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Published: January 11th 2009
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It's 8:20am here. Mom and I just finished having breakfast...Dad left for Cebu this morning. He has his 50th High School reunion this week. So far jet lag hasn't been too bad. I think leaving at 1am helped since we were able to sleep at a normal time.
So to back track...we landed in Manila at about 12:30pm Manila time. Going through immigration wasn't bad but it took about 30 minutes - the lines weren't that long either. We all were getting a bit flustered but I am sure it's just because we were ready just to be there and out of all things airport. All of luggage made it in one piece (5 huge suitcases, 3 rollerboard carry ons and a golf case). The airport is just as I remember it - porters everywhere! So porters will get your luggage from luggage claim (you just have to point to it), put all of your luggage on a cart and take it to customs for you. Once you get through Customs another porter will be there to take your luggage to your car and them load it in your car....all for a mere $6 total. It's nice.
Tita Helen
R&R Resort - Los Baños
The Rooms/Cabanas/Huts - hehe. picked us up from the airport and managed to fit everything into the van. Luckily they only live about 20 minutes away from the airport so the drive over isn't bad. Tita Helen lives in Moonwalk Village, Parañaque, Metro Manila. Tita Mila used to live about 3 blocks from here but they build a house in Santa Elena (which is gorgeous BTW), Mom and Dad had a house in this neighborhood too when they lived here which is where Lolo Illong lives now (simon and Steve grew up in that house) and my cousin Jona and his wife, Alma, built a house across from Tita Helen's (which is his mom). Hehe. Family life is different here. You don;t leave home until your married, there are no such thing as nursing homes - you take care of your elders....and when you move you never move that far. I am sure it is nice though to have your family close enough that you can walk over - luckily everyone in-laws and all get along well and enjoy spending time together. 😊
Anyway...so as soon as I got here Ann (my cousin) scheduled a manicure, pedicure and foot spa for me -
R&R Resort - Los Baños
The Private pool for each Cabana/Room/Hut she made an IN HOME appointment. haha! Foot massage and scrub down, hands, nails and all in-home for 500 pisos...which is about $10. I LOVE it here! Louie (her daughter) and I went to the Fort to do a little shopping...I wanted to get havaanas - the best flip flops ever - since i lost my pair. So we went over there for a couple of hours. The fort is also where the Embassy is - which is a club that has got great reviews. After walking around a bit we came home to my mani, pedi and foot spa. Then Ann had some friends over so we drank and talked and caught up - dad bought 4 bottles of Johnny Black at the Duty free - yum....went to bed at about 12:30am manila time and I seemed to have evaded any jet lag.
So the next morning (yesterday) we took a trip to Los Baños - where the hot springs are. We had a day stay at the R&R resort. Tita Mila, Lola and all the Ajuero Apos (grandkids) minus Rico and Jayden (so wish he could come here to play with his cousins) were there. My god
R&R Resort - Los Baños
L to R: Owner or R&R and long time friend of Tita Mila, Tita Mila, Tita Helen, Mom, Tita Nen and My Lola they are getting so big. Rico (6years) was golfing with his Lolo Mike (my uncle) hehe. The resort was nice a big pool which was all water from the hor springs so the water was warm. Each room was like a bahay kubo type thing (like a cabin) and they all had their own private swimming pool - so nice. So we spent the day talking, watching the kids play, and eating and eating - pancit, escargo, fish. It was a little chilly since we were in the mountains but compared to Chicago it's like a heat wave. 😊 Lola seems to be good. She doesn't know who I am but when I said Hi to here she said it's been a long time! She's still just as witty and funny as I remember her though.
We had dinner at Tita Mila and Uncle MIkes house in Santa Elena. The house they built there was actually designed by their daughter Millai (my cous). It's so nice. It's quiet out there since it is in the provence. Lolas party will be there on the 25th. Jet lag started to set in after dinner but I don't know if that was
R&R Resort - Los Baños
The Nieces and Nephew. From L to R: Yanna (Milai and Bong), Louie (Ann Ann), Anya (Mikey and Rhoda), Bela (Milie and Adel), Zoe (Mikey and Rhoda) and Migo (Mikey and Rhoda).
Not Picture: Rico (Milie and Adel) - he was golfing with his Lolo.
because of all the wine I had. All the Ajuero Siblings will be here for Lolas Birthday (My mom, Tita Mila, Tita Helen, Tita Nen, Unlce Rudy and Uncle Nono). My Uncle Nonoy pasted away a 2 years ago but he will be with us in spirit. This is a very rare occasion that all of the Aujero Siblings are together and it should be very interesting one (my family is crazy - in a good way).
I finally got my cell phone - I've been trying to text home but I am not sure if it is working since no one has texted me back...but I will email my number in a bit. Today we'll go to church at 11a and Mom and I are going to go visit Lolo's grave. It will be nice to see him. My memories of him are so vague but it will be nice to be with mom when she visits him - I think this is actually the first time she is going back since they buried him. Today should be a rather relaxing day since it's been pretty non-stop since I got here. I have pictures that I will attempt to upload. We'll see how that goes. Anywho, I will blog with you all soon!
Hugs all round!
Peanut
P.S. Simon, Dave, Steve, Kristina, Rose, JJ - everyone here is asking about all of you. They send their love and wants you all to know that they miss you and want you to come here!
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