Last hurrah on Apo Island

Tonight is my last night in the Philippines.  I am tucked into bed in a hotel in Manila feeling a bit overwhelmed by the flashing neon signs, traffic jams and bustle of the big city.  

For my final three days in the Philippines, I headed to Apo Island, off Negros Oriental.  It isn't far from Bohol (still in the Visayas), and was rumoured to have good diving and a laid back atmosphere.  Sounded great.  Even better, everyone decided to come along for a bit of a holiday and wrap up.  Unfortunately, Vale had to leave a little early to explore some potential school stuff in Australia, but the guys, Tch and Katie made the journey with me and we had the best time.  Lots of laughter, a few drinks and some great dives ensued.  I don't have any underwater shots right now, but both Dom and Tcha had underwater cameras so hopefully I will get a few from them.  Until then, here is a quick peek at my final hurrah in the Philippines. Such a beautiful place, such a wonderful people.  Love.

We found the MOST enormous orb weaver.  

Leaving Dumaguete for Apo.

A little rain when we arrived couldn't bring us down, we just danced in it.

Pass the pigs was the game of the weekend.  Hilarious.

This is what happens when you leave the camera on the table when you go to the bathroom.

Around the island:

New friend on the beach.  

 Dive time:

Tcha and I on our balcony post dive-bliss.

More scenes from Apo:

Digging my toes in for one last time

Coral on the beach

Sound good to me.

CHEERS to a great few days and a wonderful final hurrah in this beautiful country:

Dolphin Fest

Today is my last day in Bohol.  I am a mix of feelings- a bit hungover from our big post-Dolphin Fest party, a lot sad to leave a place that has been my home for three months, and a bit excited to head off for my final days in the Philippines on Apo Island.

The weather has turned over the past few days.  While it's still in the high twenties at least, it feels a bit fall-ish, which seems appropriate as I prepare to leave.  A storm has been brewing the past few days and as we sped through southern Bohol yesterday, the rain was pelting down on the rice fields and the carabao.

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Bohol Dolphin Festival.  Over the past few months, I've worked a lot with Tcha to help prepare for this.  While outreach is not something new for me and I was definitely more enthusiastic to do field work and surveys than organize an event, it was probably my greatest learning experience (and source of frustration) in the Philippines.  Despite this, I am so glad I had the experience to discover what it is like to work inside another culture and to see how things are done here.  The festival was officially organized by multiple agencies that make up BRUMM (Bohol Rescue Unit for Marine Mammals), but many agencies never did much.  Tch did a ton and was instrumental in actually making sure the event happened and hopefully I was of help to her.

The event included a parade, performances, educational activities and a mural painting.  It wasn't perfect, but it was a really fun day, the weather held (after pissing down at 5am) and people seemed to have enjoyed themselves, so that is all I can ask.  Mostly I was just pleased to have a hurrah with my terrific co-workers.  We also had many colleagues and LaMaVe folks (Ale seems to collect people) join us from elsewhere for the prep and the festival, so the past few days have had a bit of a summer camp feel to them.

After the festival we had a big dinner and party back here in Jagna.  After a somewhat crazy few days of last minute preparations, it was great to relax and laugh.  I am going to miss this place and these people so much.

As I mentioned, the head is a bit sore today as a result, so instead of blathering on, I will just add a few pics:  

Ready for the parade

Great hats and facepainting by our crew for the parade

In the 'Dolphin School'

Wee participants

Rescue simulation

Painting the mural

Walk to work...

As my time winds down here, I realize that there is still a lot of the day-to-day stuff I haven't yet shared.   Since my mom is more a fan of the everyday-mundane, I thought you might like to take a walk to work for an office day with me...

First, we leave my house and walk past the fancy (yet concrete) house that sits on the rice field next door:

There are always livestock in the field:

If you are lucky, you may get to see someone taking their carabao (water buffalo) for a walk:

Some sort of car/trike maintenance is always happening:

You then pass about 75 of these little sari-sari stores, which carry an assortment of things like shampoo, laundry soap and instant coffee in very small, individual packages.  Not sure how any of them survive as they all stock the same stuff and are right next to one another:

Turn left at the corner.  It is always busy here, you are likely to almost get run over, but you learn to walk with determination and blind faith that you will make it to the other side:

Another 55 sari-sari stores and 6 lechon manok (rotisserie chicken) stands:

Across a few unfortunately litter-filled rivers:

Past the church, which is more often than not full of people or blasting seroms from some tinny speakers:

My two favorite houses in Jagna- both old and intricate.  Both used to be surgeon/doctor's offices:

And then past some new houses. New houses here are concrete and not nearly so pretty.  These are the homes of more affulent people.  You will also find nipa (palm and bamboo) homes:

Basketball court is almost always packed.  You can stop to watch some awesome players.  Interestingly basketball is by far the most popular sport in the Philippines.  Soccer (football), which you would expect to be popular, has been nowhere to be seen:

Along the road there is always coconut husks (for fuel) and rice drying:

Last stretch is along the water.  At night, this wall is full of young people hanging out and giggling:

Almost there, don't get hit by a bus:

Office gazebo in sight:

Time for work: