An Excursion with the DDC

September 6, 2010

Four days after we got back from Beruwela we were back on the road again. This time with the DDC on a staff retreat of sorts. Chaminda had mentioned it back when we first arrived a few weeks ago but we weren't really sure if we were invited. We didn't want to impose and were full ready to fend for ourselves come the weekend. Friday evening I broached the subject with Chaminda and he gave me one of those enigmatic looks that I've come to know well. Of course you're coming along, don't be silly.

This baby was amazing on a very long, jarring bus trip.

Early Saturday morning we were given our lunches wrapped in banana leaves. We then boarded a colorfully painted bus with the DDC staff and their families and  headed out. Headed out to where we weren't quite sure. Chaminda had told us Nurwela and to bring a jacket before jetting off on his motorcycle Friday night. We found Nurwela on our tourist map of Sri Lanka in the lower middle section of the island. It was in a darker green patch perhaps indicating mountains. Hence the jacket I assumed.

I don't know if I will ever cease to be amazed by how bus drivers manage to steer their lumbering charges over narrow, crumbling and cracked roads while dodging pedestrians, pushcarts, bicycles, livestock and navigating hairpin curves. The ride was jolting and the road fraught with sharp curves. Sitting on the aisle seat you'd be thrown on the floor if you didn't keep your hand on the seat opposite for stabilization. We stopped an hour into the trip at a roadside cafe breakfast. For two hours our path climbed undulating into the Sri Lankan mountains like a snake.

The bus rolled to a stop next to a giant waterfall. We stretched our legs climbing up a path along side to a place where the water pooled. We all splashed around a bit before taking off again.

At our next stop an hour a half later the air temperature had dropped. A little girl in our party wearing a tank top hopped off the bus and immediately threw her arms around herself and released a loud, “Burrr!” It was refreshing to be walking around in the cool at midday. Tea plants covered the rolling mountain side. We lunched by the roadside from our banana leaf wrapped bundles and moved on.

The tea plantation was just the beginning of changes in flora. Gone were the rice paddy fields and groves of coconut, banana, guava and papaya trees. In their stead grew rubber trees and vast swaths of root vegetables like carrots and potatoes.

Our next stop was a botanical garden. The sun shone brightly and the air was crisp. A great day for a walk in the park. We found a clear spot and played handball.

The garden was vast so Jean and I split off from the main group to do some exploring on our own. A little over an hour later as I was sitting barefoot in the grass contemplating the mysteries of the universe whilst waiting for Jean to get back from the loo a park ranger rushed up to me and said that he had been looking all over for me. Apparently, they're had been some miscommunication within our party. We had thought we were leaving the park at five. In truth, planned departure was 3:30. The ranger guided us out to where Chaminda and Deva were waiting. Our bus had already left so we hopped on a village bus to meet up with them in Nurwela.

Chaminda and me enjoying the rose garden.

Forty-five minutes later we hop off the bus at a fruit and vegetable market in Nurwela. As daylight fades the temperature drops. People are walking around in sweatshirts and wooly hats. So strange that this morning we were in the tropics.  The rest of the DDC group is at a nearby park. Chaminda, Deva, Jean and I take the opportunity to run around town gathering provisions for tonight's festivities. We end up at a place called Cargill's, a western style grocery store. The line at the liquor counter is prodigious as men cycle through getting there Arak. We purchase a few bottles of spirits and some snacks.

We rejoin the group at the park and hop on the bus. The bus rumbles around this large alpine lake and screeches to a halt next to a wide open area on the shore. In the last dying gasp of day some of the guys in our group manage to squeeze in a pick up cricket game before we all file back on the bus and make up way up to our accommodations for the night.


The wooden framed Green Hotel is reminiscent of an old style ski lodge. The  first floor is one large dining room complete with fireplace. Upstairs there's a large lounge area with couches and a TV. Eight bedroom units branch off from the main room. Bedrooms have three twin beds and attached bed.  Jean and I bunk with Sunhil and his family sharing one of the twin beds.

We wash up and head downstairs for dinner. The men have secured a long table in the corner stocked with spirits and beer. Sri Lankan practice is to drink before you eat. We munch on snacks while drinking sprite and arak (coconut vodka). Chaminda breaks out some limes and a sour apple spirit and starts making cocktails. After dinner of rice and curry a drum circle forms and everyone launches in Sri Lankan folk song. Sunhil and Chaminda ask us for a song and I my best rendition of Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places. The party breaks up a little after ten and we head to bed. For the first time in a while I feel compelled to use a blanket.

People are moving around early the next morning. After breakfast we're back on the bus making out way out of the mountains via a northerly course. The ride is long and jolting. It's broken up by various stops throughout the day.

A Buddhist temple complex.

The river for lunch and a swim

A National Park where the Vedda, the indigenous people of Sri Lanka, lead lives similar to those of their ancestors 30,000 years ago.

Dambulla, a town 50 kilometers from Yakalla, for dinner and some shopping.

We got back at the DDC just before eleven Sunday night. Jean and I were exhausted. Surely, surely no one will be at work tomorrow morning we thought. We were so confident that we took the morning off from farm. To our surprise the place was abuzz by 9 am Monday.

Check out more pictures from the trip here