turtles and tattoos!!

Mango pancakes for breakfast (duh!) and then off on another adventure. This time we were going snorkeling at Pescador Island, a small island visible from Moalboal, and a famous diving spot. We left early, just Lauren, myself, and a couple from France who turned out to be very friendly and sweet, along with a few dive guides. Almost immediately we spotted dolphins in the distance! What luck! we had been warned that our chance of seeing dolphins was slim, so it was a great treat to see the spouts of water and fins in the distance. We took off after the pod and before long they were swimming at the bow - amazing!! We chased them around for a while, then finally abandoned our pursuit to continue to the island.

Lauren and I headed out with one of the locals to snorkel around the island (no need to worry mom, we're not going scuba diving without being certified - I know you were worrying :) We started off in full wetsuits because of the stinging jellyfish, but soon decided it was worth a few stings to ditch the black wetsuits and enjoy the comfortable temperature of the ocean on our skin... plus, when you swim above the divers all the little bubbles wiggling to the surface tickle! Saw huge schools of fish and laughed through our snorkels as our guide torpedoed through a school of sardines forcing the fish to split ways. There were odd target fish with their fins that rippled in a waving motion above and below their bodies; deep purple and blue parrot fish with the distinctive, beak-like mouths; long fish with funny noses that made them look like Pinocchio; bright yellow fish that looked so much like bananas i can't imagine they're called anything other than banana fish; and finally, at our second diving spot, we saw sea turtles!! they move so slowly, gracefully making their way to deeper water, only their front fins propelling them forward... again, so lucky!!

I think I could snorkel all day if I could figure some way around the burning feeling on my lips after too long in the salt water. thirst finally brought us back to the boat and we relaxed for a while waiting for the divers to return. on the way back to the resort we saw the dolphins again! incredible!!

The rest of the day at the resort was very restful. A storm blew in and made for a bizarre but gorgeous sunset. after dinner a friend of Jessy's showed up to give us henna tattoos. I can't remember his name but he was pierced and tattooed himself, and his head was shaved except for a starfish shape at the crown of his head where his hair was long and braided with beads at the end. Turns out he is one of the most talented tattoo artists I have ever met (and I did research on my share of tattoo artists this summer so...) he pulled out his laptop and showed us endless photos of his work. truly extraordinary. I was tempted to have him make my henna permanent when he finished, I fell in love with the design so much (don't worry mom, it will wash off in
a week). A delicate pattern of swirls and dots down the right side of my rib cage, I'm tempted to stroll around Cebu in a swimsuit top I love it so much (as if being white isn't enough to turn heads here :)

Now for a few Philippine side-notes... I'm always hearing/learning/seeing things here that surprise me and I like to share, so here's a couple:

Single and available are mutually exclusive here. This means that you
can be single and not available (which is reasonable), or you can be
taken and available (explains the polygamy that sometimes happens
here), or any other combination of those... it is interesting because
when you ask if someone is dating or married or whatever they will
always answer with two specifications rather than just single or
taken, or available or not.

One day a few weeks after arriving Lauren and I showed up at Hilary
and David's house with plastic bags to carry our stuff. Apparently
carrying your things in plastic bags (like reusing the bags from the
supermarket), is a sign of extremely poverty and she promptly lent us
bags so that we might avoid the cultural humiliation of appearing so
poor... or maybe it was just to be nice ;)

Most of the women's hair salons here have pictures of Avril Lavigne in
the window (seriously, like every one of them!), I'm guessing, seeing as you
cannot correlate her current popularity in the US with her
overwhelming popularity here, that they simply admire her slick,
straight hair.

In the car ride on the way to club serena we asked the driver and his
friend to guess where we are from... they guessed we're European. We
were flattered :)

you routinely see groups of people, like 10 people! riding in the back
of trucks here... in fact, today there was even a plastic bench in the
back of the little toyota I saw. The number 10 is not an exaggeration,
it is an average. Also, once, on our way to david's house, we passed a
wedding party who's car had broken down on the steep hill in the gated
community where hilary and david live and we stuck the gowned women in
the back of the truck and gave them a ride. they were all smiles and
grateful for our kindness, not the least bit upset at the misfortune
of their broken down car - ahh Filipinos, so upbeat and refreshing!!
americans could take a lesson from them!!

you often see signs while driving that say "warning, accident-prone
area ahead". these signs are frequent. that's comforting.

here's a morbid one, ummm censor this for yourself if you don't want
your stomach to turn (seriously, here is your opportunity to just skip
to the next point)... Hilary was telling us that every so often you
see news stories on tv or in the news paper about a baby that got
decapitated during delivery. apparently, in a recent incident of
infant decapitation (usually it happens when the body of the baby gets
stuck - as we saw in the clinic the other day - and they pull on the
head rather than on the arms... good thing the women working in the
clinic are so amazing at what they do!!), the report said that the
doctor actually had his leg up on the delivery table as leverage when
he was pulling the baby's head to dislodge the body, and the
decapitation occurred. I warned you.

today when we arrived back at the clinic there was a small party with
a surprise guest, one of the midwives who used to work at the clinic!!
there was pizza and cake and scrabble! all that makes a party great :)
a while later I was just coming down from the apt toward the clinic
and there was a taxi outside and utter chaos! I couldn't tell if the
passenger was coming or going or what was happening. I got closer and
realized that a seemingly unconscious woman was being dragged into the
back of the taxi by about 5 of the clinic midwives/nurses. three of
them crammed in the back holding on the woman's oxygen mask with the
huge oxygen tank shoved in there too as they zoomed off the CCMC (not
sure how much good that'll do). apparently she was dilated to 10cm and
pushing, but she suffers from bronchitis and she was having a lot of
trouble breathing. they starting to give her oxygen and she passed
out... then it was a matter of trying to get her limp body down the
narrow staircase and out to cab to get her to the hospital hopefully
in time to save her and the baby. not sure on the update, Ill see what
i can find out tomo... the excitement never ends here!

So i didnt exactly end this post on a happy note (that seems to be a
trend around here), but Lauren and I are in the middle of making
cookies for the girls since tomorrow is our last day here!!! Thailand
is all planned out and we've got many great adventure ahead, ill try
to keep you posted!! much love from cebu!