We had spent around thirty hours traveling to get there at this point. We left at 10:30 Thursday evening and arrived about 11:30 Saturday evening (we lost Friday passing over the international date line).
Chris' uncle picked us up at the airport and brought along a few workers to help with the luggage. After tracking down the many items, we headed outside to the vans. Several groups of people were lined up waiting for others to come out of the airport. We walked past a few police who held long rifles (or something) in their arms. Armed security is not an uncommon thing here....probably part of the reason Davao City has a reputation for being under strict control.
We drove out and through the streets which seemed to be teaming with people. We saw the Jeepneys that Chris told me about (highly decorated public transportation). The buildings looked old and dilapidated, but at some points you would then see a well-lit place with people enjoying themselves inside. I was definitely reminded though that this is a developing nation with a lower GDP per capita than our neighbors in Mexico. Chris' uncle explained too that there was a curfew where drinking ended and youngsters had to be off the streets at 1 a.m. in the city. It was nearing midnight, so the city was still alive.
We arrived at the hotel that Chris' family runs which has this amazingly beautiful house in the middle that was built in 1937 (or 1935 maybe). The wood moldings and panels inside are so beautifully carved and the flooring is wood patterned into stripes, chevrons, diagonals, octagons, by using dark and medium color wood planks. Some of the wood panels have these lovely carved flowers. Built by Chris' great grandfather and six Chinese workers, you can see the Asian influence in the outside of the building with it's red tile roof and supports. When the war came (WWII), the Japanese first occupied it, then the Americans. Luckily the house is still lovely and I believe mostly untouched by it's occupants. Around the house much more recently was built a hotel and several little shops, bars and eateries. An armed guard stands in front of the gates to let cars in and out.
We came in to dinner laid before us including lechon (pork that was amazingly delicious), pancit (with shrimp, so I didn't have any) and sinigang (a sour tamarind flavored soup also with shellfish) and, of course, rice. We had a very fancy table setting and servants there to bring our food. I felt very much like I was in an episode of Downton Abbey without the pomp and circumstance (and I incredibly underdressed in my travel clothing).
We sat on the couches and chatted some with family, but I was pretty exhausted having been up for probably about 20 hours at this point (I did have that two hour nap on the plane). We walked around outside the house to see the nightlife, but this took maybe five minutes...if that. It's not that big of a place. After a little more chit chat inside, we were shown our rooms in the hotel. Our room is nice with a wood type flooring, all tile bathroom and a painted pink and gray striped accent wall. We even had a friendly little lizard on the ceiling when we entered (as long as it's not poisonous, which it was not, I like them...they eat bugs :).
We slept very soundly until around 8 am the next morning when we were called to join his parents and sisters for breakfast downstairs. We ate at the little cafe with our hotel vouchers and I ordered beef tapa. The beef is so well flavored and put next to a round circle of garlic rice with a fried egg on top. One thing about much of the food I've eaten so far is that it seems to be very oily...which is not so good on my system. I ordered coffee as well, then we changed our minds about sitting inside and went outside to the courtyard with his family. The morning was humid and warm, but a small breeze made it fairly pleasant and not too bad for drinking coffee (I had it every morning in Costa Rica with this weather...strange how you can still drink hot coffee in the warm weather). I certainly cannot say the coffee compares to Costa Rica though...but it is fine.
More family joined us and even a cousin from Chris' mom's side that used to live in the states that family hadn't seen in a few months. We chatted more and it was decided we would go to Chinatown to the markets and shops there. The children (us) piled in to Chris' uncle's car and he drove us deftly through the traffic into Chinatown and found a parking spot. The traffic so far has not been crazy, but certainly it is not as structured by rules as it is in the states. People kind of make their own rules to get where or what they need...and people walk wherever they wish as well.
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| a pile of durian fruit in Chinatown |
Many beggars came up to us or little street kids asking for money. Uncle told us not to give any out, otherwise we would find ourselves flocked by more, so it was somewhat humorous to watch him hand out some money, but I do think it's probably different when done by locals versus tourists. I found a green and blue adidas shirt (probably a knockoff since it was about $3, or 120 pesos) for my worker I had drawn for the exchange. Chris and I went back and bought a pretty purple (Chris' choice of color) sundress with lovely floral embroidery for about $7, then handed this off to Christine for my gift in the exchange that night.
