Well, I’m back home at my house. And its good to be home.

Nothing really exciting happened between Manila and Detroit. We ate the airplane food, enjoyed the Emirates Airlines hospitality, and tried to sleep a little. One thing I liked in Dubai airport were the free showers I happened across, which made the next 14 hour flight a bit easier to face.

We did customs in Boston, my first experience with my new Global Entry card, an expedited customs system that my credit card pays for. I walked up to a kiosk, spent 2 minutes there, walked to the officer at the desk where I spent about 1 minute, and I was through. The other guys were 20 or 30 minutes getting through so it was a real time saver.

My folks and Jed, and Jordy’s folks were waiting in Detroit for us. We collected our luggage, put on coats, and went out to brave the cold. We all stopped for pizza close to the airport then headed to our homes.

It was snowing a little on the way home. The roads weren’t too bad but the plow trucks were out salting. We pulled into the driveway about 11.

So I am home. And like I said before, it is good to be home. But now I have so many good memories, so many new friends and renewed friendships, and I have just had so incredibly much fun.

A huge thank-you to whoever all of you who made our trip so amazing and might be reading this: Ford and Mayette and all the Tacloban people, Jordan and Bev, Jovan, Freddie and Leah, Luz, and the many others. It was great!

There are way too many more good stories that I didn’t tell here, some because I said I wouldn’t even if it was honest 😉! For me, it seems like some of the best memories aren’t just the things I did, but the time spent with my friends, both American and Filipino, who are also my brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks again!

Who knows what the future holds? Maybe some day I’ll revive this blog if my feet get restless again. Until then, thanks for reading.

“We’ll be friends forever

And while we are apart.

I will pray for you and always

Keep you in my heart.

And we’ll be friends forever,

Jesus, and you, and me.

He ties our hearts together

And friends we’ll always be.”

Good afternoon from Manila!

In Tacloban, we picked up Jordan and Bev and KC at 8 and all of us went to the airport. When it was definitely time to go in and board the plane, we bid them farewell and went through security.

Our Cebu Pacific flight was uneventful. Brent was on the window and as we flew over Samar he picked out Jia-an, Calbayog, and even some places in town!

We collected our backpacks at the airport, checked them in the baggage check place, and went out to hail a Grab to SM Mall of Asia. We had a little trouble meering the car because he said he was there, but was one level up. So he said to come up and meet him, but we couldn’t due to security, so we went back down and finally met him.

Mall of Asia is the 13th largest mall in the world. It is huge but at least the layout makes sense.

The middle white roofed section is all retail stores and restaurants. The alleys on each side have restaurants on the street and shopping on the 2nd floor. The outside buildings have a corporate owned store in each of them, one is the SM Hypermart for groceries, and the other is the SM Superstore which is clothing and home goods. The mall is very nice, not Dubai nice, and has a number of expensive brands, which are real judging by the prices. They are doing some remodeling so there are some closed off areas, such as the ice rink which is now on the 3rd floor in a corner instead of in the middle. There is also an ocean walk outside with food stands and an amusement park and some kids rides.

We ate lunch at the Shrimp Shack and then split ways. I went shopping by myself and bought random souvenirs and things all over the mall. Jordy and Brent disappeared and next I heard from them they were halfway up the ferris wheel. We met up again by the stage where several dance troupes were performing. They varied from break dancing to traditional dancing and was pretty cool, including the guys that backflipped off the stage.

It was time to find food before we left for the airport so we hit up Shakey’s for a pizza and Coke.

We Grabbed back to the airport, got our backpacks and had them wrapped, and we are in the check-in line.

Our flight to Dubai leaves at 11:10 and takes 9 hours. We have 4 hours in Dubai and then a 14 hour jaunt across the Atlantic, trackable here. If I can get the WIFI in Dubai to work, I might try to update if anything exciting has happened. Otherwise, it’ll be from the Good Ol USA!

Breakfast was scheduled for 7:30 and Jordan came crashing into our room a little before to wake us up. Luz and Leah cooked breakfast for us and we ate around 8. After breakfast, we packed all our bags so we could leave as soon as possible after church.

