Adventures in Jafna

When we were planning this trip, Rob kept suggesting we go to India, and I kept saying no. Although I loved traveling there back in 1998, I was sure the kids would get sick. And, India is a tough place to travel. Instead, we chose Sri Lanka as kind of an India-lite: similar climate, some similar foods, but much more easy-going. 

Nowhere in Sri Lanka feels closer to India than Jafna at the very north of the country. Not only is it only 89 km away, but many suspect a series of limestone shoals between the two countries used to form a land bridge. Friends from our elephant experience recommended we travel there for an off-the-beaten-path experience. We found this is to be a true description of Jafna. We also found that the reason most travelers don't go to Jafna is there isn't that much to see there and the travel infrastructure is minimal. Having said that, we had a memorable time and met many interesting people, including many with connections to Canada.

Flowers floating in a bowl

Our Jafna experience began with the train ride north through some remarkable scenery. We also spoke with a number of people on the train including one man who pointed out when the train ride became smoother because the original track had been destroyed in the war, or as he called it, the terrorist uprising. This was an interesting beginning to our time up north, as the war (and also the tsunami) formed the background of many of our encounters.

Jafna has few sidewalks, lots of wandering cows and a kind of post-war feeling of a city that is still getting back on its feet. We explored the remains of a Dutch fort by the water, visited a huge Hindu temple for puja (prayers) and snacked at a great ice cream parlour. We were almost the only tourists in the city, but we did meet several Canadian Sri Lankans. Rob and Dassa had their hair cut by a barber who lived in Scarborough for most of the 2000's, and we met a young Torontonian, Anath, at a temple who had come back to Jafna to get married. He was excited to introduce us to his beautiful bride who was decked out in an elaborate temple-visiting sari.



During our Jafna visit I was also able to take a few pictures of some of the beautiful clothing Sri Lankan women wear. These two photographs below are of bridesmaids we saw having their photo taken at the hotel where we ate breakfast.

I also took a picture of these dental hygienists (see below) working on a train that had been repurposed for a toothpaste-sponsored dental check train for children. A photographer spotted our kids and asked if they wanted to walk through this Unilever train so they could see the exhibits of traditional Sri Lankan arts (woodcarving, metal work and coloured rice art). The exhibits were interesting and we got to meet some of the artists. We also got free Signal brand toothpaste at the end. Since the official photographer took a lot of photos of us I thought it was okay to ask these women to pose. 

Our second day in Jafna we took a hired van tour of the surrounding area from our hotel. It very quickly became apparent that neither our driver nor our "guide" had ever left the city of Jafna. It also became clear that there wasn't that much to see, although the scenery was lovely: lots of palm trees, sand, and blue water. We drove along an empty coastal road where most of the houses had either been bombed by the army or destroyed in the 2004 tsunami. We stopped by the beach to watch some volleyball players, saw a tired lighthouse and then took many wrong turns to get to the beach. When we did arrive, our driver got stuck in the sand. Rob tried to organize everyone to dig us out, but the guide and driver preferred to wait for someone to come help. Who that was never exactly clear, and it was only when the sun was setting several hours later did they rally and organize the local fishermen to help us. In the mean time, the kids and I went to play in the waves and Rob helped the local fishermen move their boats into the water for their evening fishing. The water was warm, the waves just fierce enough to toss us around, and we met a large family from Colombo who used to live in Jafna, before the war.
 

Jafna fishing boats

Did we enjoy our day? For the most part yes, but it was also very long and our guide forgot to plan lunch or dinner. Our day oddly ended with a quick trip to Pizza Hut.     

In Jafna we also gave out many of the Amis de Poche (pocket buddies) that Dassa's school's humanitarian club made for us. The club is ran by Madame Jacynthe Aubut who was Dassa's grade two teacher, and is an amazing teacher, and an amazing force for good in the world. Her club not only gives out dolls, but fundraises for many different charities. I was particularly moved by the dolls she recently gave to another friend of mine, Gemma, to pass on to victims of the horrendous shooting in New Zealand during Gemma's recent trip there.

Jafna girl and her Amis de Poche

We gave dolls to a little girl whose family of fishermen helped push our van out of the sand, to some small kids on a horribly crowded bus, and to children in a medical clinic where we briefly visited because Dassa had an infected insect bite. (I'll spare you the details of this, but let you know it involved some parental dispute about whether meds were needed, a child in tears who couldn't swallow pills, a frustrated parent who insisted the child understand the physics of pill swallowing, and pills that refused to be ground up.) The Amis de Poche softened many such difficult travel moments and I loved being able to offer a small handmade doll as a gift from Canada and explain that my son's classmates had made them. Since many people, especially in Jafna, told us they had a sister or cousin or friend in Canada, it was nice to be able to extend this Canadian connection. It was also lovely to see the shy smiles of small children as they received our little gifts. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to write about our safari experience. This won't warrant a full blog post, but I will say that we went to Wilpattu Park before Jafna where we rode a jeep for four hours and saw some beautiful birds, including peacocks, deer, monkeys, crocodiles, mongoose and water buffalo. We didn't see the sloth bears or leopards, but it was still enjoyable. Mostly when we reflect on our safari we talk about the guest house we didn't stay in, called The Wild Lovers. Even now, several weeks later, one of us will sigh and say, "I really wish we had stayed at the Wild Lovers Guest House."