What a warm and gentle night in our little tent village. This morning, the fourth one, it's once again Catherine’s ukulele that wakes the participants. The first instruction is to take down the tent before breakfast, since rain is in the forecast. Rain all day long. This promises to be a challenge. So everyone gets busy dismantling the tents.
The sky is grey, but still neutral for now. The food team (Mélanie and Vincent) whips up a breakfast worthy of the Snack Bar chez Léon (yes! it even sparked a song…): eggs, sausages, potatoes, veggie beans, avocados, cheese, and fruit. Who could ask for more? In any case, everyone enjoys the meal by the fire.
Things are unfolding. The power of the adventure is setting in:
Easy chats
Scattered laughter
We feel good
Far away
We takes on full meaning
Collaboration becomes natural
Stories crackle
Hearts settle in
In ourselves, together
That doesn’t stop the rain from falling on us. Literally. Just like at your place the night before, the participants live through Marie-Michelle’s famous phrase: “… If there’s one certainty in life, it’s that if it rains, we get wet…” I’ve rarely heard something truer.
Thankfully, the tents and personal barrels were already packed and placed in the canoes. It’s under a torrential rain that the day’s plan is discussed. Participants learn that they’ll have to paddle about 6 km in a straight line, though likely a bit more by following the shoreline to shelter from the rain or strong wind. Our guide Hyppo explains: “… in a canoe, we go about 3 km/hour. But it’ll probably take us more than two hours…”
Spirits are still high and we finish taking down the kitchen and bathroom setup. All the canoes are ready, and so are the humans, and off we go on the reservoir, in the rain. The paddling pairs take shape, and the most enthusiastic ones are soon on the water, rain or no rain: Vincent, Annie, and Quentin (the trio canoe), Mylène and Marie-Ève, Caroline and Anne-Sophie.
The mood is light. Conversations flow, everyone shares stories. And then, a beautiful auditory chaos begins: a medley of Disney songs (yep, everyone’s exactly that Disney generation), karaoke classics (Queen, Bryan Adams, Grease…). Special mention to Jimmy, who knows them all. He’s not the loudest singer, but he hums along with such seriousness and joy that it’s hard to miss.
The fun is real, and the team suggests a lunch break. Participants help set up the camp, and everyone lends a hand to our guides. There’s already a visible ease in the organization, a natural and sincere desire to help and to contribute to the group’s comfort. A highlight moment that will be mentioned during the evening’s debrief: our happiness guardian launched an active warm-up activity that was a huge success and ended with Judith leading us in a perfectly pitched rendition of Ça fait rire les oiseaux, by the Compagnie Créole. Our repertoire is endless!
Then come the voices growing more in sync, the gestures aligning, like the crescendo of a community weaving itself tighter and tighter.
In just a few days together, I’ve seen participants perform small acts of genuine kindness: Mélanie explaining how the camp works to a latecomer, Annie subtly holding the back of a chair for a teammate about to sit down. Everything is simple and natural.
I’ll leave you with one image to share how the day ended. All of us sitting around the campfire, having dinner, as a thin strip of sunlight glows on the horizon, lighting up the forest. Just a slim line. Yellow, orange, it brightens the woods as it warms our hearts and fills our eyes with wild beauty. A soft omen for tomorrow. Cheers!
Gabrielle
In pictures
