Mabuhay sa Pilipinas!

(Welcome to the Philippines!)

10.25.10

We had been looking forward to September 2010 since we arrived more than a year ago, because it meant our FIRST VISITORS from home! My mom, Traci, and uncle Jeff made the more than 8,000 mile/18+ hour trek to the Phils and stayed with us here for 10 amazing days.

We met them in Tacloban, our nearest city and airport. From there we traveled together to our site in Eastern Samar and spent about four days so they could meet our friends and adopted family, see our community, and get a feel for what our day to day life is like.


[We checked out the beach on Calicoan Island, staying overnight right on the Pacific and enjoying the calming vibe of the waves]



[We hiked up to the yoga camp to soak up our only cool and breezy moments, while taking in the views of the Pacific]


[It was a must that they take part in the local ritual of hanging out at the town plaza at night and sipping on a "Sparkle for take out" - a Mountain Dew-like soda sold in plastic bags]



[And they met all of our people here - first an evening with our host family and then a trip to the municipal hall to meet our coworkers and the mayor]

Then it was on to vacation! Four days on the island of Bohol and two in Tagaytay, Cavite, with lots of traveling in between. Over the course of about a week we were seemingly able to do it all...

We stayed in 3 excellent places: Alona Beach in Bohol, with its touristy yet laid back strip of resorts and restaurants; a private resort on Panglao Island, Bohol; and a small hotel with award winning restaurant along the ridge in Tagaytay, Cavite, overlooking the Taal Volcano:






*To get there, we rode in or on nearly all forms of transport possible here:






*And while there, we ate like we haven't in a looong time:






*Some days were relaxing and some were packed with activities:

[strolling along Alona Beach, with its many resorts and restaurants]

[taking a one-day interior tour of Bohol, where we visited the tarsier sanctuary. Tarsiers are one of the world's smallest primates and they're endemic to four islands in the Philippines, including our island of Samar. These little nocturnal guys are about the size of your palm and can turn their heads nearly 180 degrees and jump crazy distances using their long tails. They also kinda look like Yoda...]

[going on a tough hike up to the top of the tarsier reserve, where we had an impressive view of the chocolate hills area. definitely worth it in the end, but also our most challenging trek yet!]

[visiting a butterfly garden and sanctuary]

[finally seeing the famous "Chocolate Hills" - one of the Philippines most popular tourist destinations. the more than 1700 hills, which seems to roll on forever across central Bohol, turn a brownish shade during the dry season, giving them their name]

[crossing a hanging bridge, just for fun]

[spending an evening in a karaoke room, of course. no Philippines trip is complete without]

[lounging in THE best pool I've ever seen for the good part of two days, with an amazing view of Bohol and Cebu in the distance]

[taking in the view of Taal Volcano from the ridge of Tagaytay. We visited People's Park in the Sky, the unfinished summer home of the Marcos family as well for another view of this 'lake within a lake and volcano within a volcano.' We couldn't visit the crater because it's had some activity lately (it's last major eruption was in '77), but the view was more than enough to make us happy]

We hope they got a good taste of what life in the Phils is like. We know we saw some very diverse parts of the country and sights that we'll never forget.

We spent our last day in Manila, taking in the urban setting and crazy malls. And then it was time to say our sad farewells...

[we all dealt with this in different ways, haha]

With one year left in our PC commitment, we're increasingly looking towards what is next, which can mean HOME:) It was so nice to have a reminder, if only for ten days, of what that's like.