Church starts at 9:30 and is only steps from Freddie’s house. We got there a few minutes early and almost no one was there yet so we sang with some of the youth til about 9:50 when there were enough people to start.

There were 3 songs, an opening, and then Sunday School which was translated for us by Bev and Leah. The sermon was by Jordy with some additional thoughts by Jordan. Min. Charley also shared a little and church was over. Side note, the church is built on piers over a tidal rive I guess you could call it. There was definitely some boating activity outside during church.

We had a potluck lunch at church. All the ladies went home and got their food and we ate well once again. I can’t even remember what all there was; rice, adobo, pork, pancit, and much more. Min. Charley’s wife, Tina, had brought tahong, shelled and fried and delicious! Then there was sticky rice and a few other sweet dishes for dessert with a buco salad to finish it up.

We wanted to for sure leave by 2 so around 1:15 we started making moves to leave. But before we got left, we visitors had to sing a couple songs. Then we said our thank-yous and good-byes and went back to Freddie’s to load the car. Jordan had something he wanted to go look at with Freddie so they took the motor and went to check it out. So by the time they got back, and we got left, it was after 2.

I drove back to Tacloban. The road wasn’t too busy, but was still very curvy and rough. I tried to drive nicely so people could sleep and they did some but there were a few amazing bumps that woke people up, like where the concrete is disintegrating and there are 2 or 3 inch ledges and bumps in the middle of the lane.

Back across the San Juanico Bridge and in Tacloban, we tried to do a few minutes of souvenir shopping but kinda struck out. The stores by Guisano’s weren’t open so we tried the Convention Center. They have a nice little store there but we didn’t buy much. It wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Ford had went down to one of the congregations by Dulag for church in the morning, so the Tacloban people had their service in the afternoon. When we finished at the Convention Center, we headed to Ford’s house. The members were there and Mayette made supper for everyone.

After supper, we just visited for a while. They wanted us to put on our kanduras, so we suited up, and then walked over to Mana Lilia’s house to show her. By then it was just our crew, plus Edward and Sherrylaine and KC. We stayed there discussing many different topics until I think 1:45AM. Finally it was time to part ways. We still had a little packing to do and a little sleep to try to get. I went to sleep somewhere around 3.

Where did 3 weeks go? We are leaving for home today. Cebu Pacific will take us to Manila from Tacloban today. Here is our plane. I will post Sunday’s report sometime soon…

Our tour guide, Luz, requested breakfast a little earlier this morning. The plans for the day included leaving earlier than yesterday so we ate at 8. Pancakes, toast, watermelon, and coffee hit the spot.

The destination for the day was a place called Samar Island Natural Park, to the Torpedo Boat Extreme Adventure. It was something Luz knew about but had never done so it was an experiment.

We loaded up ourselves, our lunch, and 4 other youth girls and headed out. We turned inland at the Paranas corner and drove about 15 minutes up the road.

Torpedo boats are like the native boats but without the outriggers. They build these with a solid log flat on the bottom and sides built onto that. They are maybe 25 feet long, about 2 feet deep, and maybe 28 inches wide with a gentle rocker. The motor shaft runs through the bottom like normal, with a guard for the prop, and is direct drive. They put 5 people plus the driver, a front spotter, and a tour guide, so 8 people total. The boat drew at least 12″ of water.

We put on our life jackets, boarded our boats, and headed down the river. They estimate the tour to take 40 minutes down river and 1 hour back up. The Ilot River is beautiful. The rocks are tan, the water is turquoise, and the jungle hangs over the banks. It is quite wide most places, and deep. The river used to be the main transportation route before the road was built across Samar and there were quite a few boats on the river besides a few tour boats. There were also houses along the banks and places that looked like temporary camps.

Now the boat ride. We took off moving fairly fast, maybe 15 mph. The river was wide, there were a few waterfalls, and the going was smooth. Then we started hitting rapids. Obviously there was alot of water moving because we only hit bottom a couple times, even with 8 people on board. The driver put that boat through rapids with rocks inches from the side of the boat underwater, twisted it around tight corners in the strong current, one place we shot a chute that was literally inches narrower than the boat, and all still at nearly full speed. We shot class II rapids with water spraying high in the air and into the boat. We went over 2 foot drops and dodged more rocks. There were places that would have been sketchy in a canoe, but I’d say most of it could been kayaked but a few spots may have needed a skirt. There was one spot that we did have to get out and they let the boats down a shallow chute.

