Philippines, we're not in Kansas anymore

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When we arrived in Manila I thought we'd left Asia: Everyone speaks English (American occupation lasted about 90 years), the names of the towns, streets, people, and money are all in Spanish (Spanish colonialism lasted over 300 years), and there are churches everywhere instead of Buddhist/Hindu temples. People are super nice and very polite. They manage to get a sir or ma'am into every sentence. The ma'am sounds more like "mom" which always makes Toby laugh because I am the last person on the planet to want to be a mom (unless we're talking about a dog.)

We toured around Manila and then headed to the southern tip of Luzon which is the main island of the Philippines. In a small town called Donsol we went out on a boat to hopefully have a chance to go snorkeling with whale sharks. We sailed back and forth across the bay from 8:30 am until after noon and we thought we were going to be unlucky and not get to see them. Suddenly our guide said, hurry, hurry, get ready to jump in. We stripped off our clothes and donned our snorkel gear. We jumped overboard on cue and then he said, "Look down." We saw just the back half of a 20+ foot shark swim under us and it was quite exciting to be so close to such a huge and beautiful creature, dark brown with white spots like a leopard. They only eat plankton so you don't have to worry about becoming a meal.

We got back on the boat and they maneuvered in front of the whale's path again. We did the fire drill and managed to see the whole shark from front to back. We could kick hard and swim next to it for a while until it got nervous and dove deeper to avoid us. We did that a couple more times and then I felt sorry for the poor thing being harassed by us whale shark lovers. One of the sharks is "friendly" and lets humans swim with it for up to 30 minutes. We were actually too close for pictures of the whole thing and the visibility wasn't that great but Toby managed to get a pretty good video which I've attached.

We then took a small boat to Masbate island where we spent the night and caught another even tinier boat to the island of Panay. It was supposed to take 4-7 hours but the seas were rough and we didn't arrive at Panay until after sunset. It was too dark to maneuver into the mouth of the river and up past all the fishing traps so we had to backtrack and anchor next to a small island for the night. Imagine facing a night with 15 other people on a tiny boat and only a few planks used as seats to sleep on.

Luckily we had half a bottle of Tanduay rum (yay!) and a tiny bags of peanuts which we shared with another passenger, a local named Ted, whom we befriended. Toby and Ted slept on top of the boat but the cold, loud wind prevented me from getting a lick of sleep. I moved inside and slept in my silk sleep sack on the floor. I don't want to think about what else slithered there with me. 8-0

We finally made it to Panay and we went to the Ati-atihan Festival which is a huge bash in Kalibo every year. It's supposed to be a celebration of the baby Jesus (Viva Sr. Santo Christo!) but is mostly an excuse to get painted up and party in the streets accompanied by booming drums and bands which, oddly, included xylophones. It's billed as the Mardi Gras of the Philippines and you'll get the comparison when you see the pics.

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Photos

Jeepney
Jeeps the US left behind after WWII were put to use as public transport vehicles. The style stuck and now you see them everywhere all pimped up and with funny names like this one, "California Dreaming." Note the fake Mercedes emblem on the front.

3D ceiling
This ceiling looks like it has intricate plaster details but it's all just a 3D painting. Pretty ingenious, eh?

How many people who look at this pic
would guess that it's in Asia? Yeah, not many. This vaulted ceiling in the San Augustine Church complex still has some colonial era Spanish painting.

Nothing says we love the baby Jesus
like men in drag. ;-)

This guy is going to be in big trouble
when his wife finds out that he used the vacuum hose in his costume.

They like us! They really, really like us!
Sally Fields will never live that one down, huh?

Black soot dude with a stake full
of chickens. Seems that chickens make him chuckle. I hope he remembered to shower before he went to bed. Yuck!

These guys are waiting in line to
audition for a part in a Godfather movie. ;-)

Scary snake dudes
They should have dressed up like hogs because they really liked to ham it up. I should smack myself for that one.

I thought he was buggering boys
in Dubai. If he's trying to go incognito I think he needs to change his outfit. ;-)

"Arise, be healed!"
The baby Jesus must have healed this guy so he could celebrate the Ati-Atihan parade. How much you wanna bet that the IV is full of Tanduay white rum?

Indigenous Filipinos
There are small groups of indigenous people with black skin and curly hair still living in the less desirable areas like rocky hills. They were pushed out by the Malays and Indonesians who migrated here a few thousand years ago and became the present day Filipinos. Ya learn something new every day, huh?

The Minnow
Looks like a nice comfy place for about 15 people to sleep, huh? At least we got a room with a window. ;-)

Life on a tiny island
We stopped at a couple of small islands to take on a passenger or two and several large sacks of dried fish. Nice and fragrant. :( I mean the dried fish, not the passengers. :)

Comments

[Virginia]

Where are Imelda's SHOES??
They must have a museum somewhere. I hope you get to them. Was worried about you two, haven't heard in a month. Glad to know you are enjoying everything. Love, Virginia