Tribal Living Part 2

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Last week, we went for another 6-hour bus ride to Bataraza, a town in southern Palawan. We took a walk into some bushes to visit lowlander tribes, as opposed to the highlander mountain tribes we visited last time. The culture is very similar to those tribes in the moutains, except that these people are mroe civilized. Clothes are normal, most of them can speak Tagalog and are either attending school or finished high school. It's mostly the customs and the values that are tribal, and the family system.

Throughout our 3-day stay, us guys hauled logs down the hillside. These were pillar beams to be used for the construction of a new church, and were at least 3/4" in diameter and 10 feet long each. At one point, because it was raining, I had to do this barefoot because otherwise I kept slipping in the mud. Needless to say, my feet came out scathed, but nothing that won't toughen them up some. The girls focused on constructing a new garden and compost pile and making our meals (because they were close to the house, and we were not). On our second night there, we did a mini-concert with the tribal church for another tribe, who actually lived in a village. On our last night, Friday, we had a mini-concert for the tribes we stayed in, in which I performed a little diddy on stage known as Mahal Na Mahal Kita .

When we got back home yesterday, we were surprised and blessed to meet a Swiss couple who volunteering here for 3 months. It's always nice to meet new people from new places.

Today morning, we flew to Manila. After feeling pretty comfortable in Puerto Princesa, I again feel like a little fish in a big fond -- wait, massive pond. Because we have to wait til Monday to process Vietnamese visa, we are staying near the centre of the metropolis at someone's house. We had the most amazingly prepared tuna for lunch (not canned) and I just finished eating some delicious coconut pie and chocolate cake. These people and places are blessings, We are unable to stay here for night, so we actually will relocate to another place for this night, and then go to a massive mall tomorrow, just for the heck of it. It's part of experience urban Philippine culture, because window shopping is seriously one of the biggest pastimes here. Philippines is mall central of Asia, without a doubt. Hopefully we can go to the Batangas section of Manila as early as Monday.

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