13 Days!

Wow has it been a while since I was on here. Well as you can tell I have done some updating to the page. (It may change again, not to sure I like this layout)

I'm so excited to begin traveling again! Granted it is for a much shorter time-span, but regardless, I have been waiting a long time, and I actually never thought this opportunity would come around again, but God works in mysterious ways. I'm not to happy about the reason's I'm able to travel again, but thats for another time.

Anyhow, Just wanted to let you know to keep a lookout for more updates, and this time I'm going to try to do them way more often.

Philippines Purok 5

January-February 16th, 2010
Erik's Blog – Entry # 5

It seems that I'm able to write about one blog per month. At least that is how spread out the other ones have been. So since the last blog I wrote we have had a new group of volunteers come and go.

Apparently time is going by a lot faster than I was expecting it to, because just a few days ago I received an e-mail from my Mom, and in it she mentioned that my trip was already half over! I cannot, and I do not want to, imagine how hard it will be for me to leave this place.

I'm not sure how many people have been notified about my change in plans. First let me tell you what my original plans were.

Originally I had planned to be here in the Philippines till April 1st, and then I was going to fly to Sydney, Australia where I would be volunteering with NTM (New Tribes Missions Australian Headquarters). I had planned to be there for the month of April and from there I was going to visit New Zealand where I was going to be working with the Department of Conservation for about 2 weeks.

Just recently however, I received an e-mail from a man by the name of Grant Wright, staff coordinator at NTM. In it he expressed his sympathy for me and my intentions because he was to inform me that my original plans had been obscured due to the new year! He told me that the company had just made several huge changes due to the new year, and what was once going to be a buzzing campus at the headquarters is now going to be a bit of a ghost town! Originally he had thought that in April I would be able to partake in multiple projects throughout their programs, but now it turns out that no one will even be attending the camp in April!

So after I received this unfortunate news I was a little disappointed, but I know that there is a reason. God is calling me home a little sooner than “I” had planned, but that's not really my decision now is it. Thankfully when I purchased my plane ticket to Australia, I bought insurance with it, so I will be able to get a full refund which will all go towards my new plane ticket home!

Now my plan is to stay here about 2 weeks longer than I had first thought and I will be leaving from Manila on the 27th of April and will be flying into LAX (Cheaper than Chicago) to see Dan and Kristen (Their wedding is set for June 5th!) and then from there heading back to Chicago.

So the past month has gone by incredibly fast! We have had new volunteers, I've gone up to Baguio, and taken a plane. Lot's of new adventures, and some old ones...

So after New years events finally started to settle down we received 4 more volunteers.

Hilda and Jim- A German couple from Canada in their 80's?!?!

Steve- Another British Bloke, and guess what, he is also a Carpenter! (Just like Sir Paul, only cooler)

Amy- Another Australian Lass, very nice personality and ready to get to work!


They were all a great help, even if they were here for only a few weeks. They really enjoyed helping out with all the projects. Mangroves, school building, painting.... they really provided a lot of effort seeing as they were only here for a short amount of time, they wanted to do as much as they could.

They are all gone now and we have another volunteer named Justin Doyle. To my surprise his home town is Glenn Ellyn, IL. Hahahaha. He is one year older than me and is going to be here the rest of my trip! He is signed up with the teaching program with another volunteer organization that is connected with CERV-Philippines, called Meaningful Volunteer. He is teaching English at the elementary school in Cawayan (One of our neighboring Barangays).

When Hilda and Jim were here, we felt a special responsibility to watch over them as they worked, mostly due to their elderly age. We were all worried that each hot sweaty hour out in the blistering sun was taking off a day of their life, but I have to admit, they were a very hard working couple!

Steve seemed like he always had something on his mind. Maybe he was to distracted by thinking about what was going on at home. He was very eager to leave however, which for some reason made me feel a little sad for him. I feel like I've been blessed by having the chance to stay for such a long time. And as time goes by I'm still meeting new people and gaining new experiences! I'm glad Will (my brother) convinced me to stay longer than One Month, even if he only said it so he wouldn't have to see me for a while, haha! (Nagbibiro Lang Ako, “I'm just kidding”).

Amy was here the longest out of the new...ish group. She enjoyed her time to the fullest, and even brought home a ton of souvenirs, but just like all of the volunteers, even me, she had to go back home to her life, job, and responsibilities.

When Justin arrived, I wasn't sure what to think of him. It's funny how situations bring completely different people together. For example, back home if I met Justin, I most likely wouldn't become good friends with him, mostly because we just have two completely different personalities.

I'm really sorry to say that there aren't that many exciting or strange stories to list in this blog, but time is just going by so fast now, and the days are all blurring together. There are several things though that I would like to let you know about in this blog.

First I wanted to let everyone know that each day I spend here is truly a blessing, and I am still (as I will always be) thankful to all those who helped me both financially and spiritually! Before I left my Mom told me “Not very many kids your age get a chance to do something like your doing. And if they do, it's usually only for a month or so!”
Like I said in my last blog, I had no idea that I would be doing something like this or going to a place like this. Not in a million years. I feel very honored and blessed to have had this opportunity. It may not have seemed like a smart decision to some of my friends or family members, and to be honest it wasn't a very smart decision, but it was the right one. I may not be financially stable and I may not have a complete education, but that doesn't change the fact that I've had an amazing experience. I know some people will say “It doesn't matter what your doing there, you need to think about your future.”.
I say “The things or events that happen in our life are not nearly as important as what we do with the time that is given to us.” God provided me with the perfect amount of time, with (almost) the perfect amount of money, and with the perfectly abundantly overflowing amount of prayer and support.
I do not doubt for one second that this trip was a mistake.

Okay, so for the last month and a half, I have been busy teaching computer class, painting signs, painting benches, and cleaning up the shoreline in front of the mangroves.
Computer Class-

Even though I never signed up for it, I really do enjoy teaching the kids about computers and how to use them. Yes computers can be bad when someone gets addicted to games or facebook, but they also have very useful applications, such as typing papers, creating documents, presentations, and as I know on a professional level ( :) ) they are great for expanding one's knowledge and joy they may get from producing, editing, and presenting Movies!

I'm finally having the kids complete a project for me, and go figure, for their first project I'm having them make me a movie/presentation. I recently took a week off to give the kids a break, and myself. During my “break” is when I tried coming up with a lesson plan. I have to give teachers credit, because I use to think being a teacher was one of the easiest jobs ever, but boy was I wrong.

Painting-

Just out in front of the building I teach in at Paaralang Elemntarya Ng Sugod (Sugod Elementary School) there are several benches. Paul and I both decided they could use some color, and now they are all finished. We painted a different flag on each of them, representing the different countries that the volunteers have come from, including; The U.S., The U.K., Norway, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Mangroves-

The Mangrove project is coming along very nicely. We have between 600 and 700 planted along the shore just north of Sugod, near a place called Baliw. The last few weeks though I haven't had any help, so planting has been put on hold for the time being, and when I do get a chance to visit, I mostly pick up garbage and clean the already planted mangroves. We still have several thousand to plant. Thankfully some of the community members have joined in to help us plant in other locations scattered along the whole bay.

In the near future (March) I am planning on reading up on proper techniques and teaching Mangrove Plantation and Care classes at the Elementary school in Sugod, and the High School and Elementary School in Long Beach. It is very important that the community knows exactly how to plant and watch over these trees, because without them they will lose more than just some pretty looking trees. Unfortunately the students do not currently have a class to teach them about how the trees contribute to their livelihood, or how to properly maintain a healthy mangrove sanctuary.

So that is what has been happening with the work side of my adventure. As for my off time there are several other stories to tell.

One of my best friends Archie left Sugod to finally make his way back to Manila. When I first arrived here back in November I didn't know him, for the very obvious reason that he wasn't here. He works and lives in Manila, but I met him when he came home for Christmas and New Years. I met him about a week or so before Christmas, and from that moment on we have been great friends. I think I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that he was recently engaged to another American volunteer. That relationship ended up not working out, but maybe it was for the best. He was happy I came along when I did though. He met me the day after they broke up.

