near Monaragula located in the most south east corner of Sri Lanka. We arrived at the village at 3am, and there was no road to the village, so we had to walk down a small winding path through the jungle. You heard all sorts of noises! Then we arrived at the house. It was a small one room shack, and when we entered, the smell just hit us. There were 5 people scattered around the floor. His father, mother, two brothers and sisters. We sure slept good that night! The next morning we woke up, and has to go to the field and pick watermelon, peanuts and avocado for breakfast. It was one of the best breakfasts ever! Then we needed to get some drinking water from town, so up to the house rolls an ox and cart! It was a pertty uncomfortable ride, but we got there in one piece! After we finished getting supplies, we climbed up small mountain. It was so peacefull! The air is so clean and not a sound to be heard except for wild animals! What a difference from the noisy and polluted Kandy!! Then it was time for lunch. Back to the field we went. We got some sort of root, and vegetables. It tasted really good. That afternoon, we swam in a jungle river. It was like a free spa treatment! There was all waterfalls in the river, and you just lay in between the rocks, and the water flows over you. So relaxing! Just what the doctor ordered! Then time for dinner. His family did not know any English, but we were still able to communicate with them. It was amazing that they opened up their house to us! That night, one of the extended family got a baby, so at like 1am, back into the ox cart we went to the hospital. One thing that is very important to Sri Lankan people Is family. Maternity wards here are very different than back home. They are not happy places. There are 30 women crammed in a little room with no privacy at all. Everyone looked sad. After we visited a while, we went back to the house and had another great nights sleep! The next morning we swam for a while, and then another 9 hour car ride back. It was an amazing experience to see how there people all live. I talked to my coordinator, and there is an option for me to do teach english in the Jungle, so I might go there in 2 weeks! Time is flying by so fast! Hard to believe I only have a month and a half left! There is no way that this is my last time volunteering. I caught the volunteer bug