The destination was a waterfall chute, about 10 feet high, where most of the river flowed through a narrow canyon. There was a 6 or 8 foot high rock to jump off of into the water. With the falls and a rock under it, the water had a lot of air and bubbles in it and it was moving fast through the canyon. The jump-off rock is where the guides take you and we jumped several times. Brent and Jordy tried flips and we dove off one spot too. We spent some time watching other people try to get up their courage to jump off in to the water, too, which was entertaining. The jump was fun, and there must have been a little undertow because even with a life jacket on it seemed like you stayed under longer than you should have.

Another cool spot was an 8 foot across round hole in the rock on the edge of the river that you could jump into. It was open on one side to the river so you could swim out, but it was kind of a rush jumping into a hole like that.

After swimming, we ate lunch. Boiled crabs, pork sticks, vegetable, and rice was an amazing lunch. We jumped another time after eating, then it was time to head back.

The ride up was just opposite of the ride down, only instead of shooting the rapids, we drove up them. And we drove back up those 2 foot drops which shot a wall of water in to the boat. One wave left about 5 inches of water in the bottom of the boat. The driver used the current to swing the boat around rocks to get adjusted perfectly with the deepest spot of the rapids. And he would go flying past rocks with the same inches to spare as we had coming down. And we went right back up that one chute that was only barely as wide as the boat. Only once he misjudged and the front guy had to jump off and push us off a rock.

Jordan asked the driver later if he got nervous driving boat, and he said that he does. I would give the ride a 10/10. The driver was amazing and obviously did it many, many times because it looked like he had the river memorized. I just don’t think you could find an experience quite like it in the states; whitewater rafting would be crazier but you don’t get to back upstream! And it only cost about $5 a person. If you’re on Samar, its a must-do.

Freddie was home when we got back, he had been working away from home for the week, so we got to talk to him a little. Luz heated water for coffee and we had some refreshments. Luz was also making us supper so she went home to cook and we cleaned up for the evening.

Luz cooked us chicken, pineapple pork, and rice followed by a marvelous dessert. Once again, I ate too much but it was so good. We visited a while then went back to Freddie’s. The youth girls came over and we sang a little and then called it a day and went to bed.

We planned breakfast for 8:30 to get a little rest. We were all kind of tired so that seemed like a good idea. So we got up and Luz and Leah made us a delicious breakfast. We have eaten a lot of food lately.

We let our tour guide, Luz, decide on a plan for the day. She decided on the beach. We sat and visited at the table a little, then while the ladies began getting lunch around, we went and filled a water jug at the pump, as they were all empty. Then we gathered the food, and loaded the car with lunch, all of us, plus 3 extra youth girls. It was full but the word is that its held many more than our 10 adults and 2 children.

The beach is right in Catbalogan, and we made a fried chicken stop on the way in. There is a breakwall along thr waters edge. The tide was up when we got there and there was no beach. There are bamboo pavilions built along the breakwall that are divided into sections with a bench on each side and a table in the middle and one costs 300 pesos for the day. The water maybe wasn’t the cleanest beach we’ve been to, but the view was phenomenal. There are islands in the distance, mountains, the water was calm, and there were very few people. It was a very beautiful day.

We ate lunch when we arrived, chicken, pancit, rice, bananas, and watermelon. Then we just took it easy. We sang a little, played a little rook, walked the sand once the tide went out, waded, visited, and just relaxed. It felt really good to not be rushing around like we’ve been doing.

Around 5 we packed up and headed back to Jia-an. We unloaded the car, took showers, and got ready for supper.

Supper was at Benny and Rolyn’s house, just across the street. She cooked us fish, tahong (mussel) lumpia, rice and bananas. Tahong makes very good lumpia!

We visited a while, then went back to Leah’s, visited some more, sang a song, had devotions, and I drank a cup of 3-in-1 while I typed, and went to bed.