Sometime in January, Romblon Town celebrated their Festival and I invited Archie to go with me over to the Island. It was very similar to the Long Beach festival, with lots of people in parades, and karaoke, oh and again, endless amounts of food. While we were in Romblon we met Eduard who was staying at his Grandma's house. Paul had invited him to go over, but he didn't have any money, so Paul paid his ferry fair, just like I paid Archie's. Eduard said we could stay at his grandma's, Which I was very thankful for, since all the hotels were fully booked, and the only places left were miles from town. So on Saturday night we stayed at Eduard's Grandma's house.

The next day Archie told me he had some relatives on one of the smaller islands just north of Romblon Island, on and Island called Alad. He asked me if I wanted to go and of course I said yes. Just another place to check off of my places I've been in the world (Philippines, haha).
So that morning we found a small boat that was going to the island and we hitched a ride for 40 pesos for the 3 of us. (I forgot to mention earlier that we met up with another one of our friends from Sugod, Leonard.) Eduard decided to stay in Romblon that night for the festival.

We made our way through the giant waves (To get to Alad, you need to cross a straight, where there are intense winds and strong currents! At one time during the ride, I swore I heard a snapping noise on one of our outriggers....hmm.) Unfortunately, I chose to sit on top of the box that housed the engine, so by the time we arrived to the island, I had a very warm/numb bottom....hmm (:s)

We arrived safely at the far beach of the island, facing the open ocean. It was a very quiet island, and fairly small. There was only one Barangay on the whole island, and it had the same name as the island. The nice thing about Alad was there were no motor vehicles of any kind (except for boats of course). No motorcycles, no trikes, no jeeps or cars, just people walking and bicycles.
We (Archie, Leonard, and I) spent the afternoon just walking around the island. Archie wanted to show me around because this coming April (Lord willing) he will be coming back to visit his family and he wants to take me back to Alad for their festival, which is the first two weeks of April.

Now this island was a little more secluded and remote, so when the locals saw a tall white guy walking around, they all came to see, haha. As we walked around I bought a couple kilos of fish for dinner. Then when we got back to his Aunt's house, we went down towards the beach. Along the beach I noticed there were plenty of abandoned, half demolished homes. We brought a staw mat and a guitar with us to entertain ourselves. We laid the mat down on the bamboo slotted floor of an abandoned Nipa Hut. As we laid for a while and played songs, his Aunt (who speaks no English what-so-ever) brought us some Banana Q's (Banana's that have been fried in melted sugar! Yummm) and a big bottle of R.C. (Yes, Royal Crown Cola). After that we went to another beach on the other side of the island and laid on the beach. Then when It got late we went back to his Aunt and Uncle's house where his Uncle had a big fish to cook for us for dinner! It was a real beautiful fish too, bright yellow and purple.
I really enjoyed spending time on that island with them, and am hoping that he will be able to make it back down here in April, because not only is it Alad's festival but it is also Sugod's Festival!!!

Just this last Sunday I went with one of my Friends, Pinggoy, to a Seminary in Odiongan, on the other side of Tablas Island. One of my good friends, Aljohn, is attending the school and he really wanted me to visit him, and since Pinggoy was going there to take the entrance exam, Aljohn told me to go with him, so I did. Sunday at around lunch time we took a trike into San Agustin, where we caught a Jeepney heading to Odiongan.
Everywhere I go in the Philippines, I see jeepney's with people sitting on the roof, and I kept think to myself “Hmm, that looks so dangerous, but boy does it look fun!” and so when Pinggoy and I got to the Jeepney, we hopped on top! It was quite an experience to be sitting on top of one of those things. The whole inside of the jeep was packed with about 25-30 people, and the roof had about 15-20 of us. It was a long 2 hour trip through the mountains to the other side, but it was a great experience. At one point however, I made a very poor decision, and set my cell phone on my lap unknowingly right before we were to hit a huge bump, and then “Oooooopssss....”

Bye-bye phone....

“Para para para para para!” Yelled out Pinggoy (that means STOP!)

Man oh man was I embarrassed. The man hanging off the back of the jeep jumped off and ran to get my phone, which thankfully wasn't broken. It just bounced a lot and hit a banana tree.

We finally arrived in Odiongan, and stood up to get off, when yet another embarrassing moment hit me. The driver didn't know that there were multiple people getting off, so as we were walking along the roof to the back to jump off, he started driving again! Again people started yelling “Para Para!” and he did as he was told, but I did not have my feet properly placed, so BOOM I fell over, and thankfully there wasn't a person sitting where I fell, instead I landed on a rice bag full of coal, which wasn't to soft, but felt better than the rusty metal bars I'm sure.

We walked over to Pinggoy's Aunt's house for him to get their blessings (For Filipinos, it is a sign of respect to greet your elder's and receive their blessings). His uncle gave us a ride to the Seminary where Aljohn greeted us and showed me around. It was cool to see what a seminary is like in another country and to see how they operate. I've never been to a seminary before, primarily due to the reason that I'm not catholic, haha. It was a very nice area that they had, up on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. Lots of wide open spaces, a beautiful chapel, and a nice Nipa Hut on the side of the hill that we hung out in. We arrived at the Seminary in the afternoon so all we did was attend their holy hour, eat dinner, then we just sat around and talked till we all fell asleep.

The next day was Pinggoy's entrance exam, so we got up early, I attended their morning mass, just to see what it was like, then we had breakfast and then the EXAM! Haha, I just sat in the back of the classroom and fell asleep while he took his two hour test. After the test Aljohn wanted me to see a bunch of pictures from the last week when they had their basketball tournament. So as Aljohn and me looked through all his pictures, they graded Pinggoy's test and we found out that he had passed! So Pinggoy and I played pool (their pool table was a little smaller and instead of balls, it was little flat plastic disks.) while Aljohn took his Philosophy class. Then after he finished we ate lunch and hung out till we leave. Aljohn walked us to the gate where we hopped on a bike that took us to the jeepney terminal. From there we sat on the inside of the jeepney all the way back to Sugod

That is pretty much the extent of the last month, I haven't been terribly busy, but it has been fun regardless. I look forward to the rest of my time, but am dreading the day I must leave, but I have to.

Please keep me in Your Prayers!

Love, Erik Scott Johnson

Philippines Part Kwatro - January 2nd, 2010

So it has been a while since I last wrote again, and a lot has happened.
Since I last wrote in my blog, Maggie, Martin, Kelly, and Winnie have all left. And two holidays have passed. I have had a lot of new experiences since I last wrote, so again, this will be quite a long entry.


Where to start!

When the other volunteers were here, I did a few things that I hadn't participated in before.
One of my favorite things was rice planting. It's truly amazing how fast the locals are able to plant a entire field.

The day before we actually planted, they had been informed of our aspiration to partake in a traditional job of Filipinos, and had prepared a smaller field for our feeble attempt.

We arrived shortly after lunch. If you don't know much about how rice is planted or grown I'll try to explain. Rice is first grown in a water covered field in tightly packed patches. It almost looks like a sod field. Then after the rice is about four or five inches tall, it is plucked out in big clumps. Then the rice is then planted in a super muddy field about 1 foot deep. It is planted in rows spaced out about 4 or 5 inches in clumps of only 3 sprouts. That is only to begin with though. After you plant a whole field spaced out like that, you go over the entire field again and put more rice in between the already planted rice. It is very hard to keep the rows all nice and straight, at least for me it is, haha. The people who own the fields though have been doing it since they were young kids, so they have the perfect technique worked out.

It was fun to step through the field, mostly because it felt really gross, but every time you would pull your foot out of the mud, it would make a fart noise. Childish I know, but I get a kick out of simple slap stick humor. I had Ate Eden take some pictures of us planting the rice and all it is is a picture of a row of bums (that's my English and Australian accent coming through, thanks a lot Maggie, Martin, and Kelly!). It was a good experience none-the-less, and I'll never forget it, mostly because as I started my 5 rows, in the same amount of time it took me to complete mine, one of the locals finished the whole other half of the field!

While the others were still here we did some other exciting things I hadn't done before, like going to the Long Beach Dance! So just about 1 ½ Km up the road there is the small town of Long beach where they have a dance every single weekend, all leading up to their festival which just took place 3 days ago. So the night that we decided we would go to the dance I was asked to walk with some of the guys, rather then take a trike.

After dinner I was walking back to the Dorm (I eat every meal at Mom Tess's house) when I was approached by the guys who were walking to the dance.

“Are you ready to go?”

