Return From Paradise

Friday, December 27

Even though Chris was the one to go to bed so early in order to watch the sunrise, I awakened first, after the sunrise.  The windows were foggy, so it wasn't so easy to see outside, but it was another beautiful day in paradise.  The sun was shining and the skies were blue.

The rest of the family was already up and enjoying coffee.  I made some black tea with the proper amount of cream and sugar to make it nice and sweet.  We wrestled a bit with the espresso maker until finally it decided to work for us and spit out a few ounces of espresso.  There was little food around, and we didn't want to order in (since it had taken over an hour the night before to get our food).

Across the water and beach, we spotted a man climbing up one of the many coconut trees.  Once up there, he worked on cutting down the coconuts and then scampered back down.  The deft skill at which he did all this was pretty incredible.  The height of the trees and then I of course wondered if there would be snakes or spiders...maybe a snake couldn't climb up a tree like that - or at least why would it...but still.  I could never do that job!

We went down to play in the water and I joined most of the family a few minutes later, long enough to miss the peacock that flew in.  They told me about it, and since I had my camera in hand, I wanted to find it and take some pictures.  I came upon him just around the corner and he knew he was being followed, so I kept my distance trying to get a good shot.  Their feather and coloring are so beautiful. My two favorite colors put together - blues and greens.  He walked near the lush undergrowth along the grassy knolls

and I skirted along the coconut trees.  He crossed into the light, where I took a few good pictures that captured his color and then came upon another that was actually caged.  I turned around and joined the family then at the private little beach.  Chris' dad is an excellent photographer so he was taking some shots of them in the water to get just the right lighting and movement.  His success was pretty incredible.  This is one talented family when it comes to the arts.

We sadly packed up and left our villa by 11 am to take a tour of the villa up on the hillside, which was the grand one owned by the father.  His villa was also breathtaking - and Chris particularly liked the color scheme because in the outer room it was purple and gold.  This one was even bigger with several decks and patios overlooking the ocean.  It also had a kitchen, which the others did not.  I could do this for my permanent home - view and all.

We loaded back onto the speed boat, which felt so good.  The air hung heavy with heat and humidity, so the relief of wind blowing in your face was welcome and too brief.  We wanted to enjoy lunch before we left, but the buffet was not work the price for most of us, so we order a la carte off the menu.  Chris got the buffet (he loves his food) and was thoroughly enjoying it while we waited for our food.  Those that ordered the pork belly got it quickly, and I just waited...and waited...and waited for my chicken and pork adobo.  Forty-five minutes later, my food came, along with the pizza for Chris' sister.  The waiter felt bad, so he took off the price of the buffet for us, which was really nice.  Two things to expect around here - amazing service and lots of waiting.  The servers are so attentive usually and jump to your service.  Everyone gives you a smile, calls you "mum" (in my case...I think it's ma'am, just with the accent).

Our villa was the one on the right

The boat ride back was just as smooth as the day before and I watched as we passed the islands and the little villages with their fishing boats or the more resort like areas with their decoration.  We passed by one island (or maybe more aptly a rock sticking out of the ocean) that had two water slides off it straight into the water.

Back on shore once again to the mainland, our driver was ready to pick us up.  The traffic was heavy so it was a long haul and our driver jerked to stops, which was the perfect recipe for a bit of car sickness sitting in the back.  Luckily we stopped at Space Burger, this place Chris' dad raves about and like all good places, it took a very long time to get our order.  Enough time for me to drink some Sprite and recover from the car sickness.

Fishing boat 

Right after we returned, Chris and I joined his sister in walking down the street toward City Hall, which we had seen was bustling with people, carts, and little shops.  I was out to find a bakery and enjoy some Filipino pastries.  It was so hot and humid, so I hiked up my long skirt into my waistband.  I'm sure it wasn't such a lovely sight, but it felt so much better having the air flow.  I already looked scroungy enough, so why not make it even worse?  There were so many carts out on the streets in front of the shops and they had sun shades made of all kinds of materials stretching across the side walk.  The relief from the sun was not made better by the stifling air that was trapped beneath those covers.

The throngs of people crowded the streets moving, shopping, talking, going about their business.  Everything is a different color and design, some things look just thrown together with whatever materials they have, others are intentionally designed.  We stopped at a mango cart where they were slicing mangos, placing them in bags, so that salt or spices could be added making a treat bag of sour and spicy mango.  Little stalls of sandals, watches, socks and underwear, head ribbons, watches, purses, lined the streets.  We moved on to a bakery where we bought a few treats, two that had ube (taro) in them.  I didn't want to rip into the doughy delights just yet, instead we walked past a few ice cream carts which made me want some ube on a cone.  The man at the cart scooped me a small little rounded ball of purple cream on a cone and I enjoyed it in the heat of the day.  Another interesting food item is an egg they put on a stick, dip it in a bright orange batter, and then fry it.

That evening, we were invited to a birthday party of the 10 year old daughter of a family friend.  The party was decorated with Hello Kitty (which I noted my niece would have loved), pink lights and decorations everywhere.  It came complete with a buffet and photo booth.  The pool had all these little LED flameless candles that the kids threw in, but they did not float.  We did not stay long, instead we drove to a bar called Cork and Barrel.  Little kids came running up, offering to sell us peanuts.  It makes me sad to think that they are out there late at night, trying to earn money.  I wanted instead to round them up and make sure that they had a full meal in their stomachs.

We were in the bar for a short while, enjoying some drinks and pretzels, when we saw a little cockroach skirt along the rim of the drink bucket.  It crawled off and down the table, on onto the floor.  After Chris attempted to step on it several times, it crawled over to me.  I squealed a bit, and stomped it dead.  It was small, but that reaction was unstoppable when the fear of it crawling on me hit.  But, the eating and drinking continued.  I don't think you can make too much of a roach in a tropical country.  I see much bigger ones in my classroom every so many months.  Those I don't like to kill because I can't handle the feel of the squish under my sole.

Between the sun, heat, and long day, we were tired so we stopped at only one more bar where there was a trio singing and a basketball game playing, followed later by Sherlock Holmes.  I ordered some garlic fries, and one of the peanut sellers, a teenaged girl, apparently is allowed in there to sell so we ended up with peanuts on our table too.  At least she was in a reputable environment where hopefully she would not be taken advantage of.  We closed out the night and went back to the hotel.