At about 7 AM, we were at the entrance to the giant rock in Sigiriya. The rock is an icon of Sri Lanka. Really good move to be there when the gate opened. The day was hardly cool at that point and it only got hotter. It took about one and a half hours to do the round trip to visit the top. Christine was missing a sneaker so she had to do it in flip flops. They were stolen from her when she was required to take them off to use the bathroom at the temple just below the top. After some nail-biting minutes, she recovered her sandals in time to face the trip down. On the climb we saw ancient frescoes painted just below an overhang of rock. We entered through the giant paws of a lion (made of stone) to approach the top of the rock.
It was exhilarating to stand on top of the rock and take in the view for miles.
We were at the bottom in one and a half hours and took a tuk tuk to the hotel. We grabbed up the parcels of things we had brought for the school children and set off for an elementary school.
Our tuk tuk driver drove for about ten minutes further into the jungle. He brought us to a tiny school with two teachers and two rooms. The teachers welcomed us in and as we gave our gifts to the school, the teachers gathered all the children to line up for us and say hello in English. They were all in uniform. Crisp white. These are children who live in homes with no floor, no running water, rare electricity, and barely a roof over their head. They were all bright eyes, beautiful, polite, and well behaved. They sang a sweet little song about the instruments in the orchestra, going through the hand motions and sounds of each one. I wonder how many of those children will ever get to hear a real violin.
That was an amazing and touching experience.
It was only 9:30 and we had already climbed a mountain and (we hope) made a little difference in the lives of some school children.