A nice lunch at a restaurant for 7 people for $7?

Earlier it had been comfortable, but as the day wore on and as we got closer to Tubas, Lyn's hometown, that hotter it got. On two previous philippine "winter" trips, we had somehow hit a hot period and this was to be no different. Fortunately, we would avoid heavy rains that can sometimes hit in this, their "dry season". We did get a scare in that it periodically rained from the 5 hour mark up through our arrival.

As usual, there was quite a crowd to greet us and help bring all the luggage up to the house. And soon there was food on the table: buko salad, mangos, pineapple, shrimp, crabs, rice, and juice. Then, Tito and Rea left to go back to Manila (we gave them about 1500 pesos for bringing us down), leaving us without wheels. Later on, we went to Perla's (Lyn's sister) house. They had expanded their tiny house and now had room for a comfortable full sized bed which we rested on. Perla tried playing a tape on their VCR, but it didn't work. We finished off the first evening watching "Beverly Hills Cop" on television and retired to bed afterwards, about 11:00.

The central market in Gumaca.

-Monday-

On Monday, we both woke up around 2:00 a.m. for a nocturnal visit. I went back to bed while Lyn talked with her mother. I found it difficult to sleep because all of the neighborhood dogs were barking about something. About 3:00 a.m. some people started talking right outside the window. Such is life here, you talk whenever you wish and other peoples' sleep never seems to get disturbed.

I rose about 5 a.m. and we opened up the pasalubong containers and started distributing the goods. Chocolates, clothes, calendars, canned goods, soap, basket balls, soup, shampoo, hand lotion, cameras, makeup, yarn, pot holders, and toys were given out to relatives and a stream of visitors.

We intended on travelling to Gumaca, the nearest big town, that day, but had to wait for public transportation in the form of a jeepney. They come by about twice an hour. In the mean time, Aldwin, my brother-in-law (Ging-ging's husband) was dying to play chess with me. Recently, well maybe the past 20 years, I have avoided playing chess whenever possible because it consumes too much time and gets me very nervous. To be nice, however, and thinking that I would have lots of relaxation time in Tubas, I accepted the challenge. Naturally, Aldwin and I got quite wrapped up in the two games and we ended up behind Lyn's schedule. I didn't realize that Perla, who had gone to Gumaca earlier, was waiting for us. She ended up waiting maybe 2 hours for us, but, in typical filipino fashion, was patient and not bothered.

Need some meat?

Lyn and I treated Mylene (sister), Perla, Joel (brother), Randy (brother), and JunJun (brother) to lunch. It was suggested that we go to Jolli Bee's, which is essentially the McDonald's of the Philippines, being present in about every town of any size. Mylene demanded to go to a restaurant she liked better. It was shiny, clean, and spartan such as you would expect in the states. The floors were tile and the tables and chairs were plastic. The food was tasty and, best of all, the bill came to 356 pesos or less than 7 dollars! Included were drinks for everyone, Perla only had halohalo (their version of a sundae) only, while everyone else had entrees. Additionally, a couple more halohalos were ordered.

We rented 7 videos for about $2 and then trekked over to the bank to withdraw some more money. While waiting in line for the ATM, we watched the heavily armed guards outside the bank. We withdrew the max, this time it was 4000 pesos (~80 dollars). The service charge was 8 pesos (~16 cents). While waiting for the return jeepney, we walked through the central market. Although open aired, it was covered, which helped us put up with scorching sun. There were several dozen stalls. We bought some bread at one place and some beef at another. The fish is on ice while the beef and pork is laid out on tables, just ask for however many kilos you want and cleeve off your portion and put it in a plastic bag. Rarely, there are electric fans to help keep the flies off the meat. Sometimes, the clerk waves a long delicate fan made from leaves. We bought some CD's (Celine Dion, Phil Collins, BeeGees, etc..) for 50 pesos ($1) and cassettes for 35 pesos ($.70). Oddly enoughly, this was the same price that I had spent 9 years ago in eastern Poland (then 20,000 Zloties).

Looking past the tricycles to the ocean.

Two years ago, the jeepneys didn't leave until they were full. Now, jeepneys have definite (in filipino terms) times for their route. Lyn played the pregnant wife - gimpy husband card again which allowed us to ride in the front seat again. Again, the fair was 18 pesos ($.36) per person for the 40 minute, or so, ride back. On the way back, the driver turned off the main road and diverted to Sampoloc, a nice little community, but difficult to get to on the one-lane dirt road.

The detour added 25 minutes to the ride, which left me just enough time to get in some basketball with Randy and JunJun before dark. I took my usual cold shower, but at a different location. There had been another break in the pipe supplying the spring house with water, so a hand operated pump was used to fill a 5 gallon bucket. From there I scooped the cold water over my body. Ging-ging made some menudo and cooked some shrimp for dinner. Afterwards, there was fresh, ripe, gloriously sweet mango for dessert.

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