Week Without Walls (WWW) 2014

February 5th, 2014

Eco lodge's main lounge hut

Eco lodge river

The previous week was when I had my final WWW trip and as I have already explained and stated my goals for the trip in the last post, not all of them were fulfilled but I still definitely did enjoy the journey. Our first stop of the trip was at the 'Back of Beyond' Eco-lodge guest house where we were going to be staying for the first two nights. This rest house really was Eco-friendly as most of its rooms were huts which had floors made out of dry mud and roofs made out of straw. During the trip, we also each had our own WWW journals where we would reflect on each of the days and even jot down the different plant and animal species that we find. Our activities on the first day were searching through the dry forest right outside the Eco lodge for different animal species, having a wash in the Eco lodge river, and finally searching for the rare slender loris animal in a night forest walk.

Ritigala ruins- stone and sand pathway

The second day was when our group got the oppurtunity to discover more about Sri Lanka's ancient culture as we went to the kingdom ruins of Ritigala. We were able to observe how plants have actually intergrated into the ruins as time has passed and so it was more difficult to identify what the numerous sculptures could have been. Our group was able to make fun of the visit to the ruins by creating an activity to only step on stones to move and not on any of the sand. This made the whole stay more entertaining and engaging for the group. 

Buddhist ruins of Medirigiriya

The third day was when we would move to Trincomalee, but first stopped at Medirigiriya to observe a few Buddhist ruins. We met the 'Art on Wheels' WWW at the ruins who were sketching some of the statues that were there. We then took off for Trincomalee and visited a Hindu temple as soon as we got there. I learned some new things about meditation as the temple had signs that would be in Tamil and English. So this did help our whole group to understand this religion better. One quote I remember seeing in a sign was "The heart is a wasteland without meditation". We explored Trinco even further around the villages and some students even purchased souvenirs. Unfortunately we were not able to have our service component in cleaning trash off the streets in the area as we did not have enough time. Our group was also not able to visit Pigeon Island and snorkel in the ocean since we were advised not to go during the rainy monsoon, which did disappoint me a bit. Although I felt better about the trip later on when we were able to stay at the Chaaya Blu resort for the night.

Group photo outside of Hindu temple

Outside of hut in second Eco lodge 

The fourth day was quite an off day for me as I woke up sick from food poisoning and was limited from participating in the activities we had on the day. We went to the beach of the resort and decided to explore it more. As we walked further, we started finding numerous trash items that have been dumped on this beach. There were even different types of dead fish that have been dried up on the shore. Seeing all this trash on the beach was worth taking notice of the environmental damage that exists in Sri Lanka. Our group eventually left the resort and headed to visit another ruin area except I was physically limited from walking around because of the lack of energy I had from my sickness, so I stayed in the bus this time. We then arrived to our second Eco lodge in Pidruangala, where we would stay for the final night. The owners of this Eco lodge were partners with 'Back of Beyond' so this lodge was environmentally friendly as well. In fact, huts we stayed in this time were even closer to the environment than the previous huts since they were actually placed right in the middle of a forest. The last Eco lodge had a more open area to move around, but this one was more closed in with large trees and plants everywhere. Later in the night, the entire went out to gaze at the stars and have a group discussion reflecting on the trip so far and what we have learned. It was a great activity to really bond and have a better understanding of my group.

Statue of sleeping Buddha

We started the final day off by climbing up a huge rock, placed next to Sigiriya rock. I was feeling much better today from my sickness than yesterday so I was able to at least participate in this final physical activity. I recognized the rock we were climbing when we saw a brick statue of the sleeping Buddha that's placed on the way to the top of the rock. That was when I realized I have climbed this rock in my 8th grade WWW trip where we also were learning about Sri Lanka's ancient culture. There was a breath-taking view at the very top of the rock of Sigiriya, as well as the whole forest we were surround in.What's ironic about this trip is that it was called the dry zone WWW, when it was the rainy monsoon so more places were actually wet than dry. Even though there wasn't really a service component involved, I did end up getting to express my ideas and thoughts about the trip in a journal for creativity, and have different climbs through rocks for action. As well as some education about Sri Lanka's ancient history and meditation. It was a fun and memorable trip for my final WWW.

Group photo on top of rock (I'm the one crouching down wearing the blue jacket)