Around the Jaffna Peninsula

Because Jaffna has a clock tower, a fort, and a library, I decided to supplement my stay there by visiting the rest of the peninsula (yeah, Jaffna's at the very north of the country, sitting on a peninsula).

There are lots of sites "around", but trying to save the last several hundred rupees I had left, I mostly just took the bus to other places and ate Cream Crackers all the while.

I decided the obvious thing to begin with was the Keerimalai (I don't know how to say it) Spring, and hour north of Jaffna.  The spring is said to have healing powers, and I thought maybe it would cure my thyroid problems if I swam around in it for awhile.

The spring is located on the beach next to some temples (and the bus's termination point); they call it a "pond", and there's a changing room and a separate section for ladies to swim in (so luckily no one had to stare at me trying to heal myself).  It's a holy site, so you have to leave your shoes at the door.

It looks like this

The spring itself is...well, it's not what I thought a spring would look like.  It's extremely opaque greenish grey water (due to mineral content?) mixed with ocean water, with which it is connected.  So, it's very salty; you can't drink it (yes, I tried).  The floor of the pool is scary and slippery (algae) and rocky, so I was too creeped out to walk around, but I did float around in the water for awhile.

It looks like this

It actually did seem to heal my thyroid.  Haven't had any complaints since then (and I don't think it's the placebo effect, because it didn't heal the blind spot in my eye from dengue fever).  It only healed the one I asked for.  Cool beans.

There are also some temples around, which you can explore.  I went into one, and it looks even better inside than the gateway pictured above does (but you can't take pictures of it).

You can also go in through the old, decrepit (but more Indiana Jones) gate below.  Go explore a Hindu temple sometime.

All that stuff's right next to the bus stop and didn't take more than 3 hours.

I also heard Point Pedro was great, so went there in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, the military had blocked off all access to the beaches, so I just wound up going back to Jaffna after one hour of aimless wandering and a chocolate ice cream bar.

But as long as my thyroid is ok, my day served its purpose.