The range of our experiences has been so great, sometimes it is all a little surreal.
Students who performed a traditional dance for the visitors at our Municipal Hall
Miss Earth candidates and the resort owner with his familyFriday, October 26, 2007
The best part of Peace Corps is never knowing what's next
Last night we spent the evening sipping cocktails, eating roasted lamb and fresh tuna salad, listening to a world class violinist and mingling with some of the most beautiful women in the world on a white sand beach at a world class resort. Peace Corps is tough. Miss Earth, the 3rd largest international beauty pageant http://www.missearth.tv, is held in Maynila and one of the judges owns a resort in San Juan. The resort owner hosted 10 of the girls at his resort (Japan, China, Costa Rica, New Zealand, England, Canada, Poland, Argentina, Columbia and Peru) for a couple of days. Steve and his supervisor have worked with the owner of the resort because he is very interested in the environmental conservation of San Juan; beautiful beaches = environmentally sound practices. Hence we were invited to attend the activities yesterday. In the morning the girls went to the Municipal Hall where they were greeted with a traditional dance and local treats like lambonag (coconut "wine" thats 85 proof). Later they visited a bangus (fish) processing center and "planted" a mangrove. In the evening we went to Virgin Resort and gorged on amazing food. There was lumpia, fresh tuna salad, fresh vegetables, roasted lamb and sandwiches for appetizers. For dinner we ate green salad (something we haven't had in 6 months!) soup, and grilled prawns with eggplant and tomato. Dessert was turon (banana wrapped in an eggroll wrapper, coated in sugar and deep fried) with caramel sauce and sesame seeds. To say that we were stuffed is an extreme understatement.
The range of our experiences has been so great, sometimes it is all a little surreal.
Miss Earth candidates and the resort owner with his family
The range of our experiences has been so great, sometimes it is all a little surreal.
Miss Earth candidates and the resort owner with his family
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Big Bats
One of the best things about our time in this country are the "once in a lifetime" experiences we have had. Last week we joined some Manila photographers in a trying horse ride into the mountains to see a pretty amazing site. The horses here are short and squat, perfect for
climbing about the narrow and rocky trails. Luckily our hosts found a horse that was tall enough to keep Steve's legs from dragging on the ground. Each horse had a "saddle" that was formed from a piece of wood that had been artfully manipulated so that it laid across the horse. We rode about an hour into the woods on a narrow trail that wound up and down the mountainous terrain. We passed a number of small homes, bananas, guavas and areas where the soil was eroding down the hills. We also saw butterflies and unique birds that we had not seen before, but the purpose of our trip were the fruit bats. At one point we stopped and leaving our horses walked up a small trail to the crest of a hill. From this point we could see a couple of very large trees from which hung the largest bats either of us has ever seen. There are many bat variates in the Philippines and our hosts called them Giant Fruit Bats, but we are not sure exactly what kind they were. What is certain is that the bodies of the bats were about 12 inches long and their wingspan was easily 4-5 feet. They flew like birds, with a gentle flapping motion, and their toes pointing out behind them.
It was a pretty amazing thing to see.
climbing about the narrow and rocky trails. Luckily our hosts found a horse that was tall enough to keep Steve's legs from dragging on the ground. Each horse had a "saddle" that was formed from a piece of wood that had been artfully manipulated so that it laid across the horse. We rode about an hour into the woods on a narrow trail that wound up and down the mountainous terrain. We passed a number of small homes, bananas, guavas and areas where the soil was eroding down the hills. We also saw butterflies and unique birds that we had not seen before, but the purpose of our trip were the fruit bats. At one point we stopped and leaving our horses walked up a small trail to the crest of a hill. From this point we could see a couple of very large trees from which hung the largest bats either of us has ever seen. There are many bat variates in the Philippines and our hosts called them Giant Fruit Bats, but we are not sure exactly what kind they were. What is certain is that the bodies of the bats were about 12 inches long and their wingspan was easily 4-5 feet. They flew like birds, with a gentle flapping motion, and their toes pointing out behind them.It was a pretty amazing thing to see.
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