still alive....

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... despite badly bruised ribs (maybe cracked??), an amputated toe(nail - surgery today for about $35😊, massive diesel fume ingestion, and mosquito swarms. oh yeah, i forgot to mention sun burn. i've been peeling for the past week or so. i heard it's been snowing in the pac nw. woulda been a nice change from sitting on the beachs in Caramoan. a few pics below, do a google image search for full gloating effect.

told you guys entries wouldn't be as frequent. traveling with family doesn't leave much down time. have been on the go a bunch. past week was in the provinces where they are still cyberspaceless. a night at each of the aunties/uncles houses there, plus a night at my oldest cousin's house. my toe got caught in the floor boards the second night. never seen so much of my own blood. the red horse probably helped dull the pain. even at the aunt's house where they have internet (our home base when we're here), their pc is excruciating slow (xp service pack nill, 128mb sdram - cut to 96mb after the video card gets it's share!). the internet there is down at the moment, so we're here at a cafe in the centro (town center), waiting for one of the cousins to meet us for dinner. needed to back up my photos, because my camera may be going haywire. damn sony. lost a bunch of shots and video from a good night of drinking. you guys woulda loved to see me croon, but alas, they evaporated after we watched them again on my camera. coulda been the memory card. not sure, but now i'm paranoid, and the pc at my aunt's house doesn't recognize my external drive.

anyways, no time to really say much else, other than i love it here. and i'm dreading going back to washington and having to look for a job. off to another uncle's house tomorrow, his daughter's place the next day. graduations and bdays abound coming up. picture count is high, so i'll just leave you with these few shots.

ok, guess not. the connection is pretty damn slow here too, and my cousin just showed up. just google caramoan for now.

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Photos

famous last footsteps
the path Jose Rizal took to his last breaths

private resort in Laguna
overnight swimming, matador and yak

approaching the shore
island hopping in Caramoan

private island
only people there were the fam and the 5 people working

old rails
ride on a rail car (similar to the old school tom and jerry see saw type, except powered by a small motor). rusted out rail made ours jump off the track. caught myself on the hand rail with my ribs. good times.

sorry Raines
had to share. supports for the floor boards at one of my aunt's house are pretty much gone, so they give when you walk on them. trying to hand a mosquito net, couple of my toes got caught in between. no more toenail.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Live it up!
Sounds like awesome fun Bernard! I often wish I was back on the road and livin it up as much as you are. A trip to Central America is in the works, can't wait. Until then, yes, dread coming back, US recession is real and crappy. We are all pinching pennies around here. Blah. Cheers to being in the PI!

[Lorraine]

eeuw, thanks for not sharing pics of your injury. bleeding toenails make me queasy. how exactly did you bruise your ribs?