Sri Lanka Part 12 – Time for action
I can’t be this unhappy anymore. If the book’s right when it says everything happens for a reason and the right people come along at the right time, then I’ve been given this book just when I need it. Mum and Dad are right. Lying in bed isn’t going to make me any better. I’m going to end up homeless again if I don’t do something. There’s got to be more to life than this. Going to work just to pay the bills is miserable. What’s the point of life if this is all there is? The dream of a couple of nights ago, about having blind faith, comes clear into my mind. I decide there and then. I’ve got to get out of here.
‘Cheryl!’ I shout to my flat mate. ‘I’ve got to go travelling. I can’t be here anymore’. No response. Kicking off my duvet, I take the 3 footsteps to her bedroom and swing open her door. Her and her boyfriend are fast asleep. ‘Cheryl! Wake up! Who do you know that’s going travelling this year?’ ‘Eugh, Lis what time is it?’ comes a grumbling, barely audible voice.
‘10.30am’
‘I’ve been in bed about 4 hours, what do you want?’
She sounds seriously hung over, head half on her pillow, half off. Half under her duvet, half out. Lying in the recovery position.
‘I’ve got to get out of here, who do you know that’s going travelling this year?’
‘Stuart from the beach bar goes every September.’
‘Whose Stuart, have I met him?’
‘Don’t know, he’s the chef’
‘O.K thanks’
Closing her door, I head back to my room and start dressing. ‘If I don’t act now, I’m going to talk myself out of this’. For the first time in a week, I walk out of the house.
It’s a clear day. The seagulls are hovering around the rooftops waiting for an unsuspecting tourist to walk by with a bacon bap or breakfast pasty.
It’s about a 10-minute walk to the beach bar. On route I’m looking into people’s eyes. The book says that if somebody catches our attention, perhaps there’s a message to be shared between us. Me staring into everybody’s eyes as I walk by them maybe isn’t the way to go. Most people are avoiding eye contact with the fast-walking crazy lady who’s glaring directly at them at all.
The bars in full view. It’s a big place in the centre of an expansive beach. It’s a busy place. Breakfasts are being served and plenty of people look like they’re having hair of the dog beers. Children are running around excited to be at the beach whilst panting, waggy tailed dogs, dig holes for the kids to fall in.
I’m feeling sick with nerves. ‘I don’t even know this guy, he’s gonna think I’m mental. If I’m not meant to go he’ll say no. Nothing can be worse than another day feeling like this. What have I got to lose? I can’t live my life like this anymore, I’ve got to do something.’
The barman looks at me like he’s repeating himself ‘Erm, hello, you got a table number? what can I get you?’
‘Does Stuart work here?’
‘Stuart? Stuart who?’
‘No idea. I was told he’s a chef here’
‘Erm, we’ve got a Stu in the kitchen, he’s in there now’.
‘Does he travel in the winter?’
This guy is looking at me like I’ve lost the plot.
‘erm,I don’t know, I think so, do you want a drink?’
‘No thanks, can I speak with the Stu that’s in the kitchen’
Looking me up and down a couple more times than he already has he eventually says ‘I’ll go ask him, who shall I say wants to see him’
‘He doesn’t know me so just say Lisa’
My hearts pounding as hard as those kids are smacking the buckets with their spades. I’m feeling like a complete idiot. ‘I hope I don’t crumble as easily as those sandcastles when he comes out.’
Standing out the front, I watch the familiar site of surfers riding the waves out back. ‘Why have I never tried surfing? I’ve lived here most of my life. I’ve never felt cool enough to surf I suppose.’
‘You Lisa?’
Turning around I see a broad, surfer looking dude in chef whites. Hair tied back in a pony tail.
‘Hi, yeah I am.’ Doing my best to hide the fear I’m feeling. (I’m well practiced at hiding my true feelings) I paste a big smile on my face and hold my hand out.
Shaking my hand with a smile that definitely appears to be finding this situation both curious and humorous, he eyes me up and down.
