4. The Ride to Baguio and Heide's Reunion

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Hi Everyone,

We're back in Baguio now. It was a long 7 1/2 hour twisty drive up the mountains. Along the road I saw a lot of little shops offering to "Vulcanize" tires. I think there are more vulcanizing places than there are tires to vulcanize. Of course the roads are often so bad that there may be a need for more tire vulcanization.

So far (1) we've gone by van from Manila to Baguio, then (2) bus back to Cavite (near Manila) then (3) took a plane to Iloilo and Passi (Maggie's mansion) then (4) a boat and a 8-hour bus ride to Andy's place in Dumaguete, (5) then plane back north to Quezon City (near Manila) and (6) now we took a bus back to Baguio. Everywhere we saw red posters of a elderly man in a goatee smiling back at us.



How many people in the Philippines relate nostalgically to this old country gentleman from Kentucky?



Or Ronald McDonald leading his people to one of the finest eateries around Baguio? I've come to the conclusion that the Philippines is a military state run by the KFC Clan headed by "Colonel Sanders" with Ronald as his first lieutenant.

Also I feel brainwashed by a continual barrage of red signs stating that "Tanduay is the number 1 rum!" Every other house has this sign as part of an exterior wall that helps hold the place together. Well, at forty-nine cents a bottle, it should be the number one rum!

On the ride back to Baguio, the oddest sign I saw was one announcing that "BOOKS ARE FRIENDLY DRUGS ARE DEADLY". It all blurred together so I read it quickly as "books are friendly drugs" instead of "Books are friendly (period) Drugs are deadly". I had to think about that one afterwards.

The oddest name for a little mom-and-pop store was "DA BOY AND DA GIRL STORE". Is that supposed to be said with a New York accent?

Since my internet access has been spurious at best, I've not been able to "fill in the blanks". So, I'd like to backtrack to the reason for this entire trip-- the Cor-Jessie 50th Reunion of Heide's Nursing Class in Iloilo. For five days we stayed at the Mere Monique Home of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres.



Here's Heide reuniting with Sister Angelica, one of her classmates.



And also reuniting with her fellow Cor-Jessie classmates-- almost all came from the states. (One Montreal and one residing in Switzerland.) There were a total of twenty-two who came for the reunion. All are in their seventies and notice not a grey hair in the lot.



The Sisters were totally charming and enjoyable. The meals they served were delicious and exotic. However, I'm not used to dipping my breakfast into rich liquid cocoa early in the morning-- or eating things that looked back at me. But that's ok. I gave all the heads to Heide.



Where we stayed.



And where we prayed.



Duane and Heide.

3. Traffic in Iloilo

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Hi Everyone,

Rarely see a white guy, but lots of American influence-- Coca Cola, McDonalds, Wendys. I even bought an electrical adaptor at Ace Hardware. I saw a white guy once and when our eyes met we nodded to each other a sense of acknowledgement. People stare at me all the time. They try to be subtle about it, but I catch their glances. They actually like white skin and often wish they had light skin. Ironically, I admire theirs and wish I had their beautiful chocolaty skin so I wouldn't burn so much.

Walking through Heide's hometown Passi, I find it really charming-- little girls walking together in school uniforms, strong Catholic religious influence in public displays near the churches (the Philippines is 80% Catholic as a result of 200 years of Spanish rule). The pace of life gives a strong sense of a past time in America. I did see an old lady smoking a big cigar that she rolled herself. The people are very friendly and seem happy in spite of their often impoverished situations. The pace of life seems slow and easy-going with a lot of people hanging out while they try to sell their wares in the street or sit on their bicycles waiting for customers to drive around in their side-cars. I see more people with little store fronts trying to sell things and few people buying. This is true in Baguio and Cavite as well.



Here's an entire family riding on one motorcycle with side-car. This sight was not uncommon. I caught this on video as our car zipped past them. The legal limit is six. I think there are seven on this one. The most I counted was nine. More later ... (I'm shooting snapshots of these bikes as they fly by.)

Signs are in English everywhere and most people can speak English. There's also lots of Spanish influence in the language as well as the culture. Even though we ride around until we're exhausted, I rarely see a stop sign or a traffic signal. I actually saw two stop signs today but I didn't see anyone stop for them-- including our own driver. The one traffic signal I saw was turned off. They did have a traffic cop filling in at that light, but traffic control was a rarity. Even though people drive every which way often crossing the road into on-coming traffic, I have not seen one accident or anything close to an accident. Everyone accommodates each other. I think that all this crazy driving keeps them on their toes. They become really good at driving. If you aren't good, you wouldn't be on the road. Pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right of way. The drivers do beep a lot to warn that they are coming. They beep for every car they see or person walking on the road. The roads are often terrible-- bumpy rides that test the limits of my stomach to hold down its contents (only lost it twice so far). Drivers dance between the gas peddle and the brake with the horn beeping in-between. You rarely see divided roads. I think that would restrict them too much since they're so accustomed to driving into on-coming traffic.



I happened to catch this motorcycle driver asleep on his bike while waiting for a customer to drive around in his side-car.