I thought I would have to look nice, since it was a “Dance” but they said I looked fine, plus I didn't even want to dance.

Earlier before we left, around dinner time, Eddie (the father of one of my friends) asked me, “So are you really gonna walk?”
“Of course! Why Not?” I answered
“Well at least you will have body-guards.” He responded......

That made me feel a little nervous. I've heard from multiple people, “Oh don't worry, Romblon is one of the safest places in the entire country!”.
Even though they said that I still felt uneasy. Plus every now and then, one of the guys walking with me would say, “Don't worry, we will protect you.”
“From what?”

I got no answer, haha.

So we got to the dance and It turned out to be a lot of fun. There were probably about 300 people there, and only 6 white people, haha. It wasn't a very formal dance. I'll just say, my Grandma would have hated it!

I spent a lot of the time with Eduard, one of my friends, and I asked him, “So what time are we leaving?”.
I expected him to say midnight or something, since we got there at 8:30.
“Ummmmm......3?”

He wasn't kidding.

I couldn't believe how long they wanted stay. I got so tired by the time we actually went home that I literally fell asleep the second I hit my bed, haha.

I'm really glad I've been using my journal Kelsey gave me, because without it I wouldn't know what to right next!

On one lazy day in the afternoon I just pulled out my cards and started playing around. I asked Kelly if she knew of the game Go Fish, and she said no! I couldn't believe it, I thought everyone knew of that game, but I guess not. So I taught her how to play, along with all the on-lookers, who now play the game daily. To me it seems like a little kid's game, but that's only because I played it when I was younger and didn't know any other games. But they really like it and It's easy to understand.

So about 2 weeks ago Kelsey made a special trip down here to visit me and go on a little vacation before she left for home for Christmas and New Years. She had it all planned out, down to the last detail, but sadly I don't think anything really worked out, although we did have a lot of fun doing multiple things. I start from the beginning.

So she got on her ferry and it actually left on time. So I expected her to show up at about 3 a.m. So I booked a trike to take me. Unfortunately she had a lot of trouble on her way. First off, she got the smaller ferry, sot it took almost 10 or 11 hours. Second, her jeepney didn't leave on time, and it was over loaded. Third, it got a flat on the way.

She finally arrived in Carmen at about 6:30am. The whole time I had been sleeping in the side-car of the trike while we waited for them to arrive. After she arrived we headed back to Sugod and she got settled in her room at Mom Tess's house. That day we decided to do a little hiking and go see the “Enchanted Hidden Sea”, oooooooooo. Haha.
So She got ready and we got a guide to take us up and over the hill. Aling-Aling was his name. I had seen him only once or twice before. We started off easy enough, but gradually it got steeper and steeper, and started to remind me of the hike the week before, lol. On our way up we encountered a cow, so naturally I had to take a picture. Once we got to the top we had a rest at a house that was at the top, and took some more pictures. That day we had taken Kelsey's bag with us to put some stuff in, like food, water, and some other gear. Kelsey and I had traded half way up but she couldn't carry it down, because it through off her balance way too much and she would have slipped twice as much, so instead I carried it. It was nice because we made it to the other side and headed down before the sun had even hit that part of the mountain, so it was nice and cool inside the woods.

Eventually we made it all the way down to a town called Aguada. It was a real neat place, surrounded by lots of jagged cliffs and clear waters. We were now on the western side of Tablas which was more open to the ocean than Sugod was, so the water was quite cooler and wavier. We made our way to a little house perched on top of a rock formation in the tiny inlet that Aguada was located at. Again, photo time. After we looked around for a bit, we were surprisingly offered Lunch at a strangers house. It's really amazing how everyone here is so open to complete strangers, welcoming them into their homes and providing basic needs. I think they even fed us before they had eaten.

So after lunch, we hired a Banca to take us back to Sugod, via the sea. Along the way however we made a few pitstops. One was at the destination we had planned the trip for, The “Enchanted Hidden Sea”. For about half an hour we hugged the coastline, taking a lot of pictures along the way. We eventually made our way into a little cove with a small white coral beach, where we anchored our boat and hopped out and started exploring. There were two spots of interest.

We had finally made it to this so-called “Enchanted” hidden sea. I say it was enchanted with diseases.
But I have to admit, it was really beautiful, but I would never get in that water in a million years. The other spot that caught my attention was just over to the other side of where we had landed our boat. Battered by waves was a super cool looking small bay. It was lined with super razor sharp rocks. We took some pictures (That I plan on using for my Facebook Profile Picture) and then headed back to the boat.

Originally, Kelsey and I had wanted to swim from the bay with the razor rocks all the way across to the small Island of Cabibigan. Our guides warned us that the current was much to strong and we would be swept away. I was thankful he convinced us otherwise, because as we made our way over to the island we encountered a large group of jellyfish. Now I don't really know if they are the stinging kind, but It would have made me freak out either way.

Once we got over to the Island we went for a little swim. Well Kelsey went for a big swim, and swam way out. I just stuck to the shore. We waited for about an hour before we left, because I boat left without us! They actually went out onto the open sea and started heading towards a big ship way on the horizon line. We had some people with us who stayed on the island who told us they were just going out to the ship to buy some fish, and that they would be right back.

So they did eventually arrive and we started our 1 ½ hour journey back to Sugod. It was a beautiful trip, seeing the changing coastline, along with a few smaller island, and even a Ship wreck from one of the previous typhoons! The waves were enormous and rocked our small boat like crazy, but thankfully I don't get sea sick that easily.


We finally got back and I felt like crap. I got sun-sick, although I didn't get any sunburn, except for my nose. That night I went to bed fairly early, because we had planned to leave early the next day, plus I was still pooped from the climb earlier that day.

The next morning we woke up and left Sugod at about 5:30, and got into San Agustin and caught the ferry to Magdiwang on Sibuyan Island, the Second Largest Island in the Province or Romblon, and farthest east, just on the other side of Romblon Island. It was a long 3 ½ hour trip, partially because we had a pit-stop over in the Port of Romblon Town before heading to Sibuyan.

We eventually made it around 11:30. As we approached the port, all you could see was a crowd of people, you couldn't even see the pier itself. And the pier was the only thing around, there were no other buildings or houses to be seen except for the hundreds lining the super long pier road.
After ashore, we were approached by multiple people asking, “You need a trike? Where are you headed?”. Or at least I was, I don't know about Kelsey, haha. One guy was very persistent and I said, “Oh I'm not in charge, you'll have to ask her...” and I pointed at Kelsey, haha.

Kelsey agreed to the fare for where we wanted to go and we first headed into the actual town of Magdiwang, where we were told we would have to sign in at the tourism office. For safety reasons.
Once there we signed our names and met another white man, Trules, from Sweden. He was actually headed to Mt. Guiting-Guiting National Park, which is where we were also headed. We left, as he was busy with some other things at the moment, and we made our way to the entrance of the park. Our trike driver, Erik, was for some unknown reason unable to make it all the way to the park headquarters. So he dropped us off literally in the middle of nowhere. Quite exciting really, because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We kept walking along the road in the direction he told us and eventually came to a sign that said Welcome to Mt. Guiting-Guiting National Park. I knew something was fishy from the start of our very well planned out trip.

The first thing I noticed that seemed strange was that the sign was fairly hidden in some weeds next to an abandoned C.R. Building, that was either under construction or under Demolition, or just falling apart. As we kept walking it seemed awfully quite, and I started to get creeped out a little.
I walked up to the entrance of the so-called “Visitor's Center” only to find the door locked....hmmm. I walked up to another building labeled “Protected Area Building” only again to find the door locked. Now I was really starting to get worried. I was wondering why wouldn't anyone be there? Did something happen? Oh maybe they are all on lunch break. I started to feel like I was in the T.V. Show Lost. As scary as it was, it was also kind of exciting, haha. I explored the grounds a little more and found a rudimentary kitchen area were there was one table, with a half empty cold bottle of water in the middle. I also found there cooking area where I found warm coals. I was convinced that there were people somewhere, but where were they?

