tour of Cebu!!

Cebu City tour yesterday was pretty much an all-day thing. We drove around in a van with a tour guide who basically told us it's summer here (as if we couldn't tell from the unbearable heat), and that the Philippines consists of 7,107 islands (already knew that - that's at high tide, at low tide you add 14 islands). We went to several of the historical sites in the city, they are all sort of grouped in the same general area: Magellan's cross where the first baptisms took place, the oldest church in the Philippines - although i think this is disputable because Jesrel just told me the oldest church is on Bahol, where she is from - The church we toured had many old women standing outside with umbrellas of all colors trying to sell candles (it made for a really cool photo). We also visited: an old house of a wealthy priest where the floorboards purposely were squeaky to warn of intruders, some strange sculpture thing, a triangular fort where people mostly have garden weddings now, and the Lapu Lapu memorial where Magellan was killed by Lapu Lapu (home court advantage as the tour guide put it)...

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention on the tour :) oops... in part because i was taking a lot of pictures - so many cool things to photograph here!! - and also because our tour guide's thick accent was difficult to understand at times. we had lunch at a roadside bbq place... it was an actual restaurant, so no fear of getting sick from the food vendors (shacks everywhere selling chicken's feet and squid balls and bbq or fried nondescript meats).... you basically picked out a fish and then choose how you want it prepared. we went for the sweet and sour lapu lapu and another type of fish barbecued. really good, and of course a mango smoothie - i'm almost certain Lo and I will have mango withdrawls once we get back to the states... please start looking into a mango IV or something so i can ease off my addiction.

The best part of the tour was when we convinced our tour guide to stop at Plantation Bay (a resort on Mactan island near the Blue Water Resort where we spent the day last week), so we could see the ocean. Lo and i took one look at the lagoons and tropical paradise and basically ditched the tour group (the tour group itself was only for the two of us, as everyone else was local, so i don't think our tour guide was too happy with us disappearing into the resort, but it was worth it! :). we were doing everything we could not to "accidentally" fall into the pristine water of the resort, which is built around a series of lagoons.... i think, had that happened, we would have also had to figure out how to explain "accidentally" going down all four of the water slides in one of the resort's pools :) with much discipline we managed to stay dry, and eventually felt guilty enough about the ditch that we pried ourselves away from paradise and returned to the group (luckily it takes a lot to upset a Filipino - like i said, the most patient people... except when it come to driving of course).

On our way back to the clinic from Mactan Island (where most of the nice resorts are), the tour guide told us about the poor people on Mactan not being able to afford the dynamite to blast the rock away and put their septic tanks in place (i guess only a foot or two deep the ground is solid rock). he explained that the poor people just poop in the areas around their home, but that there is a circle of life to take care of everything. this is pretty much the only time during the tour that Lo and I started asking questions... what do you mean circle of life with the poop? so he explained that these red crabs eat the poop and then the people eventually eat the crabs (he also pointed out that those particular crabs are not really sold in markets because of their reputation due to their questionable diet). at this point Tessie (one of the midwives) yells from the back - so the people are actually eating their poop?! and everyone breaks into laughter, because the Filipinos laugh at pretty much everything. Hilary told us the most famous Philippine joke is "Why is the sky blue?"... answer: "because it's not red!" Lo and Hilary thought this was funny; David and I were less amused. anyway, after we talked about poop crabs that was about the end of the tour - what a finale!

Lo and i asked to be dropped off at McDonalds (which is a few blocks from the cafe on the busy Cebu street) to get McFlurries - so nice in the heat, and they cost about 75 cents here! but then we accidentally were abandoned by the ladies from the clinic and had to figure out how to cross the street alone. yeah, sounds like we're 4 years old, but crossing the street is serious business here. Constant flow of speeding, unpredictable traffic and no cross walks, lights, or cross signals. It took us a good 15 minutes to finally get across, in part because we were so distracted with eating our ice cream before it melted - which takes all of 5 minutes here. it was probably one of the most authentic Philippine experiences we've had since arriving... trying to navigate traffic as a pedestrian is not light business. I'm shocked there aren't more accidents and fatalities!!

after the tour we headed up to Hilary and David's for an evening walk with their dog, Penny. we hike up to the mountains behind where they live and the view is awesome. out one direction is the populated area of the island, the ocean. the other direction is tons of tropical forest (Jurassic Park, as Lo puts it... Landis, you should appreciate this if you're reading my blog, i took pictures for you!). there are a few huts built back in the banana trees and it is strange to hear loud American music blasting out from the forest. there were a bunch of kids up there this day (holy week i guess... seems to explain everything around here right now, including why the entire mall was closed today! a Thursday!), and they had this huge kite it looked like they had made and were having no luck flying. it was actually pretty funny, they had quite an audience they were entertaining, and when the kite was finally up and everyone was cheering it promptly fell into a sideways plummet and crashed into a rock wall (so disappointing). we couldn't help but laugh - hope we didn't offend anyone. flying kites is unquestionably a favorite past time around here. the many power lines (people insert their own power lines into the electric poles so there are always tons or random wires over the streets), are decorated with homemade kites. when i first arrived here i was confused how all the garbage got stuck on the power lines, it wasn't until a few days later that i realized the garbage was many old and weathered kites, they're everywhere!!

Lo and i were lucky enough to get to catch up on LOST at Hilary and David's, and enjoy some amazing freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (see mom, they're taking great care of us!). then we spent the evening stuffing Easter eggs for the Saturday Easter party (all the staff and their families are invited), and watching videos from past Christmas parties - so hilarious, the games they play and dances and songs they perform! i have a feeling Saturday is going to be a blast!! I should head back down to the clinic now... Lo and I are there with Max (the guard) and one of the new nurses. it is only us because everyone else is at the service for Tina's baby. We're hoping for a laboring woman to stumble into the clinic so we can test our skills!! it's been quiet so far and we've spent the afternoon mastering Dutch Blitz (a card game kind of like speed... or spit... whichever you prefer). All for now!