Before we left, we stopped at a Coconut shake stand and each enjoyed a blended smoothy of coconut, ice, and condensed milk. It was so refreshing...but I'm not sure what to think about the water here - if it is safe to drink or not. Chris' cousin explained that most of those places buy their ice from filtered water places, so it should be fine. I hoped so...but boy that drink was good.
We piled back in the van after Christine took a picture on a tricycle (one of the many forms or public transportation around here) and headed back to the house. We hit some pretty bad traffic and we weren't completely sure why, but I spied a group of kids who looked like they were wearing marching band gear in a Jeepney.
Back at the house, we sat for a few moments before hearing Christmas music coming up the street. We made a dash for it outside and saw that the group was just rounding the corner down the street. Christine, Chris and I took off running down the street after them to get some video and enjoy their costumes and music. We soon realized that it was a whole parade as elementary school after elementary school marched along in their own themed costumes and band music. I was definitely impressed by the musical ability. The little girls twirling batons, dancing down the street, the boys marching and some dancing with instruments or holding decorations, was quite a cute sight to see. After several groups, the older school started coming. I was impressed with the myriad of decorated xylophones and how well they played them. I was also impressed with how well the kids were holding up in their costumes marching down the streets in the heat and humidity.
We drove to a nearby, very upscale mall for lunch. Before we could park, we drove by guards that searched the car - underneath, in the trunk...and then let people pass. A comment was made that it was probably more for people to feel safe than it was actually necessary for their safety. We ate lunch at Tsuru, a Japanese food place, where I ordered chicken katsu curry. I've had this many times before and enjoyed it, along with some green tea and miso soup. We walked around the inside of the mall, but most of the stores were the same you might see in the US or Europe. I did have fun going into the grocery store - it's always fun to see what is the same, what is similar, what is different. I found some bars of soap that said whitening with sunscreen...I asked Chris' mom about this and she said they use that to try to lighten their skin. It's so funny how it is opposite from the states where we try to tan ourselves and be darker. Also in the mall, they had a sign for a walkalator which had the same symbol as we would have for an escalator. Restrooms are called comfort rooms, or are marked with a CR.
After the mall we came back to the hotel, and Chris and I stayed in the room to nap and blog. This is when my stomach started feeling a little uncomfortable. I took out some of my essential oils - the digestzen, and rubbed it on my stomach. It continued to get worse, so I put some in water and drank it up. Within ten minutes or so, I wasn't sure how, but knew something was going to come out of me. And it did. Several times. Not sure how long this was going to last, I skipped the beginning of the Christmas party and napped while Chris went downstairs to enjoy. I woke up a few hours later to what I was afraid was the toilet running over, so I ran to the bathroom, relieved to see I was wrong, and received a text from Chris saying they had moved inside due to rain. Ahh...that was what I was hearing.
I tried to sleep some more, but couldn't and felt much better and no sickness for a few hours, so I joined them at the party in the midst of the worker's performances of dancing. It was great. There was so much enjoyment by the performers and the audience. Some of the guys even did some breakdancing! Quite impressive. The gift exchange was a little awkward since we didn't know the people and were supposed to get up and say something about them. Luckily, we were let off the hook since we didn't know our people (and mine wasn't even there).
Pretty quickly after that the party ended, people cleared out, and it was just Chris, his cousin, and myself. The conversation quickly turned to conspiracy theories...which I am usually very skeptical of, but due to being a history teacher, people seem to want to discuss these with me. I have done little research, but since these are theories, which by nature means they are unproven, there is not much to do other than to ask questions and try to get any bit of evidence a person has for their theory. It's interesting to me to some degree mostly because I like to understand how people think. Chris was tired though before long this historical conversation was boring him and we said goodbye for the evening. I tried eating a few crackers and a mamon (a very soft spongy bread) and it went fine so here's to hoping that is the end of the travel sickness.
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