The Jaffna Peninsula

This was the last morning for breakfast from the sisters. We took a 3-wheel to the bus station and went to Vavuniya. We're getting quite far north now! It was 50 kilometres, 1.5 hours, but only about US 44 cents. We arrived at 9:00 am so we decided that we should try to go as far north as possible today. We decided to go to Jaffna. There were no busses but we found the place where vans leave from. Being cheap, we waited until the bus filled up and paid SR750 each. If we'd been in a real hurry, we could have paid more and gone immediately. The down side was we needed to wait until 11:00 and it was really hot.



I think we had to get off for three different checkpoints. Some were the LTT (Liberation Tamil Tigers) and other Sri Lankan forces. I could never tell who wanted to check the bags again. It was a tremendous hassle and for what? Almost twenty years of war . . . and for what? People dead, economic development stalled, human lives interrupted . . . and for what?

Jaffna is not a tourist haven yet. People are very friendly but it looks like Castro's Cuba. All the vehicles except those of the United Nations are pre-war vintage Morris Minors! I supposed just being able to travel here is special as it wasn't possible between the mid-80's and a few years ago. We did manage to get a very convenient room at the Yaara City Villas. We are just one street away from the town center but it's quiet and green here.