‘I’m a friend of Cheryls, she’s my flatmate’
‘Right’
‘I’ll get to the point. I’ve never travelled, I want to travel this year and I don’t want to go on my own. Cheryl said you travel every year. Can I join you this year?’
His torso leans back slightly as he raises his eyebrows. A slight, confused grin, on his face.
‘You want to come travelling with me at the end of the summer season?’
‘Yep, that about sums my visit here today’
‘haha right.’
‘So, what do you think?’
He eyes me up and down again, looking a little apprehensive. As if this is somehow going to turn out to be some kind of prank…‘Yeah alright’
‘Cool. Where we going?’
‘India’
‘You’re serious? You want to go to India?’
‘I don’t know anything about India. I just know I have to travel this year and you’re going and if that’s where you’re going and I can come along then yes, I want to go to India. How much money do I need?’
I can see by the way his shoulders drop, and the more serious look on his face, that he’s starting to take me seriously.
‘At a push, staying in the cheapest places possible, I’ve survived out there for 6 months on a grand. You’ll need about £800 for flights, visas and travel to and from the airport. I don’t do luxury travel, I do it the cheapest way possible.’
‘Right, when are you going?’
‘End of October, beginning of November, as soon as the seasons over’
‘Right, count me in’
‘Come on over to mine tomorrow, I’ll show you some pictures from the last trip’
‘Cool, thanks’. He gives me his address and walks back to his kitchen with a humorous, almost disbelieving grin on his face.
I walk off feeling lighter than I’ve felt in months. ‘£1,800. How the hell am I going to get £1,800 together in 2 months?’ The hotel I’ve been signed off from is in front of me on my way back to the flat. Walking through the reception into the dining room, I spot the dining room manager ‘Brenda, when can I come back to work?’
‘The Drs signed you off for another week Lisa’.
‘I need to work Brenda, lying in bed isn’t getting me anywhere. I want to come back. When can I start?’
‘Tomorrow mornings breakfast shift? 7am?’
‘Thanks, see you then’.
Leaving the hotel my mind starts to think about where else I might be able to work. This 1 job is not going to save me enough money for the trip in the short amount of time I’ve got.
Strolling down the road away from the hotel, a lady I recognise walks out of a side street. I’m in my thoughts so don’t see her until we are almost on top of each other. ‘Sorry Lucy, I was caught in my thinking’.
‘Me too Lisa, my bloody nanny’s let me down in August, can you believe it? Where the hell am I going to find a baby sitter in August?’
‘Oh no, that’s not great is it! Hang on a minute, what time do you need a sitter for?’
‘Its 6 nights a week, 7pm until 12.30am, I’ve got to cover the night shift for the family in the restaurant.’
‘If you can make it 8pm until 12.30pm, I can do it?’
‘She stands stock still. ‘You serious? You could look after the kids 6 nights a week?’
‘I can start tonight if you like?’
‘Amazing! You’re on!’
We walk to her place which is directly opposite the hotel I’m working at. I can go straight to hers from my evening shift at the hotel. Lucy shows me everything I need to know. ‘Great I’ll see you and the kids later’.
Calculating the extra income in my head I’m still going to be hard pushed to save that amount in that short time. I’m going to need to do really well on tips and spend nothing.
Crossing the road in the main street heading back to the flat, I see a lady who owns a café in town. ‘You don’t know anyone that wants an early morning cleaning job do you Lisa?’
‘How early?’
‘It needs to be ready for 7.30 latest’
‘How many hours?’
‘2’
‘Could it be done in 1 ½ hours?’
‘At a push, if I pick up all the chairs at night and leave everything ready, then probably. Why?’
‘I’ll do it. I’ll do 5.15am until 6.45. I will have to be gone at 6.45 on the dot’.
‘You want it? Definitely, it’s yours, can you start tomorrow?’
‘Yep, what do I need?’
Following her into the café, she hands me the keys and shows me the ropes.
