Abroad with Hilary: A Beautiful Country!!

It’s been a while! Back from vacation and onto the next leg of work. First, I'll discuss work a bit, and then our trip through the islands (it’s long!!).

The week before I took off was a busy one, and thus no time to blog. LINK had concluded that there would be no time for me to present my work, but we could still give the teachers my manual. After they looked through my draft, they decided that if I didn’t show them how to use it, no one would use it, so there will, in fact, be time for me to present. So I had to go back and turn the manual, which was originally a Powerpoint but had morphed past that point, back into a Powerpoint. Full, busy days, but it’s done and I can only hope all will understand!

I am now at the training at Tagaytay, just a couple hours from Manila but full of nature. We are staying at a beautiful convent overlooking the lake, Taal Volcano and lots of green hills, and surrounded in flowers, green grass, peaceful walkways and secret hideaways. And relatively cool weather! The training is called “Easy Access to Rehabilitation Services” and it’s the second training that these teachers have had. My job here is to present on speech and hard of hearing children Friday morning. Until then, I will interview a couple teachers on programs they have already started, and sit here listening to Tagalog but watching slideshows in EnglishJ Well, now I’m just listening to Tagalog since we lost power. This is truly a bilingual society - it is nice to see that they’re teaching in Tagalog though.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly how everything is working here. My questions are always minimally answered, so I need to sit down with the right person and really get the information I’m looking for. I know that DepEd supports and recognizes the training, and that LINK pays for the printing of the materials. There are different groups presenting, and then two people from LINK teach sign language in the afternoon. Both are Filipino, but MSSD and Gallaudet graduates. Hmm…are they the only qualified teachers? What about Filipinos who didn’t go to Gallaudet? Or maybe they’re just the most qualified? I will write more as the training progress.

And now vacation time - what a great vacation Cassie and I had! Cassie arrived on a Friday, and after a bit of time wandering Manila’s markets on Saturday, we hopped on a plane to Palawan. We spent almost a week on Palawan, the western-most island that still in part seems to be an undiscovered jewel, and then four days in Bohol, where the all the tourists are going! We tootled along the coast in Palawan, first stopping off in Sabang where we explored the underground river, full of bats and with a massively tall ceiling, along with every other tourist on the island. We found a gorgeous resort complete with a poolside bar and all. It was at this point of the trip that Cassie was forbidden from using her, “I hear there’s a party at your place tonight” joke. On the plane ride over, the guy on next to her responded, “How did you know? Here’s my number.” This time, however, our little waiter boy showed up with a friend and a bottle of rum at our room after dinner! Sneaking in, of course, since his boss was in a room near by. Haha, I guess the party was at our place. In any case, no more jokes!

After Sabang, we made our way to the beautiful and isolated Coconut Garden Beach Resort on Cacnipa Island When we sat down to lunch and I ordered a fresh buko juice (coconut), the waitress sent a couple boys up the palm tree to grab a bunch of coconuts! What service, and deliciously fresh juice! After much snorkeling, lazing around on the beach and playing with the resident monkey (tied upL), we took our burnt-red bodies (we soon realized that no matter how much sunscreen we put on, we needed to get a hold of some waterproof stuff) and grabbed a boat to a resort near El Nido, but away from the cramped beachfront of El Nido. It was a long, 7-hour ride and as the sun set, our boat revealed no light aside from a small, handheld flashlight. Thank goodness we had the moonlight to go by! Motoring though the huge Bacuit Archipelago was impressive both after dark and the next day under the sun as massive hills of stone shot up throughout the water in every direction. And as we discovered during a day of island hopping, there are innumerable hidden beaches and lagoons throughout the archipelago. Crystal clear water, gorgeous reefs and so many fish!! After two nights at the resort, full of delicious food, beautiful views, lots of mancala and plenty of geckos and dogs and even a horse, we made our way back to Puerto Princessa for our flight to Cebu.

As I read my travel guide for taking a boat from Cebu to Bohol, I got a little scared as I came across, “numerous boats go back and forth every day but Christmas and Good Friday.” And Good Friday it was – whoops! We luckily did make it just in time for one of the two boat trips, but once in Bohol, all buses and jeepneys also had the day off. Private tricycle and boat, with prices to match the holiday, eventually had us at Nuts Huts much sooner than anticipated. And the overflowing churches and saints on parade we passed on the way, wow!