As we walked around a little more I heard a low rumbling noise start up. I immediately started to think of the smoke monster from Lost, and began looking for some place to hide. No just kidding, I wasn't scared, in fact I went to investigate and found out that it was another trike, who surprisingly made it all the way to the entrance of the park! On board was a fairly friendly face. It was Trules! We talked about how it was strange no-one was around. Kelsey said “I think we are gonna go hiking now.” but the trike driver of Trules said, “It's dangerous to hike without a guide here.” and in my head I was thinking, 'Oh please Kelsey, he's a local, he know's what's best....', but Kelsey wouldn't listen, haha, and off we went into the densest forest in the whole of the Philippines.

Long story short, we hiked for about 6 hours and I got a pretty view of the path! Okay, so there is a little bit more to the hike. We stopped for lunch and ate peanuts, bread, and water (Was I in prison?, jk). As we sat for a bit, Kelsey sang me a song in Tagalog that one of the previous students from the bible school had written. So in the shadow of the tallest mountain in the province of Romblon, in the densest forest in the Philippines, I snacked on peanuts while listening to my sister sing a song, 9000 miles from home. Like I said before, new experiences every single day.

After lunch is when we hiked non-stop for about 5 hours (Not non-stop, since I had to take a breather every once in a while). We eventually ended up turning back seeing as it was starting to get dark, and along our way back we lost the path.....greaaaat, I knew it would happen sooner or later. As I was following Kelsey I hear her say, “Umm, I think we aren't on a path anymore...”. Oh crap. As we stood there for a second thinking of what to do, so nasty little fire ants made their way onto my feet and went nuts. I screamed out, “Ooooo, hey keep moving, yikes, wow, yeah keep moving.”. I hate the ants here, they have so many compared to back home. Everywhere outside, and in your bed, and in your food...everywhere.

Once we discovered we were lost all I could think of was “Did Bear Grills do an episode on the Philippine Jungles?
Eventually we found a path, phew. I have to say it was quite the experience to hike with Kelsey. Everytime I thought I was going to die from exhaustion I just sang a little song in my head.

“Every single cell in my body is happy, Every Single cell in my body is well, Every single cell in my body is Happy, Every single cell in my body is well.
I thank you Lord, I feel so good, Every single cell in my body is well. I thank you Lord, I feel so good, Every single cell in my body is well.”

Corny, I know, but hey, It worked for me, maybe it will work for you, haha.

So eventually we made it back down to the park headquarters were we were surprised to find a light on in the staff house! I was now firmly convinced someone was around, and began to knock on the door.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

no answer

“Hello!?”

still no answer.

We decided to have dinner in their little outside dining room where I had found the table with the cold bottle of water, which was now Missing!!! Ooooo....creepy, plus the table had been reset with a new table cloth?! Yikes.

So as we sat down Kelsey decided to go rinse off in a small river just down the road. While she rinsed off, I played solitare, then once she got back I went to take a bath. Nothing like a nice cool spring river to relax after a long day of hiking. Once I got back we started to eat a little. We still had no sign of anyone around, yet the light remained.

“What was that?” I say, turning my head to peer into the wood's where the rustling I had heard came from.

“What?” Kelsey replied.

“Over there! Look...”

I noticed a flashlight in the distance.

“Yeah, people!” I exclaimed. “Okay Kelsey, You talk to them, your more outgoing then I am.”

“No Way! Oh my Goodness!” Kelsey said as the people came closer and closer.

It turned out to be Trules! We later found out that about an hour after we left the 1 person on staff showed up to greet Trules and his Filipino wife. SoOOO It turns out that someone had been around! I was slightly relieved, but still a little confused as to why there was only one single person on staff for the entire National Park!? His name was Andy, and he explained to us how it was off season, and they really don't have many visitors this time of year. It also turns out that when we first did arrive, his friend had been “Sleeping” in the staff house! Strange but exciting experiences.

Andy was kind enough to open up the Visitor's center for us to sleep in. Inside the old musty building I was surprised to find several large comfy couches, along with 10 fully made bed's on the upper balcony of the building! There was a giant topographic map located in the building that Andy used to explain more about the park to us with. He also told us of other things we would be able to do the next day. He mentioned two waterfalls. Cawa-Cawa, and Lubingang.

So after he left us, I walked back over to where Trules and his wife were eating their dinner and had a chat with them for about an hour or so. It's always nice to meet people from other places around the world. It's a big world but It's amazing how God puts the right people in the right places, at the right times! I spoke with Trules about multiple things, including my Swedish background, my work at PRBC, and my current expedition for 7 or 8 months. He even taught me some more Swedish words and phrases. The only two I knew before then were Fweu (spelling?) which my grandpa taught me when I was 7 (it means 7), and Yag elscerday (again spelling?) which means I love you. He taught me Gud Nats (one more time, Spelling?) which means good night, which is where we left our conversation.
After I headed back over to the Visitor's Center I fell asleep almost immediately.

After a good nights rest I was ready for a day of more exercise and fun! (umm..not). But I really appreciated Kelsey spending time and money to come down to visit me, so I wanted her to be happy.
We woke up around 6 or so and walked from the park headquarters to the National Road. The national road made me think of a back road up in the Boundary Waters, haha.
After walking for a few Kilometers we caught a trike back into Magdiwang and started asking around and looking for a place Kelsey had heard of called Vicky's Place. To our surprise, we bumped into Erik, our trike driver from the other day, and he directed us to the place we were headed and we met Vicky.

Vicky started her homestay/Inn for foreigners a few years back mostly because her sister started dating an Austrian man named Oliver. Plus she loves meeting new people from around the world. I think her Inn was a good Idea then, haha. We dropped our bags off and Erik agreed to be our Trike driver for the day. As we were walking out Kelsey followed Erik, but Vicky caught me on our way out and told me if we wanted she could prepare a dinner for us (Vicky is also involved with a catering business). Without hesitation I immediately agreed (I was a bit tired of Peanuts and bread).

So after we left we started another exciting day of traveling around the truly beautiful island of Sibuyan. It is known as a rougher area, not seeing as many tourists as other areas. When I say rough I speak of its looks, and not it's people or their way of life. The people of Sibuyan are just as kind and welcoming as anywhere else in this entire country.

We made our long 18 Km trip over to the small village where the trail to Cawa-Cawa falls was located. There we were asked if we needed a guide. Immediately the ants from yesterday came to mind, and I shouted yes!....haha. I know guides aren't always necessary, but I felt we needed one for several reasons. First, I didn't want to get lost, second, If anything happened, there would be someone else there, Third, the people of Sibuyan island don't get many chances to interact with other people of other cultures, and lastly, they need all the money they can get, and I don't want to be the one to deprive them of something they need, not something they want.

We had about 3 guides with us, plus Erik. Two were locals of the village in which we had arrived. The other gentleman however was the Chieftain of the Indigenous tribe towards which we were hiking! He didn't speak any English, but he was a nice man. We got along just fine, haha. Along the way we crossed the same river about 7 or 8 times. Every-Single-Time, Kelsey had to take her shoes and socks off, then she would have to put them back on! Haha, I didn't care, it gave me time to get further ahead of her, haha. We finally arrived at the Cawa-Cawa falls about 45 minutes after we had left the village.

After we took some pictures we decided to go for a swim! The valley in which the waterfalls was located resembled something out of of J.R.R. Tolkiens' book series Lord of The Rings. Crystal clear water, stoney river bed, deep gullys, rapid torrents, yet smooth pools of deep blue water. I was happy we had decided to visit it. One of our guides wen on ahead of us and climbed up onto a super slippery rock face and used a vine to pull us up and over into the second pool of water.

Cawa-Cawa means in Tagalog, Frying Pan. The falls were named such that they resemble big woks, or frying pans, with thousands of gallons of water running through them every minute. Once in the second pool we took some pretty neat pictures and swam around for a bit. I tried to work my way over the second falls but it was too strong for my feeble attempt, haha.

After we had our refreshing swim we started heading back. I gave one of our guides his money before the others because on our way back he was splitting up with us. I gave him P100 ($2.30) and he was so amazed that I gave him that much that he wanted us to go to his house and have some Tuba (Coconut wine, don't worry grandma, it's not alcoholic). He was so happy that I gave him that much because he climbs coconut trees every day of the week for almost 9 or 10 hours and only earns P150 a day...
I was happy we could help!

