Gilberto'S Hotel Baguio

... enfin ca y ressemble), la viande dont on essaye de me refourguer des spare ribs (dommage, j ai pas de sac), etc. Tout est compartimente comme d habitude, je viendrai y refaire un tour demain matin avec mon appareil photo. Rayon soutien-gorge, c est 85A de rigueur ici, lol. Rayon merdouilles en tout genre, c est vraiment merdouille ! Tous les etals d artisanat et assimiles que j ai vus jusqu a present, c est pas top du tout. Si vous voulez que je vous ramene ...

... more guys from the tour guide company came along as well. They had cooked up a serious feed for us. We were wondering why there was a live chicken in the back of the jeepney as we were going to caves earlier and we soon figured out where it went when we were told dinner was a local recipe of chicken and pork stew, it was delicious! We spent the rest of the night sitting around the fire drinking gin and listening to the guides playing us some traditional Filipino songs on the guitar ...

While Patrick is out of town and back in the USA, Gilbert came to Manila to take his place. Gil for those who don't know is part Philippino and his Granny lives here on the isle. Now getting there is a different story. Apparently you can fly there, but you only can fly in on Friday morning and leave on Monday morning... which of course means we would miss two days of work had we gone that route. BUT we ...

... of the traffic ridden dirty Manila streets on our walk back from the mall to our hotel. My parents received quite the education in Manila simply through our many taxi rides. With a population of 11 million people you can only imagine the density of traffic and crowed little side roads taxis use. Mom repeatedly said to our taxi drivers how courageous they are to drive in such heavy traffic! Although to them this is all they know! Not quite sure how they took ...

... to return a day early to Guiling, Pangasinan, my maternal grandmother's 'barrio' or village and where my mom, her siblings and my cousins grew up. I was playing hide and seek from my 'Lola' or grandmother last Thursday when I dropped off my pack as she was only expecting to see me on the 19th. She was definitely surprised to see me! I can't wait to help celebrate her 82nd birthday with her and our relatives this upcoming weekend. I'm also ...

... organic, finding markets for crafts and produce, a women's group wanting to raise pigs for income, creating a municipal garbage collection program and a community landfill, etc....It was very humbling." I was so pleased to give Heidi the opportunity to have this experience and most importantly for my community to gain the skills necessary to write grants in the future. It is very unusual for a PCV's visiting family to get to have such and intimate and hands on experience ...

... The water was perfect, there were sailboats all over and kids playing and it just looked perfect. We unloaded and headed to the Orchids resort which is owned by lynn and Hermon. It wasn't the high rise that I had been expecting based on all of our discussions on how over developed Boracay was, but it was nice - all wood and pretty and felt very Filipino. After we got settled we walked along the path that kind of reminded me of a boardwalk, except just sand, and was lined ...

... totally worth it becasue the waterfall was amazing. The water was pretty cool, and because my body was so hot and tired it completely took my breath away the first time I went in. I hung out in the shade for a while and enjoyed not being on my feet. We had lunch there with food we brought from Rita's and eventually hiked right back where we came from. I bought an I survived Batad Tshirt becasue I thought i deserved it (and it was only about $3). We reachied ...

... dancing. It is also traditional for the leftover meat to be given to the guest in "doggy- bags." I am ready for a break from eating pig, to say the least!! So as my ears were adjusting to new sounds, my eyes to new scenery, my nose was also adjusting to smell of raw and freshly cooked meat directly from the pig's right around the corner. As through all my travels every sense is affected at all times. I also learned to dance the traditional Tawo ...

We arrived in Baguio yesterday after our first two weeks with our host families... it has been really nice to see everyone else from our HUB and hear about their experiences at their cluster sites.... and nice to have a hot shower for a few days!! The best part of this HUB visit is we found out our site assignments and jobs for the next two years!! I will be living in the town of Tublay in Benguet province.... it is only about 15 min.north of Baguio City. I will be working ...