Are you Pinoy?

Hello loyal followers. I have some bad news, (wait for it)... there will be no pictures in this blog post. Unfortunately, there are no Internet cafes where we are staying, but we will upload a whole bunch of pics as soon as possible. I am communicating to you with the use of Michelle's I-Touch because we do have Wifi. For now you will just have to sit there and listen to me rave and rant about our journey to the Philippines. While Michelle and I have been very lucky with the weather so far in true Oregon fashion it has rained since arriving at our beach resort :(

The Philippines is a homecoming of sorts as my father was born in Quezon City, which is located just north of the capital of Manila. To my own fault, I know very little about his upbringing. I will make it a point to ask him more questions and hopefully one day visit the country with him. What I do know is a long time ago my grandparents, my father, and his 3 brothers decided to immigrate to America and in doing so provided a better life for future generations of Buhay's!

We flew into the Clark Airport and from there had to take a bus to the Manila Airport. It wasn't easy as our bus stopped short of our promised destination. We were thrown to the wolves, so to speak, as handfuls of taxi drivers tried to get our business. It probably didn't help that Michelle and I were running on a couple of hours of sleep in the last 48 and the last thing I had eaten was a small bag of gummy bears. We weren't in the mood to be bombarded. Thailand is a backpacker's retreat, where every turn has been plotted by travelers before you. This felt like uncharted territory even though we were taking the identical route Michelle's parents had taken in the past. After negotiating a price we finally made our way to the airport only to find we paid way more than necessary. We vowed to have all fares metered when taking taxis in the future. From Manila we flew to Cebu City in which we spent one night there.

Before I go any farther let me give you some insight into the Filipino people. Around 80 percent are Roman Catholic. We traded the temples of Thailand for Catholic churches. In addition the country is extremely impoverished. At times, children and homeless badger you for money. People were asking for tips when helping us place our bags in busses. It is very sad and I consider myself fortunate not to be in these people's shoes. Major cities are extremely crowded as well. You really have to move quickly or you will get run over! My father gave me a list of Tagalog (Filipino language) words but it really is unnecessary as everyone speaks English. There is really no distinctive native dishes we have found yet. Cebu was full of western fast food joints and hybrids of Chinese/ Asian foods. I am in search of a popular dessert called halo halo which is a mixture of shaved ice and fruit toppings. They love basketball and we found it very comforting to see Lebron dunking on a New Jersey Nets defender as we were channel surfing. We checked into the Westpoint Inn which cost $23 for the night. A little out of our price range but we were so tired we really did not care. People are friendly if you ask for help and minus a few stares here and there we generally felt safe. In the beginning of January, culminating of the 16th, Filipinos celebrate the Sinulog Festival. This native dance is honor of the holy image of Santo Nino (Baby Jesus). It consist of drums and dance moves that mimic the Pahina River. The festival links Cebu's pagan past and Christian present.

At this point, this is where I turn green and my clothes start to rip (Hulk reference for the uninitiated). It took 3 taxis to get to our destination of the North Bus Terminal. Our first taxi took us to the South Terminal and ditched us before we could flag him down. The second driver was stuck in traffic and we were charged 100 pesos for moving 10 feet. We finally made it after I had spouted a few choice words !$@. Michelle calmed me down letting me know we only really spent about $7 to get to the bus terminal. We then took a ferry to the private island of Bantayan, where we had a resevation for the Budyong Beach Resort. Bantayan is part of a chain of islands called The Visayas in the Visayan Sea.

After a couple days of rain we finally had some beach time this morning. The water is blue and the sands are white. The weather report calls for scattered rain showers and sunshine. Thanks for checking in as always, Salamat!