‘See you in the morning!’ I say as I leave
‘No you won’t, you’ll be here on your own at that time of day’
‘Ha no worries’
My flat is at the back of the café, hopping over the wall, I stand at my front door. I’ve been gone 75 minutes. In that time, I’ve gone back to work, picked up 2 more jobs and arranged a trip to India. Walking back into the flat I feel like a completely different person. Walking past my open bedroom door I spot Celestine prophecy lying face down on the floor.
‘Well, I reckon I’ve just been in the universal flow. Shit, I’m going to India. With that, I open the bedroom curtains and swing wide the window. ‘Let’s get my uniform organised for the morning and finish this book whilst I’ve got my last free couple of hours for quite some time.’
‘This is a hell of a walk Stu’. We’re macheting our way through the jungle. It’s our turn to collect the water.
I’m immersed in the overwhelming sense of humidity in the air. The colours in the forest are spellbinding. Like walking through an enchanted land. The way the sunlight sparkles through the trees creates a feeling of mystery and magic. Colours so vibrant it’s as if I can see the plants breathing and the insects talking. This place is alive. I’m vehemently aware that I’m in an entirely new world as an uninvited guest. This rainforest buzzes with non-human life and activity.
‘How do you know we’re going the right way?’ I ask Stu after about an hour of walking. ‘If we’re having to cut back branches, surely this is a different route to the one you’ve taken before?’
‘Instinct I guess, I don’t know really.’
We’ve been walking a couple of hours when we come to a tap, about calf height on the side of a dirt road.
‘Are there cars here then? Houses do you think? It feels really weird seeing a road, how big is this island?’
‘We’ve had to walk over 2 hours to find this Lisa, there must be people here for there to be a tap on the side of the road. We’ve not seen any yet though’
‘Let’s wonder down the road a bit’
‘We’ve got to be strict on time Lis. We can’t get stuck in the midday heat.’ Stu starts filling the water containers. We don’t fill them right up as the fisherman’s coming back for us tomorrow. We’ve all decided, after speaking to the not so sociable new islanders, that were going to head to the island with the pre made tents. Have some social interaction and a bit of easy camping for a few days.
‘Come on Stu, just 10 minutes in the other direction. We’ll keep to this road, no turning off so it’s easy to get back. Let’s just see if we can see anyone, we’re leaving tomorrow, we may as well have a little look.’
He’s clearly (and understandably) resistant. Standing as still and silent as if he’s trying to appear like a cardboard cut-out version of himself. He’s eventually curious enough to give in.
‘We stick to the road and we take the water with us just in case’ he says in an authoritative sulky tone.
‘Fine by me’ I say, turning and tripping on the rubber heel of my reefs.
Carrying our now heavy load, we walk alongside the sweat inducing road. 10 minutes pass.
‘Lisa, we’ve walked 10 minutes, let’s think about turning back’.
Like a child begging to stay at the park longer ‘c’mon Stu, Just 10 more minutes, if we still haven’t found anything or seen anyone, I promise I’ll turn back’
’10 more and that’s it, we’re pushing our luck’
5 or more minutes in we find ourselves in a sort of village.
There’s 3 concrete buildings on our right and to the left a cart with fruit on it.
I’m elated. This gesture of a town feels like we’ve landed in civilisation. One of the buildings is a place selling drinks. There’s lemonade (that looks about 100 years old) in a fridge (that looks like it doesn’t work)
‘Stu, let’s sit here and have a drink’
The thing with this kind of travelling is we go nowhere without our money belt strapped to us. In it at all times are our passports, cash and travellers’ cheques. When we’re in the water we bury it, out of sight. Stu puts up no fight. Sitting on a plastic chair I wonder how the concrete for making the building got all the way out here. Drinking the sugary warm lemonade, is like heaven in a dirty bottle. The sugar hits the feel-good brain cells immediately. I’m as high as a kite in less than a minute. It’s been a while since I’ve had sugar. I’m giggling away as if I’m drunk.
