Still basking in this beautiful place
Saturday, May 8, 2005
Hi all! I’ll try to recap the last few days. While we were in Manila we went to the Manila temple. It was beautiful! The sprinklers were on so my kids ran shrieking through the sprinklers. It was so funny. They were soaked but the water felt good because it was so hot. About +35C or so. It’s crazy, but I’ve acclimatized to the hot weather. Now when it gets to be +23C I cold! Yikes.
While we were at the temple I lost Brandon’s leash. So now I’ve got to find another one while I am here.
We went to Amlang which is the village that my mom and aunt grew up. It was full of small cement houses and a dirt road. I felt so sad going there because everyone was so poor. My aunty Minda made us dinner. It wasn’t much, but I knew it was the best that she could do. I just felt like crying. It’s amazing the poverty that is in the Philippines. There were people camped out in little tin roofed houses under bridges. The look in these people’s eyes are haunting. They look so sad and lost. It is heart wrenching. I wish there was something I could do. We unloaded our boxes of toys and the kids faces just lit up. It was nice to see that they were getting lots of satisfaction from the toys my kids no longer play with.
While we were there my kids raced around and terrorized their chickens and their chicks to which I had to put a stop to because I didn’t want their little chicks to die of exhaustion from running away from my kids because that is their source of food.
The jeepnees which are open jeeps that they use to transport people around in are quite amazing. They swerve in and out of traffic like crazy and are so colorful. I will take a bunch of pictures of them so I can show you. It’s amazing the art work that they put on them. You know even though people here are so poor, they have incredibly clean cars. I have yet to see a car that is dusty, covered with mud or dirty. They are very clean. They wash their vehicles everyday.
I don’t know if my kids are going to “get it” that people in the Philippines are so poor, because we are staying with my wealthy aunty Belen, she has everything and our accommodations in Baguio are very posh, marble, hardwood, beautiful curtains( we are staying at my Aunty Belen’s hotel). Laura has even made the comment, “Mommy you said people here were poor, but they don’t look poor to me.” I told her that her Aunty was very blessed and she blesses the life of others by providing them with work. When we went to Amlang I hope she understood, but I don’t know. As we travel around I try to point out the poor people that shack up in the tin roofed houses and the children that play in ragged clothes and the small houses, but I don’t know if it is getting through to her.
We have went to Camp John Hay while we were here and played mini golf, we went to this hilarious cemetery that was called the cemetery of negatism. It was quite interesting. We also went to the house where the General of the US Army stayed when they occupied the Philippines. Everything was so beautiful with beautiful gardens and paths and look out points. Unfortunately it is quite foggy here because we are so high up in the mountains.
It is very humid, but I love the humidity. I have not had to use lotion and the kids runny noses have stopped. We also have been going to all my aunts silver shops. She owns 8 in Manila and 6 in Baguio. My cousins also own 4 silver shops as well through out the Philippines. If you want to check out my aunt’s silver you can go to: www.ibaysilvershop.com She has so many beautiful pieces. We went to the store where they make them and watched them make it. It so fascinating that they can get such intimate detail in the jewelry.
We also went to the Market and Ryan and I had a blast buying lots of wood. Oh.. speaking of which Dionne, can you find out how much we can bring back? $$$ wise. I want to know how much I can bring back before I have to start paying duty. I bought cool salad bowls, a naughty stool for the kids and a sunka board for me to play on. I love this game, when I get back I’ll have to teach you because it is a fun game to play.
We also went to the Asin hot springs. The kids had tones of fun splashing in the water that came down from the mountains. Ryan kept dunking my mother in the water it was so funny. She tried to get him back, but she couldn’t dunk him because he is too strong to get into the water. We saw the Native Filippino’s bamboo huts and toured around their village. We were able to see the native dancing and see gorgeous paints. They are $500 we figure to buy one and I don’t want to part with that much cash, but it is sooo beautiful! Simply amazing paintings and drawings. We stopped at other wood carving places and bought a couple of wood things there. It was neat to watch them carve the wood and finish it.
My Uncle Aby let Ryan drive his Nissan 4X4 2005. Ryan has been having a blast because there are really no rules to driving here. It’s like everyone on the road is an ass, but that’s what is expected and you have to be very aggressive here or else you get no where. Everyone here is a crazy driver. I feel like I am in an amusement park ride at Disneyland because of the crazy turns and wild driving. You have to hold on to the “holy sh*t” bars that are in the vehicle or else you get tossed around like a sack of potatoes. It is so much fun and you don’t have to wear seat belts. They are an option so who hoo giddy up!
Well, I’ll talk to ya laters! I’ll update you again. Sorry this is so long, but I’m doing it for my benefit as well cuz I’ll print this out for my journal. Anyway, have a great day! Smooches and hugs to all! Love, jo