We finally got back and got on our way to the 2nd falls. This one didn't require a guide, seeing as it was only a few hundred meters from the National road, but Erik went with us to ensure our safety. We arrived at the falls shortly after walking for only a few minutes. They weren't as pretty as Cawa-Cawa, but this one had a rope swing! I wasn't going to go swimming but Kelsey didn't know how to use the rope swing properly, so I had to show her, and it was a lot of fun! We swam for about half an hour or so and then decided we would go back to Vicky's Place and just relax the rest of the day.

After Erik dropped us off we went to our room and put our stuff away and then decided to go for a walk around town, but ended up going down to the beach and walking along the beach for a couple of hours. It was a very nice beach, with plenty of open area, but it was changing all the time because of the tide. We walked all the way up to a rock wall that had been built by locals to protect some recently planted mangroves. We started to walk out onto the rock wall but as we walked further and further the waves started splashing over all the rocks and it became to slippery to continue. Inside the little man made pool were millions upon millions of small star fish! At first I thought it was just sea-weed, but I took a closer look and sure enough they were moving all over. I also stepped on a Sea-urchin, but thankfully my shoes were tough enough, haha.

We headed back to Vicky's and had a nice nap before an amazing dinner! Was really delicous, especially after eating peanuts and bread for two days! We both read a little before heading to bed. I read the entire timeline of the Philippines, which turned out to be very entertaining. I went to bed fairly early and was excited to be able to sleep long enough to let the sun come up before me! I had my clock set for 8am, but at about 7:50, the neighbors started blaring John Lennon or something...oh well, so I lost 10 minutes, haha.

The ferry from Magdiwang left at around 10ish, so we decided to start walking around 8:45 towards the port. It was a nice walk, and it wasn't even that far. From there we both purchased our separate tickets, my ticket was from Magdiwang all the way back to San Agustin on Tablas, and Kelsey was going from Magdiwang to Manila. We were on the same boat from Magdiwang to Romblon, but from there we split up and she got on the larger ferry while I stayed the same one. Once she got on the ferry we said goodbye one last time, because I could see her from my boat and I took her picture leaning over the railing.

As I waited for the boat to leave I noticed a lot of splashing. I went to the railing to look and see what all the noise was. I was very surprised to see a group of guys swimming right between the two huge ships. They were calling up to other passengers on the ferries to throw coins and when someone would they would dive down and try to get to it before the other guys. They were also climbing like monkeys back onto the ships, using the ropes that the boat was docked in with to work their way up to the railings, then they would just climb along side the ship up to the top, and do tricks jumping off from the top. The crazy thing was, no one seemed to mind! I was very surprised to see some seamen throwing them money even! It was pretty cool though to see all the different tricks or flips they could do from the top of the ship.

I finally made it back to San Agustin and caught a trike back to Sugod. Like I said before (I think) everytime you get off a ferry there are tons of trikes and motorbikes waiting for people (especially tourists) to give “Special Rides” to. A special ride is just one passenger. I hate getting special rides, because it makes me feel too special. So Instead of getting a ride from one of them I waited at the trike terminal for the trike going to Sugod. So instead of paying P150 for the special ride, I paid P25. Quite a difference if you ask me, plus it made me feel more part of the culture here.

About a 3 days later, Maggie and Martin left. Kelly and I woke up at about 4:45am to go and say goodbye. I told them I'll keep them up to date with all that's going on here, with the mangroves and the school building project. It was sad to see them go, because they were such wonderful people, but they have other adventures ahead of them.

Christmas DAY!
Christmas in the Philippines was amazingly amazing! We had a big Videoke/Karaoke party at pretty much everyone's house. I spent some time over at Archie's house where I finally got to taste monkey! I have to say it was absolutely delicious. Very Memorable experience, but I did miss my family immensely, but I now know that I need to use this time for having fun and making a difference in my life and others.

6 days ago was the Long Beach Festival. Both Kelly and I were invited to go over to Vincent's house to have some food and enjoy the festivities. The festivals here are held once a year for each town, So December was Long Beach's and April Sugod will have theirs, so unfortunately I will miss all the fun! If you attend the festivities you should go with a super empty stomach, which no one told me to do, I found out on my own. I figured we would just eat one meal at Vincent's house and then head towards where the parade was being held along with the dance competition. To my surprise I actually had 4 lunches that day! My stomach was ready to explode by the time I arrived at the last house. It's bad manners to refuse food or hospitality here in the Philippines if you are offered, so I forced myself to eat more and more food. In between meals we watched the parade which was hosted by the 4 Puroks (divisions) of Long Beach. They each had their own Dancers and Drumlines, and it was a real awesome experience. After the parade finished we were invited to board a festival ship for the Parade of ships (pretty much the parade, just on water). We rounded a big ship that had anchored itself in the harbor a few times before heading back to shore to enjoy some more food.....ughh.

After we ate some more we went to the town plaza, aka the basketball court where they held the dance competition. Just as in the parade, each Purok had their turn to perform for the judges. They wore some very interesting costumes and painted their entire bodies in either blue, black, or white, along with different patterns all over their backs, chest, arms and legs.

After the competition finished we headed to another house to have some more food! Then after I finished that meal, I was invited by Eduard and my friend Archie to join them at someone else's house where, you guessed it, more food was waiting to be eaten! We hung out for a few hours, and then I was asked to head back to Sugod for dinner by Mom Tess...
:”Oh no, not more food...”

The next day I was invited to go to the dance in Long beach again. I got a ride that night with Eduard and Archie on his Motorbike. So I know I mentioned how impossibly packed the trikes can get, well same goes for motorbikes here. I once saw an entire family on one 125cc motorbike. 6 People. I was shocked and confused as to how the bike withstood the amount of weight, but somehow they do it. So it was Archie, his brother Al Jun, Eduard, and I all on Archie's bike. We got to the dance and found a spot on the bleachers to just sit and talk. It's really nice to get to know everyone here, and everyone is friends with everyone, which is pretty much awesome. We went back at about 1 or so in the morning.

The next day was the final day of festivities in Long beach. It started off pretty similar to the day before when I stuffed my face all day long. I was with Archie and Eduard again for a while, and then we were gonna go back to Sugod for dinner, but the trike driver we had had been drinking a little and I was a little nervous, but Archie said don't worry, he was gonna get the keys from him and drive me home, but that never happened. Eduard sat in the Side car while me and Archie sat on the bike and the driver, well... drove. The whole time Archie told me not to worry, that he was a good driver, even if he had a few beers in him, which he was, he just didn't like to slow down! We made it back and Archie apologized but I told him he had no reason to since we made it back safely.

After dinner I met up with some friends at Archies house and we decided to head down to the beach to go swimming because it was Taob (High tide). Earlier that day they had bought some fish and brought some coconut shells to burn to cook the fish over. We also piled up some palm leaves and shells to burn for if they got cold after swimming (They were cold, I was warm, haha.). While we were at the beach I got to know some other people that I hadn't met before. Like Francis and Archie's Brother Al Jun. As we sat on the beach and they talked I started to get a little home sick, because watching them hangout made me miss hanging out with my friends back home. I eventually told them I got bored so I headed to bed.

The next day I felt terrible for leaving them and I told them why I had, and that I now realize that I may miss my friends, but I'll see them again someday, so I should just take advantage of my time here, and make some great memories!

That day was New Years Eve, and I slept in until almost 11! Just like back home, right Grandma? Haha.
All day people were preparing all kinds of food and deserts, because it is tradition to eat once it is the New Year here. So everyone's refrigerators and freezer's were packed with food!

That night I had way too much food again. I was invited to join Eduard and Archie at his house where, I had just eaten dinner, and then Archie brought me a huge plate of more food! Then we went to his neighbors where they fed me some Buko Salad and beer?! (Buko Salad is freshly cut coconut mixed with condensed milk along with mixed fruits and then frozen.)

Then we headed back over to Archie's where about 20 of our other friends showed up and we just sat and talked for almost 3 hours! If you read my last blog I think I mentioned I bought a box of Cigars so I pulled some of those out and passed them out. We all had a great time just sitting and listening to music. I started to feel sick and finally went to bed around 3 in the morning.

Just like Christmas, New Years was a time I will never forget, mostly because I spent it with so many new friends in an amazing place. Very different compared to my last New Years where I was on Navy Pier. Plus there was no Snow! It was about 77 out, haha. Perfect weather for me, just like summer back home.