We woke up in the S&R Bed and Breakfast. I heard Jordan talking outside before I got up and the people had delivered breakfast but Jordan said they had everything mixed up so he sorted it out. We weren’t even that hungry, after our huge supper last night!

We headed for the Tata’s house and the chapel. I don’t think they had any idea we were coming but they welcomed us warmly. Tata was off driving his motor but they called him and he came back home. We were thinking of going to Mawacat Slide, a natural water slide of sorts, but Brent wasn’t sure how far he could walk. We settled on Malajog Zip Line.

Tata went with us for our tour guide. We got there and found out it was closed, but Tata talked to them and they offered to open it up for a kinda expensive fee, but still cheap by our American standards. It took a little while to get the guys rounded up to run it so we enjoyed the beach. Malajog beach is beautiful. The beach is dark sand, the bottom has a very gradual drop, the water was calm, and there are islands on the horizon with haze in front of them. There is a cliff along the south side of the beach with large rocks and big overhanging ledges.

The zipline is on top of the cliff, about 57 meters above the water. The cable

is 750 meters long, and it takes 55 seconds to get to the bottom.

The trail up winds through the rocks. They tried not to disturb the native landscape and so they picked a path and made cement steps, 477 of them. At one place you actually go through a natural bridge in the rock.

At the top, we harnessed up in upright harnesses and took off! It was awesome! The view was amazing, the water was turquoise, and the ride was smooth. At the bottom, we unharnessed and boarded a boat that took us back for our second ride. The second ride was in a lying harness, Superman style. That was actually even better for the views! We couldnt get Tata to go down, so we picked him up at the steps and they took us back to the beach.

We went back into town for lunch food. Tata recommended Mr. Liempo, a chicken and pork lechon place so we got some food to take back to their house. They made some rice and we ate well. We had tried to make it out so Tata’s family would eat with us but the plan must not have been communicated correctly and they had eaten already. Before lunch, Jordan had some papers he needed printed so they went for a print shop and Brent and I visited with Emil for a little while.

After lunch was cleaned up, we sang a few songs with them and had a prayer. It was a warm time, and finished our time there very well.

Bev wanted to fabric shop at Guisano’s so we swung through there. Guisano’s is a new mall that was built since I was here last time. We shopped a few minutes, got ice cream, hit up the trusty ATM, and headed for Jia-an with Jordy at the wheel. A very rough 2 hours later (I was riding in back again) we pulled into Jia-an.

We parked and walked to Freddie and Leah’s house. Freddie is gone working but Leah welcomed us in. We sat around and visited a while, then went to Min. Charley and Tina’s house for supper. She made chicken, rice, pancit, and fresh mangoes for supper.

After supper and visiting, we went back to Leah’s, Luz came over and we sang a few songs, drank coffee to wake up, ate popcorn and banana-q and something Bev called Philippine hotcakes, drank Coke, and visited til bed time. We are all at Leah’s for night tonight and have secured Luz for our tour guide tomorrow.

We all slept in this morning so we could get rested up and maybe feel better. Jordan beat on the door at 8:45 and we got up and Bev cooked us an awesome breakfast.

Jordan was feeling much better and Brent wasn’t sure yet but he was walking so we packed the bags in the car and headed towards Tacloban.

We did a drugstore stop and then a stop at the new Robinsons mall for a few supplies. It was already lunch time so we ordered food at Mang Inisal at the mall. After chicken, pork sticks, rice, and halo-halos, which was a delightful fast food meal, we hit the road, across the San Juanico bridge, and on to the hundreds of curves of the National Highway on Samar with Jordan piloting the car.

I napped a little in the back seats with the luggage (its a mission car with the little side-facing bench seats on each side over the fenders in the cargo area) so I can’t tell you alot about the first hour except that the road is super rough. There were a few smooth places but they were few and short. We stopped at the Paranas corner for piñato, sweet and crunchy peanut candy.

There were some beautiful views along the road as the road follows the ocean part of the way and winds through the mountains.

We got to Calbayog around 5:30 and tried a hotel that had been recommended. Bev went in to get the local price instead of the white people price and they quoted a good price but when the rest of us walked in suddenly a basic queen room wasn’t available, but they did have a deluxe one for twice as much! So we left.

