8 Days of Pelelu Tepu; Day 5

S U N D A Y, the only day where I wondered what in the world I’d do. This morning, I didn’t really feel like getting up early. In fact, it's Sunday. Even then, I was among the first to be up and heading for a bath. I forgot to mention in my first post that Sergio, one of the guys of the ACT (Amazon Conservation Team), told us where the village got its name from. When the first villagers arrived at the river, they saw a Tortoise (Pelelu) on the top of a rock (Tepu) which kind of looks like an island. It’s easy to climb on top, so it's not really an island.

As I made my way to the river, I noticed that I arrived at the same time as one elderly woman. I also arrived just in time to witness an elderly man singing a song in Trio, and also talking all by himself. One thing I know for sure is that I’ll miss the misty cold mornings.

I started reading The Fault In Our Stars; I’ve been reading this book for about two years now. I had just started with the book when I saw the movie. Ruined it for me. Around 9:07 AM, I heard the sound of a horn. I guess it was time for church. Marcel, one of our guides, had told us that church is on Sundays between 9 and 12. I got up and finally had my breakfast.

There wasn’t much to do today, so I continued reading TFIOS (The Fault In Our Stars) and at some point, I fell asleep. After I woke up, I had lunch and started working in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro. At 5:15 PM Marcel arrived to guide us to the school so we could continue our Maculele workshop.

The dance was intense and the kids wanted more. I challenged the boys to a Capoeira move, a handstand. First, we did an activity to slowly come into position. At first, they were shy about it, but when one guy tried it, they all wanted to try. For me, it was a great workout because I had no actual workout since I arrived. After we were done with the Maculele, we headed back to the house and then immediately to the river to bathe.

I’m starting to like the whole “bathing in the river” thing. When I got back to the house from my bath, I plugged my laptop into the wall and had my evening meal. The rest of the night was spent reading TFIOS and studying.