So yesterday morning, I awoke to hear “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis being blasted from speakers almost half a Km away. I went down to check out what was going on, and I was there the rest of the day. The kid's of Sugod had wanted to organize a game day where they all got together to compete, and the donations from the older residents was given to the kids as their prizes. All day long they played games. Carrying eggs on spoons, Running as fast as you could, Dance Competitions, Blindfolded pinata games, even Boxing!

Last night we had another get together on the beach. The people who live here love to hangout, no matter what time it is. We were on the beach for a few hours then we headed back to the dorm, (where I stay), and they asked me if they could just sleep over, so we just talked for a while and listened to music, and then all fell asleep.

If you've noticed this blog seems like it has been one long vacation, but that's because it has been, no-one has work or school, and the CERV employees are too involved with all the festivities going on. Tomorrow morning (Sunday the 3rd) I'm going to finally plant the 3,000 Mangroves! I have to wake up fairly early, around 6, because that is when it is Hunas (Low Tide).

So I know for a fact I've missed some pretty cool stories in here, so that will give you a good reason to sit down and talk with me about what I've been doing here.

I am so thankful to all those who helped me get here, because this trip has truly changed my life. I've talked with so many of my friends about Change, It seems to be what my life circles around. As I sat this afternoon watching the clouds roll over the tops of the mountains here I started to think.....

“Change is a thing that has to take place, and nothing can ever stay the same. We live in a world that demands change. Each of our lives is something extraordinary gifted to us by God, and we need to do the things in our life that he leads us to do. For instance, my life till just a few months ago and pretty much been the same, and now look where I am! I never dreamed that in an eternity I would make my way across the world to the smallest town in the poorest province in a 3rd world country that I knew very little about and make friends and memories and impacts in people's lives. I never dreamed that God would want me to make a difference in this way. How did I get here? God has placed me here, not circumstances, not my money, not anyone else's money, not demands, not needs, not wants...only God could do something like this, and I think I have changed more myself inside in the past 2 months than I have in the past 20 years. Yes there are in my life that I wish would have turned out differently, but if they did, I wouldn't be the same person I am now. One of the most comforting things to know is that God is the one directing my life, he is the one who makes everything happen, the one who makes me who I am. This world has things in it both good and bad, but everything I've ever done, both good and bad, has lead me to where I am today. There are no accidents, there are no mistakes, there is only what happens. Before I left home I wanted to get as much of God as I could because I had no idea what it would be like over here, but since I departed, he has never been closer than he is now!”

In my journal I have an entry that is entirely in prayer form. I wrote it while I was alone on the beach, and this is a part of it.

“Thank-God....for whatever I am, whatever I do, whatever happens in my life. You are with me! There is no other feeling in this world that trumps the knowledge of knowing you are near. My whole life, everywhere I've gone, everything I've ever done, everything I've ever said, Good or Bad, You have been standing there next to me. I praise you Lord for making me the way I am. Even if I falter or show weakness, you never leave. I don't always understand you or your ways, but I am yours, and I will always follow you. Even when the people I love turn their backs on me for who I am or what I've done, even when I stand alone in complete darkness, even when the world is crumbling and falling down around me. My faith for you grows stronger each and every day you bless me with! Blessed be your name, for my heart chooses you over everything this world has to offer!” ---December 1st, 2009

Please keep me in your prayers.

Erik S. Johnson

Philippines Part 3 - December 9, 2009

So, again it's been quite a while since I have had time to sit down and think.

A lot has happened since I last wrote in here, so I'll try to remember everything.

So, lets see, I spose I should start with some more info on the projects I've been helping with.

MANGROVES!!!

Oh boy, I had no idea there would be so many, haha. Early last week we decided that the mangroves were at the right height and decided to move them down to the beach. You base the decision to plant off of the plants hight and number of leaves. They need to have at least 3 sets of leaves with 2 each, so six leaves. It took us a day and a half to move the 5000 trees to the beach. We made several trips in a bus with it packed to the ceiling.

Everytime we would make the trip to the beach, it seemed like a race between me and Paul to empty the bus first, but I wanted to take it easy, because I noticed that the leaves would rip off fairly easy (Paul dropped a bunch too, and every time he did, I would laugh a little to myself, not in his face though, I'm not that kind of person). Those couple of days felt good though, because after all that hard work, I really felt like we had accomplished something (and we did).

One day Kuya Vincent didn't know what I should do, so I decided to head down to the beach and do a little clean-up, pulling out the garbage from the ground and the bigger mangroves. I found tons of crap (pardon the expression, but it seriously was crap). I found a bunch of pairs of underwear for one thing ( :/?), I also found shirts, rope's in all shapes and sizes, nets, plastic bags, a cup that said "Made in China", a fork, some panties (oops), alot of pieces of rice bags, and numerous other types of crap.

Today we actually were going to plant the trees (since they've been on the beach now for a week) but the tide came in too quick, so we just picked up more crap and had a fire to burn it all! Very environmentally friendly right? Well it's better then it floating around in the ocean or getting caught in trees and killing the branches. Plus, when I helped will and tabs with there house, we burnt much worse stuff.

Also, before we actually moved the trees, we were re-potting them into bags. When we were at the nursery re-potting them, this little girl named Angel showed up. She didn't speak a word of english, but she understood a tiny bit, for instance I asked her how old she was and she told me she was four. She was very cute, and to my surprise, she really wanted to help us! She kept handing me mangroves to pull out of their existing cups and then would hold the bag up to me so I could put dirt in it for her, then she would plop the tree in and carry the bag over to our pile of already re-potted trees. She was a great help, but gradually got more and more demanding. She would come up and have 5 or 6 trees and want to do them all at once, and then she would say "Isa Pa" which means one more. She would say that over and over, so I said "Hindi" which means No. I would point at the ones she had on the ground and say "Ang mga ito" which means "These". Eventually she got tired of it and just left, Haha. She was a good help though.

COMPUTER CLASS !!!!

It's really amazing how things on this trip are just falling in place! When I found out that I would be teaching computer class I had no Idea it was gonna be such a big ordeal. I teach 2 classes Monday and Wednesday from 11-1, then another 2 classes on Tuesday and Thursday from 11-1 again, but then in the afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday I also teach adults from 2-4. I also get the chance to teach teachers on some Saturdays!

For me, I learned everything I know about computers just by fiddling around with them and finding out by myself. But for these classes it's a little different, because these people haven't had computers, ever. There is only one computer at the local elementary school, which is crazy to think about for me since at my middle school we had probably over 200.

Teaching the classes are fun, but can be frustrating because of the language barrier. Most of the kids know some english, but like a lot of kids, they can be very shy. Each class I have is studying something different. In one class, the pupils (students) have absolutely no experience with computers, so that class is a lot of fun, haha. In my other classes I am going over things like Power Point, Windows Movie Maker, and Excel.

I love computers, traveling, meeting new people, being outside, and many other things, and during this trip, God has provided me with so many crazy experiences and opportunities. I hope that the rest of my trip is full of fun and adventure.

So not this last weekend, but the weekend before was my 20th B-day. This is how the day went.

Woke up with a soar throat at 7.

Headed over to church (4 Square Gospel Church) for a 3 hour Service!!!

Headed back over to the House and had a little snack

Laid on the Couch and watched old movies that I have made

Got up in the afternoon and walked over to Mom Tess's house for dinner

Had a special b-day dinner, Filipino spaghetti and Chicken!

Went down to the beach and watched the sunset

Not the most exciting 20th Birthday, but one I will hardly forget.

The weekend before my Birthday (Nov 14-15) me and Paul went over to another Island by the name of Romblon, where the town of Romblon is located, which is as you know, in the province of Romblon. Haha.

We had to get up at 7and take the ferry at 8am from San Agustin to Romblon. exciting 40 minute ride. It was a fairly small pump boat, with enough room for maybe 40 people. Thankfully that day the skies were clear as we made our way out onto the sea. Once we arrived in the Port we got off and started walking. We didn't have any plans or any idea of where to go, we just walked.

We came across this restaurant called Romblon Deli, it had an Italian flag on the front, but the owner was actually another Brit! Naku! Haha....Oh well.

As we ate we were approached by a woman. She asked us if we were looking for somewhere to stay, and before I could say anything Paul said yes. She mentioned a hotel by the name of Muruvian, which is owned and operated by a New Zealand man. Ironically as we were on our way to the hotel, I received a text from Ate Eden telling us about a hotel by the name of Muruvian.