We stopped at another that apparently only does online reservations and was expensive so we headed on to S&R Bed and Breakfast. The prices were good, the people were friendly, and we decided to stay. The rooms were nice and clean, too.

Next up was supper. The lady at the hotel recommended a place called Marciels Grill, which we stopped and looked at but didn’t stay. They have a sweet third story open patio but we found out that floor cost 6000 pesos to reserve, roughly $120. The other floors had basically no view so we headed on.

We ended up at Jo’s Milagrina, a place Jordan had eaten at in Tacloban and really liked. We ate so much food. We had amazing shrimp, beef soup,

Fish,

Fried calamari, rice, and of course

Brent and Jordy had mango shakes! And calamansi juice. Calamansi are like small limes and make great juice.

And we finished it all up with mango float

turon with ice cream, which is fried jackfruit and banana,

and a chocolate and vanilla pudding thing. Wow. We were stuffed but it was so good!

Brent and Jordy both ate fish eyeballs at supper. Jordy also ate the marrow out of the beef bone in the soup. He says the taste and texture is kinda like mashed potatoes and it stuck to the roof of his mouth like peanut butter. That description was a highlight of the evening and the locals probably wondered if white people always laughed that hard and made that much noise at restaurants. It was a great time.

After supper, we drove to downtown and walked through a couple little shops and looked at sunglasses. Ray Bans, Oakleys, Gucci, and Prada were all on display and cost around 50 pesos, or $1. Some Oakley styles were recognizable too, there were some quite similar to Brent’s.

Back at the hotel, we sat out in the

courtyard (which is quite cool) at that green table and ate lanzones and drank pour-over coffee, which was delicious and the first black coffee I’ve really even saw since an americano at the Manila airport. The people here drink

these instant coffee packs which have the creamer and sugar in them and are quite good, but different than the coffee I drink at home. These packets are like 10 cents each so also easily affordable.

Now its bed time…

Last night at 10:30 the generator finally did shut off. And thanks for reminding me, Ford, it was full moon and it was beautiful!

I woke still on my bench and no crabs in my bed! Although before I went to sleep I was laying on my bench and I did see one run under my feet!

Breakfast was fish from a local lady. The owner of the huts grilled it for us and we had rice left from last night so that made up breakfast.

The boat driver had offered to take us to a fish sanctuary so all our things got packed up and loaded on the boat. The sanctuary was on San Pedro Island which was a 30 minute boat ride. We were going diagonally through 2 or 3 foot swells and I was watching for the bamboo outriggers to start flexing on waves but the operator knew his boat and it worked flawlessly. Fun fact about the boat. It was a twin inboard with 2 of their little 4 stroke small engines. One shaft went straight out the back, and the other kinda stuck out the side at a rather funny angle!

Upon arrival, the man told us he wanted to show us a lagoon. No one was just sure where we were going to see but we took off following him across the island. The other side of the island is open to the ocean and definitely looked different. The tide was going out and had left tidal pools all along the shore. The surf was aways off, probably at least 1/8 mile, leaving a long flat area of pools. The one he wanted to show us had these snake looking slimey sea creatures in it that were what he wanted to show us I guess. We picked a few out to touch them but water apparently gives them their shape and that got rather droopy and long. There were also a number of small starfish and there were shells on the beach.

I really liked the view down the beach aways. It was past another bay and the waves were crashing on the rocks and splashing way up in the air in front of the green tropical island. I liked the color combination.

Next stop was down the beach a bit where we snorkeled. The water was pretty clear and the bottom was awesome. It maybe wasn’t quite what we saw in Bohol, but it was still neat. There were fish varying in length from half an inch to a foot and color from white to blue to yellow to black and various combinations of those. I dont know much about coral, but there didn’t seem to be alot of color here, whether its the variety or bleaching I’m not sure. We also saw huge groups of sea urchins, which are black spiny balls that sting. And a big blue starfish or two. We had plans for the evening so we didn’t stay too long.

We rode the boat back to the mainland and loaded our things into the vehicle and hit the road. Brent drove today. We took a different route along the southern end of Leyte through Sogod and back north. It was a lovely drive along the ocean and through the countryside.