When you come to the Philippines, you bring lots of gifts to give to people. I juiced up a computer laptop and gave it to Denzil's family. The kids loved it. It helps Precious with her nursing studies at the local university. Since I retired, I returned to playing clarinet and saxophone-- mostly Mozart and jazz. So I purchased an inexpensive clarinet to bring to the Philippines to play in my spare time-- which I haven't had any so far. (I was afraid to bring my classic Buffet R13.) Anyway, I plan to leave the inexpensive clarinet with them as well. Heide is now learning to play the flute, so she bought an inexpensive flute to do the same. Then we also brought sneakers for everyone and rolls of toilet paper.

Whenever you go to any bathroom-- private or public-- you rarely see paper products. You never see paper towels and toilet paper is scarce. Often the toilets are missing seat covers and the water is turned off. There are usually buckets nearby so you can dump water manually into the toilets to flush them or upon yourself to shower. The hardest thing to find is hot water in a bathroom. I don't think anyone has a hot water tank. Sometimes people boil water to shower. Dealing with the toilets and the showers is the most difficult thing for me. I've seen people carry around little washcloths to wipe their hands in public bathrooms. Squatting on toilets that have no toilet-seat cover is a tough one.

In contrast, the food is divine. Breakfasts are not like our breakfasts-- they resemble lunch more. There's always rice and fish and lots of charming things that I never saw before but taste great.

I brought along sketchbooks and art supplies to draw, but haven't had much time. I've mostly been taking video and still photos. However, since we'll be here for two months, I'm sure I'll find time for other creative activities including playing Mozart.

Duane.

2. Cavite => Iloilo and Passi

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Hi Everyone,

Back in Cavite it was a strange experience watching a Laker's game on tv in a place that was on the other side of the globe. Nevertheless, it was pointed out to me that watching American basketball helps the kids become more exposed to the English language.

We took a short plane flight to Iloilo where Heide grew up and went to school. We are now staying in the mansion of Maggie Parreño, Heide's cousin.




You can see Heide walking up the ramp to the main entrance. The man at the door carrying a watermelon is Roy, our driver for the day. Roy drove us around all day so Heide could visit her hometown. Everything is taken care of for us by "helpers", who are often direct relatives of Maggie, who live on the estate. Maggie works in the Bay area as an administrator in a nursing facility while she built this mansion in the Philippines. She had about 200 workers build this in a period of three months. Her brother, a doctor, designed this on his own from looking at pictures and visiting other mansions. She schedules events in the house related to health care and on the day we leave she'll be having a priest come in and give mass in her chapel. Furnishing may seem sparse, but new things arrive even during our short 4-day stay.


Here's a photo of our bedroom. It's huge! Virginia has her own huge bedroom all to herself.



Here's Heide standing in the other side of our bedroom. She's standing in front of the bathroom door. Each bedroom has its own bathroom.



Here's Heide writing her speech for the Cor-Jessie Jubilee. Because Heide didn't want to disturb me at 5 am while I was asleep, she decided to work in the bathroom. The bathroom has both a shower (out of the picture) and a sunken tub (behind Heide). Because we don't want to drink the well water, we have plenty of bottled water available.



Here's Heide in a restaurant connecting up with former classmates in Passi. It was actually amazing how easily Heide connected up with these women simply by driving around town and visiting places she's been before fifty years ago.


Duane and Heide

1. Manila => Baguio => Cavite

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Hi Everyone,

We are here in Cavite right now with our niece "Lovely". Later today we will fly to Iloilo where Heide's cousin will pick us up. After arriving in Manila we took a long van ride into the mountains and stayed at Denzil's (Heide's brother) place for a few days in Baguio City. The drivers here are absolutely crazy-- passing trucks on the wrong side of the road. I have yet to see a traffic signal or even a stop sign. I think the van ride took 8 hours twisting up into the mountains with twists and turns. I threw up twice. I vowed not to drive while I'm in the Philippines. Virginia slept through the whole ordeal. We had a lovely time with Heide's brother's family. The kids are all good looking, intellect, creative studying at the local universities and are into art, music, computers, martial arts. In fact, Butch, who is a black belt in karate and a wonderful kid, has become our protector. He watches so Virginia and me stay safe no matter where we wander-- and Virginia loves to wander. Being the only white people in most of the places we go, we stick out like sore thumbs. We don't want to be mistaken for rich American tourists bulging with money. Things like cab rides and food are dirt cheap here. A cab ride rarely reaches more than $2. Our bus ride back to Manila, which was very comfortable and lasted about 7 hours only costs $7 apiece. They showed a Bruce Willis movie on the bus-- one of the die-hard movies with a lot of profanity. I didn't throw up on the trip back to Manila. I didn't have web access in Baguio, but have it here in Lovely's house. The jeepney's are fun. They are gaily-colored buses that you have to bend over to get in and out of. In Baguio I felt like I was in South America-- lots of Spanish influence, people selling live chickens in the street. Saw some men carrying poles with baskets at both ends. It was cool up in the mountains. It's hot and humid here in Cavite, which is two hours from Manila. We'll have to see what it's like in Iloilo, which is a port city. Virginia loves it here. She shares artwork with Mutya. The kids are actually around her age.


Here's a photo that shows Smile on the balcony of Denzil's house-- just outside our apartment.



Here's our visit to the Baguio Military academy-- the Philippines equivalent of West Point. Butch, our protector, is the kid with the goatee. Denzil's wife Marilyn is in the picture. She negotiates with vendors so we won't get ripped off as tourists and get the same price as the locals.


Duane and Heide