We got there and Paul was like "Alright! I'll take it, cool"..........

about 1 minute after we booked our rooms I got a text from Ate Eden saying that there was a resort by the name of San Pedro Beach Resort, and she said it was the same price, much nicer, and we would probably be the only people there! Ahhhhhhhhh.....poop.

I wasn't very impressed with the hotel to be honest. The New Zealand guy left, and sadly once he leaves, his employees do a poor job. I didn't have a sheet, I didn't have a towel, and I didn't have Toilet Paper.....urgh.

After we checked in we went outside to walk around and see what the town was like.

Every where I go, There is at least a group of Pinoys yelling out "Hey Joe!".

This phrase comes from tradition and actually stereotyping. Any white person a filipino sees, they will yell some sort of greeting, weather it be; "Where are you going?!", "What's your name?!", "Where have you been?!". All of these phrases are not ment to be taken literally. If you respond with an actually answer, instead of just "Hello!", they will presume you have time to chat, which isn't a bad thing, unless of course your in a hurry.

But the Phrase "Hey Joe!" come from a reference of The G.I. Joe. So even if it is a Brit, Australian, New Zealander, anyone with white skin, they will yell "Hey Joe!", haha.

When we were walking around Romblon, plenty of people were looking and yelling those phrases.

Walking through the streets I passed numerous marble dealers. Romblon is famous for it's marble quarries and it's marble is considered on the same level as Italian Marble.

Since I got that text from Ate Eden about San Pedro, I wanted to go and check it out. Paul and I got a Trike from the center of town out to the Resort. Once we got there I was super angry that we didn't go there first. It was like paradise! Well, close. All the cottages were empty, and we were literally the only people there. A private beach, restaurant, hammocks, marble tables, floors, statues, Bungalows on the edges of cliffs. It was a real amazing place.

Instead of sleeping there, we just spent the afternoon. It was about 1 dollar to have access to the beach (where I found a big purple star fish).

So that was Romblon. I only spent a day there and then had to head back "home".

Just this last weekend however, I had an amazing time and met some real great people.

When I got my visa back in the states, It said it expires on December 11th, so the closest immigrations office is located on a super touristy island called Boracay.

I had to make a trip there, so this last weekend I did so with one thing in mind, the renewal of my visa.

I woke up early 4:30am on saturday morning to catch a trike into San Agustin. Once I got into San Agustin, I waited about an hour for the Jeepney to arrive that was heading down to a town called Looc (Low-oc). The jeepney started off fairly empty but gradually got packed! San Agustin was only about 15 or 20km from Looc, but the trip took almost 3 hours, due to all the stopping to let people on and off.

We finally arrived in the town of Looc and I asked one of the other passengers if he knew where I could catch a ferry to Caticlan from. He told me to get on the trike he was getting on. We headed down to the bay and from there I boarded a small ferry that was bound for Caticlan. The ferry took about 3 hours to travel the relatively short distance. The reason it took so long was we were going slow so that the waves wouldn't bust the boat apart and kill us all.

I choose the worst possible seat on the whole boat. I sat right next to the super loud, old, sketchy looking engine. It was blasting away for the whole 3 hours, So i sat and listened to music on my Ipod, or at least what I could hear of my music.

Finally we arrived in Caticlan. Caticlan is actually on the island of Panay, which is further south of Boracay. Why they make all visitors go through that port instead of heading directly to Boracay, I don't know.

Once in I got off the boat I headed into the port terminal to get the ticket for the pumpboat to Boracay. I had to purchase the terminal fee, the environmental fee, and the actual ticket, so total it was about P200, and it was only a 10 minute ride. The 3 hour boat trip from Looc was the same price! I could tell I was getting close to a popular touristy spot.

Once we got on the pump boat we were all told to put on our life vests, but i didn't because I barely had room to move. On our way over the guys stood up because the seats they were sitting on were apparently part of the exhaust system, and the back of the boat started to fill with smoke! Nobody freaked out though, I guess it was a fairly normal occurrence, haha.

So finally we arrived at Boat station 3 on Boracay Island. As soon as I stepped foot off the pier these two ladies approached me. Immediately I thought to myself, "Oh great, here we go with the 'Are you interested in this or that!?, how about a nice souvenir?!' crap".

But actually I ended up getting to know them quite well. There names were Helen and Wilda, and it was there job, as employees of the tourist board of Boracay, to help tourists with no initial place to stay.

They took us (Paul and I) to a resort called "Alice In Wonderland". Paul ended up staying there, but I wanted to at least look at some more places before just decided on the first one. So I went with Helen and Wilda and they showed me all these different hotels and resorts along White Beach and Main Road. From Boracay Regency, to Boracay Holiday Resort, to Nigi Nigi Nu Noos Resort, to Red Coconut Hotel, to Editha's Inn. All sorts of places. I told them I was picky, haha.

Eventually I ended up picking Nigi Nigi Nu Noos, because to me it seemed like the best deal with the best features for a good price.

As we were walking along the beach looking at all the places I got to talking with them about what I was doing in the Philippines, and told them why I was in Boracay, and I also asked them something I have been wondering since I got here.

"Is there any place around here to get a tattoo?"

To my surprise, Wilda's husband's friend is a tattoo artist, and she told me he would be able to give me a tattoo for a cheaper price at his house rather then at a shop. So I kept that in mind as I turned in for the night (8 hours of traveling on boats kinda wore me out).

The next day I texted Wilda asking her about the guy who does tattoos, and she told me that they were just talking about that, and she asked me If I wanted to go over to his house. I got ready for the day and met her outside the resort, and the two of us caught motorbikes over to the other side of the island. On our way I got to talking with my driver. He thought it was neat to hear why I was in the Philippines. My driver's name was Tom, and Wilda's driver's name was Jerry. Haha.

So we arrived at the house of the guy, and I could clearly sense a difference in the atmosphere from over on White beach as compared to where he lived. Again everyone was staring at me, since no white people ever visit the other side of the island.

I met the guy who does the tattoo's. His name is Siegfred Tubi. He told me the price for the tat, and we agreed on a price, and that's when i started getting nervous....eek.

He started getting everything ready and told me to come sit down. It didn't take very long for him to finish it, maybe about half a hour. The whole time though we were talking. He told me he had taken the morning off to meet with me. He asked me what my plans were for the rest of the day and I told him I had none, so him and his brother's invited me to a fight that afternoon.

Now when I say fight alot of things come to mind, but this was a cock fight, which I had never seen, but I have wanted to since I got in the Philippines, because over here cock fights are a big deal.

So After the tattoo, they took me with them over to this little stadium where there were hundreds of bikes lined along the gate outside. As we were walking in, there were tons of people with chickens in line waiting to get spurs put on their feet.

(In a cock fight, they first must size out the chickens for even fights, all based on size, aggressiveness, and agility. After they size the chickens out, they get real sharp razors, called spurs, attached. Only one spur per chicken, on its right foot. It's a razor with a metal band that wraps around the leg of the chicken and is then secured with a colored piece of string.)

We went inside and found some seats and waited for the fights to start. Once the first fight started the only thing I could think of was Gladiator. I thought it was actually kind of fun and exciting to watch. Before each match started, the audience would start screaming really loud and yelling at each other, but I found out that they were placing bets and gambling on which chicken would win or lose. I didn't have any money, but I bet with words with Siegfred, and to my surprise, I won each time. Too bad I didn't have money! Haha. I thought the fights were okay, for a few reason, first off chickens don't have souls, 2nd the loser is one less chicken to wake me up in the morning, and finally, they eat the loser. Haha.

So we were at the fight for about 3 or 4 hours, and the whole time I got to talking with Siegfred,

He told me he just turned 27 in August. I told him I had just had my B-day last week, haha, so going to the fight was my belated birthday present. We got to know each other and he asked me what I was up to tomorrow. I told him I had no plans until later, since the only reason I was there was for my visa. So he asked me if I wanted to go with him and his brother the next day to a few different places, kinda like a private tour. So I said sure thing, sounds fun.

After they dropped me off back at my hotel, I went out to eat dinner at the seafood restaurant at my hotel, and I ordered a pizza and a chocolate milkshake, haha. Later that night I went down to the beach to finally take a swim. And since it was late at night, there were only a few people on the beach, where as during the day, there were hundreds of people!