In the mountains, we stopped for a break at Agos-Agos Bridge. I’m not sure how high it is but I would guess between 300 and 500 feet. It saved about 3 kilometers of sketchy road that was prone to landslides. There were some boys making paper airplanes and throwing them off the bridge. Some went out of control but one flew out and down aways then caught an updraft and crossed over above the bridge and landed up on the mountain!

Brent wanted to stop and see Anafe, a family friend from their mission days, so that was our next destination. She was at the mission house near Dulag doing housekeeping so we stopped and visited a bit. She had Coke and some snacks for us and we 3 guys quickly took showers before the youth deal at Tigbao.

Ludy and Eloisa had invited us over for supper and the first thing was volleyball at their house with the youth. It was all fine and good til Brent twisted his ankle. So he took it easy the rest of the evening. I was playing ball and looked over in time to see Jordy descending from a coconut tree, maybe 30 or 40 feet tall.

After ball, Reward wanted us to come over to his house for a few minutes. Side note, Rewards wedding was the reason Troy and I came 5 years ago. We were only there a few minutes but it was good to visit and reconnect a little. We got to meet his wife, Verna Jo, and 3 year old boy Grant, too, and visit with her sister, Lowry Ann, a teacher at CLSTC.

Supper was at Ludy’s brother’s house. Ludy grilled pork sticks and there was lumpia, a cabbage stir-fry, and rice, all wonderful. After supper and a little visiting, we started singing. Soon the youth started showing up and there was more singing and ping pong and it was just a normal youth deal, only I couldn’t understand everything that was said.

Jordan’s showed up around 10 and we left for their house soon after. Back home, we had devotions, the sick and afflicted people went to bed, and I did laundry. Then Jordy and I stayed up way too long talking…

Today’s plan was to drive down to San Pedro Island for the day and spend night. Jordan’s and Jordy showed up around 8:30. The goal was 8 but the car had a low tire so that needed to be fixed before we could leave.

We drank coffee before we left and Mayette made sandwiches for the road for breakfast. Ford needed to stop at his office for a minute so after that we hit the road heading south. We stopped at a nice travel plaza type place north of Aboyog and then Jordan turned the keys over to me. I got to try the horn and the lights and swerving around people and passing motors and tricycles and trucks and meeting speeding vans and dodging dogs and driving a underpowered car through the mountains! We did a short detour through Aboyog where Jordan’s family lived back in the day.

We got to Canipaan around noon and ran to the market for fried chicken for lunch then loaded our stuff in the boat and rode to the island. It was about a 30 minute ride.

The west side of the island is set up for visitors, but it is not commercialized at all. They have bamboo and coco lumber huts built along the beach and also some built out over the water with docks leading out to them. The huts are something like 12′ by 12′ with benches around the outsides and most have a table in the middle. They also have lofts built in them that can be used for sleeping with either plywood or bamboo floors. The huts over the water also have diving boards.

The beach is white sand with small coral pieces, to the point where you see lots more coral than sand. I can hear the waves washing in now while I’m typing and can hear the coral rolling in the water on the beach.

We unloaded our things into one of the beach huts and ate lunch. After lunch we grabbed the snorkel gear and headed out to see what the bottom looked like. Unfortunately, there was not much to see but we swam a long time anyways. The water was very calm beings we were on the lee side of the island. Outside the hut was a 15′ diving board that we used. And we walked down the beach and tried the boards out at the other cabins and maybe got a little hard on one. Ask Brent. The diving boards were great because the bottom dropped off very steep about 30 or 40 yards out.

It gave us a great view of Leyte also. It was cloudy most of the day and sprinkled a bit here and there and the clouds were low over the mountains with some haze and it was beautiful.

After dark we moved to these huts.

This was to be our night spot, between these two huts.

There is no restaurant on the island so the others got someone to cook a little for us. There used to be fish available but not anymore. We had supper and told stories a while and watched the crabs crawl across the deck by where we’ll be sleeping and looked at fish underwater with a flashlight. The lights go off at 10 when the generator shuts off and Jordan was feeling cruddy with a little bit of a fever so we turned in early.

My bed is one of the benches so I’ll be sleeping with only a few slats of bamboo between me and the ocean!