The sound of a truck catches our attention. Following the direction of the noise to our right, we see an actual truck. It looks like it’s made mostly of rust but it’s definitely a truck. It has a front cab and the back is open. Like a pick-up truck you might see in the movies that carries cargo and a couple of dogs in the open back. This old automobile is carrying people. Like a bus but not a bus. There’s a lot of people piled in, sat on the floor. My eyes widen so much the bottom lids must surely have hit the floor. The people in the back are a gorgeous dark chocolatey brown colour. The ladies aren’t wearing tops but are wearing gold rings around their necks. Some as many as 10 or more. Their necks are stretching up like a giraffe. Their ears are pierced with what must be gold weights. It’s stretched their ear lobes so far down I could put my entire face through the healed hole and there’d still be room. Their staring at us in the exact same disbelieving way that Stu and I are staring at them.
The truck passes by slowly. When it’s finally out of sight Stu and I just stare at each other.
‘Can you believe that? It’s like seeing something out of a school history book. Real life tribal people. They exist! That was worth the hike. We’d better go hey?’
Stu, still looking gob smacked responds ‘we’re I trouble here Lis, we’ve been gone way too long. We’re going to end up ill if we walk in this heat’.
‘If another truck goes by how about we hitch a lift to the opening to the beach?’
‘At least that would put us back into the shade’
Within 2 minutes I swear I’m seeing a mirage coming up behind us. It’s a grey land rover that looks brand spanking new.
‘Am I hallucinating or can you see that land rover Stu?’
‘I can see it too, stick your thumb out Lis’
‘Why me?’
‘It’s a land rover, it’s going to have men in it. Stick your thumb out,’
Self-consciously sticking out my arm, thumb raised, I smile my brightest smile as the land rover speeds past.
‘That didn’t work. Clearly this fisherman’s hat isn’t working for me’
2 minutes later, the land rovers reversing back up the road and stops 5 metres in front of us. The back doors open to show 6 uniformed men. 3 sat on each of the benches opposite each other. I walk up and say hello. The uniformed men drop their eyes to the ground. The gentleman in the front passenger seat has an even smarter uniform on. Speaking in perfect English, he leans through the gap, speaking over the men in the back. His posh Indian accent is easy to understand ‘You should not be out in this heat’
‘We have miss timed our walk. We’re trying to get back to the beach. Could you take us back to the entrance of the beach please?’
He speaks in a language I don’t understand to the driver then to the men in the back who still have their eyes lowered to the ground. They shuffle up as the man in the front says ‘Please, climb in, we will drive you back to the entrance to the beach’
‘Thank you so much’ Squishing myself into the back, the doors close tight against us, I marvel at the phenomenal timing!
Stu’s quiet and I’m feeling excited. Taking in the uniformed men, they seem out of place here. Speaking to who appears to be the head honcho I ask ‘Where are you going? You’re all very smart, what are you doing here?’
‘I am the manager of the forestry commission. We are driving deep into the forest. We are going to check on the elephants that are collecting the timber.’ He says this with such pride and importance.
‘Huh? Elephants? There’s elephants here?’
‘Of course, we have elephants working for us in the forest. These men will be taking over from the other riders.’ Ahhh hence the not quit as smart uniform.
‘You’re driving into the forest now to go check on the elephants?’
‘Yes’
My heart is pounding. What are the chances of this? The timing. Seriously?
‘Can we come with you?’
‘No, that is not allowed. We are driving deep into the forest’
‘Please please take us with you. What are the chances of this happening? What are the chances of you collecting us today just as you are heading into the forest? Please let us come with you.’
The forestry commissionaire speaks with the driver. There’s an energy amongst the riders in the back. I’m holding my breath.
After what seems like a lot of chat that I don’t understand, he speaks in English ‘You can come’.
My heart sings with joy and I stare at Stu with the biggest smile I think I’ve ever had. ‘We can go into the forest Stu; we can meet the working elephants. This is amazing!’
Stu’s response isn’t what I expected. In a hushed voice so that the English speaking man at the front can’t hear he says
‘I’m not sure about this Lis, heading off deep into the forest. We’re not going to have a clue where we are. We don’t really know who these people are, Russel and Debbie will be getting worried’.
‘Stu we have to go. This is one of those opportunities that just doesn’t happen. We have to take the risk’.
‘Fine, let’s do it’.
‘