We were slightly less exhausted today; we awoke to the sound of birds in the jungle and the call for prayer in the village beyond. 7.30 and it was out with mats on the dry dusty dirt for yoga! This went fairly well until the starfish position. We’ll try again tomorrow. Then it was off to work with the elephants. First, we made up the vitamin balls, carefully counting out the medication for each one, we then wrapped them up in dough before feeding them to the elephants. Then it was off for a breakfast of Roti, a delicious dropped scone type pancake which you could have with curry or Jam. Yummy… after which we cleaned the morning beds, sweeping and disinfecting, when we finished, we were rewarded with bathing the Elephants in the river. They laid down and we scrubbed them with coconut husks. If we climbed on their backs, they treated us to our own personal shower. What an amazing experience!
At lunchtime, we went to a special needs school. Some of us were quite nervous on the way there as we had little or no experience with disabled children, but there was nothing to fear. We were greeted with lots of smiles and soon got into the swing of things. We had bought along a parachute game, bubbles and colouring. The children here were so lovely and enthusiastic they loved the activities and dancing. After a sad goodbye we made our way to the nearby town of Kandy. Here we shopped for souvenirs, Elephant trousers and tried the local fruits which the market sellers were happy to cut open and share with us. What a great day, busy and exciting in equal measure.