White beach is an amazing beach that stretches for a couple miles and is made of this really fine white sand, which is actually where the island gets it's name. The sand feels like cotton, which means Borac in the native language, so they named it Boracay!

So the next day I woke up and did a little souvenir shopping, got a few shirts and some shorts, mostly clothes, because I left all my dirty laundry back at the dorm in Sugod, haha. Then later that afternoon Siegfred texted me the place to meet them, so at around 3pm I walked over to meet up with them.

They picked me up on his brother's little 100cc motorbike. So three people on this tiny little bike, and there was absolutely no room for me to move. They had told me they were taking me to some bat caves that were on the island. I assumed that it was some kind of a tourist attraction, and in a way I was right. I thought there were going to be more foreigners, but there were none. We took this small, bumpy, dirt road, and at the end was a basketball.

A group of people had set up a tent and a cardboard sign saying "Bat caves - 50 Piso".

I was only wearing flip-flops, but so was Siegfred and the guide. The walk to the caves was really beautiful. It was on the side of the island that wasn't very developed, so there were alot of wide open spaces. Eventually we started heading into the jungle and got to the mouth of a cave, I snapped some pictures, and I figured that that was it, but then they asked me if I wanted to go in.

So being me, adventurous and all, i said "Of course".

I didn't bring a flashlight, and neither did Siegfred or the guide, so he was using his phone to see the rocks. Once we got down a little further I saw something white on the rocks in front of us, and it looked like a pole. They told me it was a seasnake and that it was very poisonous. They said there were alot at the bottom of the cave, so we just stopped there.

As I stood on the rock I could hear the waves crashing in the bottom of the cave, where it lead out to the open ocean. After we climbed back out we headed over to another cave, where we took a couple more pictures.

After we walked out of the jungle back to the basketball court I gave the guide a 50 peso tip, and we took off to go to another part of the island called Mt. Luho (which means Never Reachable, which is kinda strange since it's a tourist spot). We got off the bike and headed up this path that lead up to the top where we climbed up onto some canopy walkways above the trees. And oh man was it windy up there, I'm glad he told me to take my hat off, otherwise it would've gone bye-bye.

He took some pictures of me for my facebook dp, haha. We headed down off the walkway where they had some animals on display. There were tons of cages, but some of them were empty because the animals had escaped, uh-oh, haha. There were also alot of wild monkeys on the mountian, which was my favorite part. Siegfred went and got these leaves he called Saint Peter leaves, which were very sugary apparently, and the monkeys loved them.

At one point I was giving some leaves to this grouchy old monkey and he decided it would be funny to play a trick on me. After he finished eating the leaves he looked at me (with an evil eye I might add) and reached out with his left hand, almost as if to say "Here, I give you permission to touch my hand", but as I reached out to touch his finger, the sneaky little dork snatched my glasses right off my face with his other hand!

I wish now I would have taken my camera out and taken pictures of him, but I was too scared for my glasses. He was actually putting them on is face trying to wear them! I started laughing but I was still freaking out. I yelled at Siegfred to go get me some more of those leaves, which he did, and once the monkey saw them he dropped my glasses. Thankfully they weren't even scratched! Good memories though, haha.

While we were around the monkeys, I slipped on a sharp rock and sliced my foot open, and was bleeding all over. Siegfred went and got these leaves called Haganoy and sqeezed the oil out of the leaves onto the cut. Only after a minute, the bleeding stopped and the cut didn't hurt. He said "There ya go, traditional way of healing a wound, haha."

It was alot of fun to hangout with them, because I honestly thought I wasn't gonna be doing much, but I ended up making some good friends.

I finally got my Visa renewed, but It was much more expensive then I thought it would be. It was 5000 Peso for only 2 months, so I'll have to renew it again in February.

The day I left was a real windy day, and the boat was rocking soooooo much. Water kept splashing in on everyone. The waves must have been about 20 or 30 feet out on the open water, it was crazy. But now i understand why there are so many accidents and deaths with the ferries here...

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Since Boracay, there have been alot of new adventures for me. Just last Friday we got 4 new volunteers. Kelley, a 28 year old Australian, Maggie and Martin, British couple in their 50's, and Winnie, a 27 year old Chinese girl who lives in Canada, haha.

I'm so happy to have some other volunteers other then just Paul, no offense to Paul, but (and I don't mean this to sound punny) he get's old....

They are all real great people. Winnie can be a little...umm..ditsy, but I guess that's just her personality. She is a real nice lady though.

The other day we (Kelly, Maggie, Martin, and I) decided to climb what the locals call the "Tower".

Arthur

(I think I mentioned him before, maybe not, but here's the short version. I was sitting on the porch alone on one of my fist nights, and these guys came up on the porch and sat down, Eduard and Arthur. I thought they were only like 18 or 19 (my age) but they are 22 and 23, everyone here looks younger then they really are. But they were two of the first people I met here)

was our guide as we headed towards the top. We decided to leave at around 2 in the afternoon on a saturday. I noticed no-one was bringing water, so I figured why should I then. There were about 7 other guys who tagged along to be our guides.

As we started, it was fun, but as time went on, we started to climb steeper and steeper fields and trees, almost rock climbing. And we were just flying up the mountain. We only had one bottle for like all of us, haha.

There were multiple times where we had to stop and rest, but every time we started we would take off like rockets, seriously almost running. Actually there was a time where, I was in the front by Arthur and this guy behind me (named Eric, haha) told me to start running! I was seriously almost dead. My friend Eduard was climbing up the mountain with a cigarette in his hand, and once we got to the top he smoked it, ahaha. By the time we got to the top I felt like I was in a dream, or like I was flying, my head was just spinning like crazy. But I have to say, It felt great to make it to the top.

There were some great views from the top. It's called the tower because at the top there is cell tower for Smart, a cell phone company.

Going down was a million times easier, and it was more fun, because we kept slipping, and everyone would laugh at you.

At the top of the Hill, It looked like a real nice grassy top, but in-fact it's about 6 foot sharp grass!

So when you slipped, you would disappear, thats when everyone laughed.

Half way down we took a rest. Arthur and some of the other guys started collecting these real small peppers which were Chinese Chili Peppers. which apparently are hotter then habanero. We started betting how many pesos to eat a handful, haha.

The other day Kelly and I were talking about how only a few houses have Christmas lights, so we decided to go into town and get some to put on mom Tess and Felix's house.

While we were buying Christmas lights, we also got a new basketball for the guys in town who are always playing basketball. Also while we were in town, Maggie, Martin, Kelly and I got a little snack at a shop. I have no idea what it was, but I call it mustard bread, haha.

On our way back, I stood on the front of the trike and when we got close to the basketball hoop, I tried to make a basket, but didn't go in, haha.

So this afternoon I went for a run (3k) for the first time in probably 2 years. It felt amazing, and I felt real refreshed after I got back. I almost didn't make it and I had to walk for 100 feet or so, but then I started up again, and I was just about to stop off on the side of the road, but just as I was about to, all these little kids started running along side me, so then I knew I couldn't stop while they were running with me! I made it all the way back, drenched with sweat, but happy about it. I really think that if I run everyday I'll really start to get in shape, with the kind of meals we eat here, haha.

So tonight we just watched the 2 half of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and I sat on the porch with Eduard and we shared a cigar while we watched the movie. After the movie ended I grabbed my computer and Actually started typing part of this blog when I noticed a strange noise. It sounded like a big bug flying around the living room, so I turned the light on and got to big suprises. A nasty huge freaking spider, and a little humming bird, that had accidentally flown into the fan! He came to a rest on the couch and I picked him up and put him outside. Thankfully he was still alive and was able to fly away. The spider on the other hand wasn't so lucky! I took lysol to that nasty thing. The spiders here are soooo big, but thankfully on our island we only have one poisonous one, and it usually stays in the ground, unless of course it's raining, Which it is right now. So Once I'm done typing this I'm going to fall asleep on the couch, because for some reason I feel safer on the couch then my bed, haha.

I apologize for how long it's been since I last updated this. I've actually been working on this blog for a week now, or 10 days or something like that. Because every time I try to finish it, I get caught up doing something else, and as soon as I know it, It's two days later and I have more stories to write about!

Thanks for the prayers, and I'll make sure to keep you up to date!