We stayed at Nuts Huts for two nights: big but cute huts lining the Loboc River in the middle of the jungle, with a restaurant (120 steps higher!) overlooking it all. The shaded break our sunburned bodies needed! As a man down the river said, “I don’t understand, we have places with air conditioning, cable tv, swimming pool – but all Europeans and Americans with backpacks just want to stay at Nuts Huts, in the jungle!” Haha, I guess we all like noveltyJ We spent a day in Bohol doing what every Bohol billboard says one must do – visiting the tarsiers (adorable little endangered primates) at their sanctuary and taking pictures of the Chocolate Hills (a sea of hills shooting up from the valley floor, apparently created by coral deposits millions of years ago, or something like that). More impressive than I expected, so it wasn’t bad. And the motorcycle ride home through the jungle was a thrill! Even if we were only three on one bike, not the typical four, or even five!

Easter morning we made our way up to the northern Cabilao Island. Who would have imagined that traveling on public transportation on Easter Sunday is not a problem, but Good Friday is nearly impossible? We made it in good time, hanging from the side of an overcrowded bus, jeeping over rugged ground, boating with the locals across the straight, and finally a motorbike ride to the resort. We didn’t want to take a motorbike with such big packs and we had started walking, but a driver finally convinced us. Good thing, as it was quite far and “go straight” was definitely not the right way to the resort, as we had been told; but bad thing as when we tried climbing a steep hill, the bike couldn’t make it up but slowly started slipping back, causing both Cassie and I to quickly hop off, me burning my leg in the process. It wasn’t too bad at first and I kept it clean (I thought) and my ensuing hours in the ocean were surely beneficial, but the pain finally grew to an unbearable height Tuesday night and a trip to the hospital couldn’t be avoided. The growing red region surrounding the wound and the three little lines slowly climbing to my heart gave me no question. Luckily I was already in Tagaytay with LINK, so five of them piled into the van and took me to the emergency, where I was greeted by a handful of nursing students and a couple real nurses who cleansed and bandaged the wound and gave me a tetanus shot and antibiotics. Safe now! That visit would cost a month worth of wages for a Filipino worker, I was told, but I can only be thankful that I was in a Filipino emergency room, not an American one! I can handle $30.

Back to Cabilao – this was our first stay at an actually dive resort and the reefs just off shore were more incredible than anywhere else we’d been. For the most part, Cassie and I snapped on masks, snorkels and fins and headed out to explore the waters. I did take a couple dives, however, one a refreshed course and one on a reef just a tad further, where the steep wall dropped out of site, but the coral and sea life in view were amazing. Back on shore, we had to stay in the only available room – the “Hobbit House” as they called it – shucks, a gorgeous house that looks like a tree trunk, complete with a bed and all on the roof, draped over by a “princess” mosquito net. The surrounding grounds were full of trees, colorful flowers, hammocks and nurseries everyway you looked. What a perfect way to end the vacation…

Following our last dive, we hopped on a motorbike (carefully this time!) and made our way back to Cebu. This time we knew the correct prices for all the transportation, and the looks the locals give when they try to overcharge us are priceless. Small smiles start growing as they play with the money in their hands, and you can see in their eyes they’re testing you. I kindly smile back and play along as I raise my eyebrows and silently request the right price. They always give in, slowly but surely!

After a quick evening boat back to Cebu and the airport, we grabbed a hotel for the night, only to wake at 2:45am for our 4:40am flight back to Manila. Last time Cassie let’s me book the flights, I’m sureJ We made it back, taxied home, repacked out bags, and set out once again, me eventually for Tagaytay and the LINK training and Cassie for her 26 hours flight back to DC. A quick stop (thankfully!) at the immigration office to extend my visa, a walk through the historic Intramuros to a craft center for an unsuccessful search of giant mancala games (gorgeous, cheap ones in Palawan, but we decided against hauling them around BoholL), and a nice lunch. This is where we parted – Cassie to her friend’s (who we randomly ran into in Manila the previous week!) and I in search of the bus station. I found the bus station, but was told that the bus company I was looking for had been banned from Manila. Hmm… So I took a van instead to a nearby town; what a hot ride, squished against the back door and holding onto the seat bottom for dear life should the door fly open at 80mph. I eventually made it to the convent on my own, since the group wasn’t able to get through to my phone to meet me.

And now here I am!