Las Filipinas Parte Dos

Wednesday, we headed out on a scuba boat. Unfortunately I had an ear infection several weeks prior to our trip and still had fluid in my ears so I could not dive. I snorkeled with a couple from Canada while everyone else went diving. The current was pretty strong, but the water was beautiful and clear. We saw a ton of turtles and I spent a good half hour just following one around! Kevin saw a lot of awesome fish but not so many turtles. It was a great day! We ate some delicious pizza after the trip (I was just glad it wasn't rice!) and headed to our new hotel. We spent time in the pool, watched the sunset, and ate a relaxing dinner.

Best bathroom sign ever!

Mask imprint!

Paradise

Thursday, Kevin headed out to go diving again and I opted to stay at the hotel since I was already sunburned. I spent the morning relaxing on the beach (in the shade) reading and enjoying the view. I rarely relax so it was a nice change. However, by noon I had finished my book and was bored so I decided to head into town to meet Kevin. I was able to skype with my mom and the kids first and that was great, albeit it difficult due to the super slow internet. I walked around town picking up some souvenirs, and tried a waffle sandwich which was yum. It's super popular in the Philippines and consists of a waffle with jam and/or fruit spread in between the two sides like a sandwich. My dad always made these when we were young and called them wafflewichs so I was excited to find out that it's a real thing there! We had drinks with the girls he dove with when they returned and then headed back to the hotel for a late dinner.

Friday after our delicious breakfast (think like a Vegas buffet only Asian style complete with rice and noodle bars and of course salad- the only time I ever saw salad was at breakfast) we headed to the tiny airport in Panglao and flew to Manila. The traffic is absolutely terrible there and it took nearly an hour to go a few miles. We stayed in an awesome suite complete with washer and dryer that I was super excited about until the dryer did not work and my clothes never dried. Eyal met us there and we headed to the Despedida de Soltera. We had no idea what it would be like; it was basically fancy party where all the principal players of the wedding (family, wedding party, sponsors, and close friends) got to meet each other. We ate great food and drank great wine and got to meet Gladys and catch up with Chad. It was a fun time!

Viva Olancho!

Saturday we caught a shuttle (it was so nice to have transportation arranged for us) to Tagaytay where the wedding was. A group of us took Jeepneys (a tricked out jeep that they pack as many people as possible in and use as busses) and tricycles (a motorcycle with a sidecar that fits two) and then a boat to the famous Taal Volcano. It's the smallest volcano in the world and is in a lake inside a volcano in a lake inside another volcano. We hiked up the middle volcano for a view of it's crater lake with the tiny volcano inside. It was a nice hike with some beautiful views. We headed back to the hotel to take showers and then went with the same group to a nearby place with tons of food options. It was two stories of food stalls open to a plaza in the middle with a band. We got to request songs and the singer was actually pretty good. The best was when she sang Let it Go from Frozen!

Eyal hanging out the back like a money collector

Crammed into a jeepney

Masks for all the dust...

Tricycle!

Serenading us

The wedding was Sunday (I'll do a separate post for that) and while Kevin got ready with the guys I got a manicure and pedicure from a heshe (it is super popular for guys to dress and overall act/look like girls in the bigger cities). I barely had enough time to get ready and ended up getting on the shuttle with wet hair. Traffic was crazy and it once again took forever to go a couple miles. IT was a great day!

Heshe manicurist

We headed back to Manila on Monday and spent the afternoon checking out the fort (with a ton of weird art) and exploring the old section of the city. We hit up a giant mall for dinner and there were literally a million options! I finally got a massage for like $6! It was a little sketchy, but totally worth it! It was a great way to end a great trip. We would never have gone to the Philippines if not for the wedding but we had a fabulous time. The people were so nice and the country was beautiful. It reminded us a lot of Honduras but with better infrastructure and safer. They were first colonized by the Spanish and there were a lot of Spanish names, Spanish style buildings, and even a bit of Spanish incorporated into the language. It was a wonderful country and I wish we would have had more time to explore it. 

Jeepney

Massage room

Tuesday we headed to the airport where we waited in the craziest line I have ever seen just to check in. It literally took over an hour! We had a long layover in Taipei and I really wanted to go into the city but Kevin was worried we wouldn't have enough time so we killed six hours exploring the airport. It's pretty crazy! On our flight from Taipei to LA the guy sitting next to us fainted while he was waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. It turned into a crazy couple hours with him getting his blood pressure checked all the time, requesting us to call the flight attendant for him, and showing us where his diamonds and gold were so we could tell his son. Luckily he was fine and the worst thing that happened was that we had to move to the middle row so he could lay down. Needless to say, but the time we finally got to Laurie and Russell's around 9:00 to pick up the kids we were so happy to be home and see the ninos! It was an awesome trip, but after a week I was definitely ready to see the kids again. I think they felt the same and Clara told me how much she missed us for at least a week!