Today we ledt at 9AM on what we thought would be an hour long trip, which turned out to be over 4 hours to get to the cremation ceremony. Highlights of the drive included: lush rainforest, lots of rice paddies, monkeys, a totally nasty gas station bathroom (complete with a squat toilet, aka non-western style), and beautiful views of the black sand beaches. We immediately had lunch upon arriving at the village, since we were special guests--super elaborately decorated, even got fancy coconut drinks! The son of the deceased (the person who was getting cremated that day) explained to us his gratitiude for us coming to the ceremony; and told us his dad died 3 and half years ago. Apparently, it is not strange to hold a cremation ceremony years later--the village waits until a bunch of people have died to hold a village-wide ceremony (in this case, five people were going to be cremated). After lunch, we went out into the street to join the community in a procession to the cemetery where the cremation would take place. About 40 men carried a HUGE float-like thing which carried the bones (which were dug up for the ceremony to be burned), and everyone was singing and cheering. The whole ceremony was joyous--lots of music and even a man was selling balloons to little kids! Upon arrival to the cemetery, they lit the entire tower on fire and we watched it burn for a bit before getting back on the bus. It was overall a cool experience, but the time we spent driving kinda made the day drag. Once home, we went and got Indian food at a place down the street from the homestay then went to sleep!