Yes, there is a stretch of open road in the Philippines! This one was outside of Batangas, going to Manila. It's a toll road as all of the divided roads seem to be.

-Friday-

At 8 a.m., we took a banca to Puerto Galera and had a tasty breakfast: an omelet and mango shake for me, a filipino breakfast and coffee for Lyn, and soup for Mylene. We took a small ferry back to Batangas for 140 pesos per person or less than $10 total. The private boat to Buri which had taken about the same time was $50. Buri was an interesting experience. It is a gorgeous resort and would allow someone to have a relaxing, pampered time. But we would have spent much less money and had just as good a time if we had gone with my first impulse which was to take the ferry to Puerto Galera and then arrange for accomodations. I feel this is also the best policy for the ultimate philippine destination, Boracay. Choosing a place to stay beforehand locks you in. Usually, there seem to be plenty of available rooms. However, I am not sure what I would do during peak times, such as festivals and holidays.

On the boat, I chatted with a retired American foreign service worker. He is single and planning on settling in Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines and purported to be a very nice place to live. At Batangas, Tito met us outside the terminal building and we were off to Tagaytay. We encountered a rare sight in the Philippines - a wide open road. In fact, this was a freeway with very little traffic on it.

First we saw the "peoples' palace in the sky". This was meant to be a luxury residence for Ferdinand Marcos, the long-time dictator of the Philippines. It was never finished and it sits way up on its perch, speedily decaying away. Though now a tourist site, again there doesn't seem to the funds to maintain it. The view is incredible in all directions. In the distance you can see Tagaytay, a volcano within a lake. There are many nice homes in this area which, because of the elevation, has a cooler climate than most of the Philippines. We had lunch at Chow King, another restaurant chain. I was feeling rather poorly and slurped down some won ton soup followed by halo halo.

Tito (who has a world-class smile), Rea, and their child Angelica.

In the afternoon, we arrived at Tito's home in Cavite, another Manila suburb. It was condo style with three bedrooms on the upper floor and the living, kitchen, dining, and bath rooms on the lower level. I tried to recover some by resting in our air conditioned (wow!) guest room. When I finally got up, I had an incredible urgency for a bathroom trip. The problem was that the live-in maid was taking a shower. I was very embarrassed to see her exit a few minutes later, very wet and very flustered. It brought back memories of long ago, of growing up in a family of six with just one bathroom. After dinner, we tried to play some basketball. Tito was very anxious to show me the lighted court just a few steps away from his back door. However, they were unable to get the lights to come on.

We then piled 13 people into Tito's van and went over to another housing tract. The homes here were very nice. It was a new, gated community. Tito said the homes here cost 2,500,000 pesos ($50,000). There was a very nice backetball court close by to the community center where some kind of show was going on. While we were waiting for the present game to finish, the lights went out. After about 20 minutes, they were able to get them on again for about 5 minutes before they went out again. After waiting awhile longer, Tito told me that apparently, there isn't enough electricity to supply both the community center and the basketball courts simultaneously.

This cute 19 year old (on the left) is wearing 5" platforms to make her taller than her real 4'4" height!

-Saturday-

The next morning brought some cloud cover and I was able to play. Though again feeling poorly, my teammates displayed some deft passing, working the ball to me on the inside where I was sinking quite a few shots against my shorter and much younger opponents. On one play I drove to the basket and scored on a scoop shot that caused the small crowd to roar with applause. On another play, I came down with a rebound on an opponents foot, which caused him to be pinned in position. While some of the other players were laughing, I calmly made another shot. Most games are filled with laughter. Whenever anyone makes a mistake other players will start laughing. In the west, the game is taken much more seriously, and probably less enjoyably.

Nida and her daughter, Leona Krystal.

When the sun appeared, I disappeared. I took my last shower using the "tabo" or scoop. We met Nida at the Glorietta Mall in Quiapo for lunch. We had met Nida and her husband, Henning, the last time we went to Boracay. Unfortunately, Henning, who is originally from Denmark, was working in Saudi Arabia. Nida invited us to her home which was about an hour away, but I was feeling too poorly to go. Nida showed us some pictures of the house and it looked very nice. Nida's nanny was quite interesting. Though 19 years old, she could easily pass in America for 10 as she was very young looking and only about 4'4" tall.

Tito dropped us off at Martial's house. After my final cold shower (shower head instead of scoop), I again got pulled into a chess game. David, Martial and Lynn's young son, had been dying to play me and I finally relented. Playing against a kid, I thought I could remain relaxed. As we played the first game I tried to give him some general pointers such as trying to develop and move out your pieces as soon as possible and try to control the center of the board. Martial and Lyn were watching and I hoped I could get away after the first game, but David wanted a rematch. The second game started out much like the first with David pretty much conceding the center to me.

By this time Lynn had been watching for awhile and started whispering to David. The conversation grew more intense and all at once Lynn ejected David from his seat and took over. All of the sudden things turned completely around and she was on the attack. Move after move, she kept striking out in new directions and I had to just think about saving my pieces. I looked at her and sent a friendly smile to try and lighten things up a bit, but this was no longer sweet Lynn. The warmth had been drained from her eyes; she was out for blood. Gradually, I was able to repell the attack and start to put up a little offense again. I made an attacking move with my queen, when as soon as I took my hand off her, I realized I had made a horrible mistake. I looked at Martial and chuckled, wondering if he saw that I had possibly given away the game, but he didn't react.

After Lynn booted out poor David (who sat in shock), the match turned very serious!

Before when David had made a really bad move, I had asked him if that's what he really wanted to do and allowed him to take back the move. I think that had happened one time before with Lynn as well. However, I didn't want to take back my move. One, it's against the rules of the game -- once the hand is removed, the move has been made. And two, it would probably shorten the game. Somehow, Lynn didn't see that my queen could be taken by her queen. Instead, she defended against my attack.

Now, I could freely take her queen, but instead I asked her: is that the move you really want to make? After I pointed out both of our horrible moves, we both chuckled a little. We both took back our moves and continued on. Lynn returned to her tenacious attitude, but gradually I gained control and won. Even at gunpoint, I would not have played a third game. Prior to this trip, my last chess game had been about 9 years ago against a girl named Sarah. I hope it's at least that long before I play another. It's too emotionally exhausting for me, anymore. Later on, Martial and Lynn went out to a party, while we had a quiet dinner.

-Sunday-

Martial and Lynn went to church while Lyn and I packed our bags and readied ourselves for the trip home. Later on Lynn (Martial's wife) went to the hospital to see her sister, Lizette, who was ill. Martial took us and the his kids to a nearby restaurant (the sign out front said: "No Firearms Allowed") where we had a nice dinner. Martial said my photos had worked out nicely for his display. Martial and Lynn took us to the airport where we sad our sad goodbyes. So many of our friends are so far away.

Lynn and Martial with their kids, Laura, Johana, & David.

Though Lyn was pregnant and I still had my cane, we were awarded seats next to an emergency exit, which provided us unlimited legroom. We had to take our shoes off twice for inspections, we were frisked, and our luggage was hand searched as usual. Also, we paid our ransom to leave the country, otherwise known as an exit tax, of $11 per person.

Back in San Francisco, our bags were among the first to arrive on the carousel. I had some concern about the cd's and cassettes I had bought in Gumaca, but the only thing that customs seemed to be concerned with was produce, as we were asked one question then waved through. Lyn's coworker, MaryAnn, picked us up at the airport and we braved the cold in our shorts, but soon we were back home. The cats gave us a rather cold reception, but, with the exception of a coat of fur all over the living room, everything was fine.

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