Back in the Sunshine - December 2010

Tricycle, local transport - Squeeze in and hold on

Wow, time really does fly when you are having fun, or is it when you get older?

After a month and a half in Switzerland, Reto and I decided to substitute the falling snowflakes for rays of sunshine. We purchased tickets for a 5 month trip back to the Philippines. Narrowly missing a European snow storm we touched down in Manila on December 2nd. Reto affectionately refers to it as "the bloody hell of the world".

Manila can be a big nasty city but there are pockets of interest like the handmade gold belts on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the Chinese cemetery and Chinatown.

Incredible gold belt made of individual gold drops

Tomb in the Chinese Cemetery. Larger than many Filipinos accommodation and equipped with two floors, AC and CR's (bathrooms).

Our friends were waiting with open arms and adobo on the table. Adobe is a Filipino national dish. Any kind of meat is cooked in soya sauce, vinegar and various spices. It is Reto's favorite dish to cook and eat. Filipinos eat a small amount of Adobo with a heaping mound of rice. This meal may or may not involve fried vegetables and fish soup. Following a day or two of rest we traveled South to our friend beach house in Calatagan.

Having recovered from the smog, traffic, and congestion that is Manila Reto and I carried on North to Baguio for a friends wedding. We attended the reception at the brides house following the Catholic church ceremony. 60 percent of Filipinos are Catholic and there is no divorce in the country. Most of the neighbours from the Barangay (local area) also attended the reception. When we arrived there was approx. 100 people in line for food and another 60 or so already eating. Having shot several weddings I thought North American speeches could be long but these speeches went on for almost four hours and were still not finished when we left. I found it odd that most of the speeches were done by local politicians and important people, not by the family. While Catholic wedding in the West share some similarities with the East there are also many differences.

I can't remember why or how Reto and I found ourselves on Saud beach in Northern Luzon but I am glad we did. From Bagio we traveled to the most Northern tip of Luzon.


Most of our Philippine accommodations were in home stays rather than resorts. Home stays and short stay apartments allowed us to cook for ourselves and were usually more private and less expensive. Tricycle drivers are the best way to find these types of accommodations. We found a beautiful little house only a block away from Saud beach for 1000 peso ($22) a night. It had two kitchens, two bedrooms, a TV and great porch. The beach was long, white and deserted. Many days were spent wandering along the shore shell hunting. On a typical day we would rise around 8am have coffee and breakfast. If the weather was good we would head straight to the beach to collect shells and visit with locals. If the weather did not cooperate we made jewelry, wrote in diaries, listened to music and cooked good food.

Reto loves to cook which is great as my friends and family know I do not! Xmas dinner was extra ordinary this year. One of the advantages to home stay is that you live among the locals. Reto ordered a six pound pig leg from our neighbour. He marinated it for several hours in curry powder, beer, mustard and various other spices before slow roasting it over a charcoal fire. The pork was accompanied by potatoes, green beans, tomato salad and local wild berry wine.

Reto hard at work on his pig leg, yummmmmmmmy!