The Cubicle is empty!!!

Yesterday, Feb. 12 the family had a picnic at White beach, in nearby Panglao Island.

 We rented two nipa huts to set-up our food and things.  There were plenty of people today even if the weather was cloudy.  It rained for a little bit but stayed away nonetheless.  The water was cool and once you were in it, it felt great.  The sandy beach is pure white and feels great under your feet especially around this time of the yr.

 We had plenty of filipino food to eat.  Which is great because there were about 25 of us.  There was great comraderie and joking around. 

We also rented jet ski’s.  I spent about 45 min on those jet ski’s  and it was a blast!  The salt water was great!  I haven’t swam in salt water in while.  Probably when I left here. 

The public portion of the beach is shrinking as the resorts are starting to invade.  Tourists were everywhere.  Which is good for the economy here.  They need it, but at the same time they are losing their treasure.  Is this progress?

 At night, Rommel and I went to a Sabong (cockfight).  I tried to learn all the intracacies of the process.  From finding an opponent, getting the odds, making a bet, watching the fight, watch the surgery of the wounded chickens and watch the dead one’s get handed to the winner’s wife so she can go home and cook it.  We saw this cock with 7 wins in the night.  Not only did the owner made alot of money but will have a feast monday night or later that night.  The betting is very cool.  Everyone makes their own bet with whoever they want and there are hand signals that shows how much you bet.  I did not bet, but rommel lost 400 and won 300 on separate fights.  Lost a 100 for the night.

There were hardly any women at these things, but there were alot of kids.  As young as 7 or 8 making bets.  This was a small arena.  The arenas in the big cities are much bigger that holds thousands and have better cocks fighting.  This was a local venue.  As we traveled about 20 min outside the city to watch the Sabong.

Overall a great day of activities.  Tomorrow, I’ll catch up with e-mail, hotel reservations, etc.

Wed. we leave for Cebu city and Thu. to Zamboanga.  Our stay in Bohol is coming to a close. 

 until next time, “bahala na.”

Yesterday, Rommel and JoJo hired two vans to take us around the sights in the island. 

 We first met Rommels family at Bohol Tropics and exchanged pleasantries.  Then we headed out.

Our first sight is the blood compact sight.  This sight is where the conquering spaniards made a blood compact with the natives, but later reneged and destroyed pretty much every city they went and started colonizing the natives.  There is a statue commemorating the event.  This sight is located between the city and my grandmothers house.  The view from the statue is spectacular.  The ocean and the islands.

Our next stop was Baclayon Church.  Which is the second oldest church in the county.  The first being in Manila.  This is somewhat of a big church but old.  It’s starting to show it’s age.  Very nice interiors with beatiful relics. 

After a long drive thru the mountains and man made forests, we finally got to chocolate hills.  Just because the hills are named chocolate hills doesn’t mean you can just jump in and start eating chocolate to your hearts content.  On the contrary.  It’s named chocolate hills because in the dry season it is brown and the landscape looks like a thousand of heshey’s kisses was dropped from the sky.  We did see more than a few of the hills but it was pouring when we got there and did not climb the 200 steps to the viewing platform.  We ate lunch and headed back to the city.

 On the way back, we went to the floating restaurant area and also to see the tersiers.  The tersiers are the worlds smallest monkeys.  They’re about the size of one’s own palm.  They are so cutesey like that the women just go ga-ga over them.  They’re interesting to see thought as they are very shy.

 We then just had the wedding rehearsal and dinner was great.  Great filipino food and got to meet more relatives.

Overall a very tiring day as I crashed.  I think I’ve finally gotten over the jet lag thing.

Until next time, “bahala na.”

PS- Is it snowing back home?

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