So this past weekend I did loads of traveling! But the main point of this trip was to take a safari in the jungles of Yala National Park in Tissamaharama. It was a an 8 hour trip from my home in Panadura. We traveled half the way by bus, stopping in Unawatuna to stay the night on the beach Friday. On Saturday though we hired another van, this time with air conditioning. :) One of the host families set this whole trip up for us, they also traveled along with us. Making sure to stop at the good spots and showing us around. The mother use to run the hotel we stayed at, which her sister now owns. So we got a good deal of 1000 rupees for one night (which equals about 10 bucks!!!). Saturday afternoon after having some lunch we all piled into a rugged old Range Rover SUV with bench seats in the back and no side walls for the jeep tour around the park. It was a 4 hour excursion around the huge park and we saw monkeys, water buffalo, land monitors (which are large lizards that roam everywhere!), some type of deer, crocs, bears, and ELEPHANTS! We were actually very lucky to see one elephant that had two huge tusks, there are only about 12 male elephants in the park and only three aparently have tusks. So we were very lucky! The other elephant we saw was no more then 50 yards from our jeep, she looked a bit pregnant and she was trying to cross the road to get to a water hole. It was VERY cool to bust through this rugged terrane through the jungles. I am hopfully getting some pictures up sometime soon!
After the tour we returned to the hotel for dinner and bed! The next day, Sunday, we woke early to take some breakfast and head out for a boat tour around the lake in Tissa. But before the boat, the host father we traveled with wanted to show us a few temples and historic ruins from the old king. We saw where is palace use to stand around 60 B.C. and also his private Stupa, which is a huge religious monument Buddhists go to pray at. Stupas come in all sizes, but they are all dome shaped and they say that you should walk to the left of the stupa, always keeping it on your left and praying as you go. Many people bring lotus flowers and holy oils to burn as gifts to Buddha.
Later sunday the group of about 8 of us decided to split up and go different ways. Some traveled to Ella in the mountains to do some site seeing and hiking, well as we all know i've already had my fair share of hiking so another volunteer and I took off to spend the Monday holiday on the beach at Hikkaduwa! Utilizing our new local tourist friends to take us surfing again and hang out on the beach. It was a nice weekend, but very tiresome! Maybe i'll try to take a weekend off here pretty soon... haha! Probably not!
Anyhoo... that's all i got for now i guess!
xoxo
Lauren
All of us on the sick jeep ready to see some wild animals!! GRrrr...
Hey Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to say that I am all caught up on your blog. I am soooooooo jealous. It looks like you are having the time of your life! I'm glad that you will have this blog to reflect back on your experience. So, what are the other volunteers like? Any cute guys? What about at the hospital? Did you run into the yoga master yet? The pics look great! How is the food....are you sick of curry yet? Do you have dinner with your host family often? Do you find things are cheaper there?
Nothing new here. Karen quit and Tammy went per diem. I think thats it for work. Did you finish twilight yet? I have a new series of books for you....they are so good. I'll let you borrow them when you get back. There are nine in the series and they are way better than twilight. It's for adults, so the entertainment value goes up a few notches!! heeehee
Be safe, continue to have fun, and I look forward to the next blog.
Andrea
Hi Andrea!
ReplyDeleteSo to answer all your questions... haha! The other volunteers are good! Loads of English kids on a gap year between high school and college. I am the older one of the group by a few years, but that's ok. No cute guys so far, BUT... one arrived today at my house to stay for just 10 days. He is from England and is very very cute! hehe! The food is fine, getting quite use to it actually. I can handle more spicy food and actually enjoy some dishes! The protocal for volunteers is to actually eat alone without the family. I'm not 100% sure why this is, but it is the same for everyone here. Its a bit lonely, but now that I have a "roommate" I'll have someone to converse with at meals! And things are WAY cheaper! I have done so much traveling I couldnt have done otherwise! For the rafting trip I just posted, I spent 7,875 rupees, which equals out to be $78.75!! This is for 5 meals, hotel for two nights, rafting, and transportation all weekend! What a steal huh? I have two weeks at the end of my stay for vacation, you would really only be spending money on the flight over here if you come! Its so cheap to stay! *wink wink*
Anyhoo... its nice to still hear about the gossip at work! I LOVE THAT SHIT! haha! So keep me updated! Yes I did finish the Twilight series, like 3 weeks ago! FANTASTIC! If what you say is true about this new series I can't WAIT to get home to read it!
Hope all is well with you!
xo
Lauren
Nice picture of the elephant!
ReplyDelete