the weekend... and an amazing bday

Last Saturday I became a tour guide. When i was in the PHilppines last time I took a weekend trip to the island i am staying on this time. We had hired a van driver to take us to all the tourist spots. This morning at 8am I left with one of the teachers and two of his friends from Manila on our motorcycles all around Bohol. I had one Filipino guy on the back of my bike and Keats (the teacher) had the Filipino girl on his. This was about a 10 hour day with a passenger.

About an hour into our day it started to pour! We pulled over many times as it was unsafe to continue on the curvy roads with our small bikes. However, Keats wanted to stop so our electronics did not get wet. After the rain was a little lighter we kept on our way. We were able to stop and see the Tarsier monkey (smallest in the world), the Chocolate hills, the Python, the hanging bridge made from bamboo shoots, and take a ride on the Luboc floating restaurant. I was able to point out other roads that Keats had not been on before. I can not believe i remembered these stops from 2 years ago, in a different country, AND a place i was only at one time. This is a miracle if any of you know how good my directional skills are. However, here... there seems to be not too may turns. Bohol is only about 70 miles wide. So there isn't too many places you can not visit in one day. And the map i have is pretty clear as to where i would need to go if i took a wrong turn.

I am also going to try harder this week to pick up the local dialect. I found myself answering in Visayan a couple times today. But only when the answer was Yes. haha. this will be quiet a challenge... but i know that i will be able to at least speak conversationally in one month if i try really hard.

when on the motorcycle today many people would turn their head or yell. Everything was wrong with the picture.
I was wearing a helmet (very uncommon)
I am a girl driving a motorcycle with a man on the back (usually the other way around)
I am a White girl driving a motorcycle
I am a white girl driving a motorcycle with a Filipino man on the back.

I also experienced some high school boys wanting to take their picture with me so they can go back to school on monday and tell everyone that I am their girlfriend. Haha. of course i let them.... it is not so uncommon to see someone with Blonde hair in Bohol because it is a tourist island. However, it is not as common to see blonde hair and blue eyes.

In bohol the people have a little more personal space then in Tacloban. However, they all respect each other in different ways than in America. Several times I have come back to my bike to find some guy sitting on it just chatting. All I have to say is Excuse… then he will move. No big deal. I just found that interesting. I have had three different high school boys ask for a picture with me. I think maybe I should start charging 5Pesos a picture in order to keep up with my finances. Haha.
Yesterday was an amazing day. I thought my bday may have been boring this year since I was in a different country. However, a lot happened. I was able to sleep in a little bit and then I was invited to a waterfall. It took about an hour to get there on our bikes. It was THE WORST roads I have ever been on. We were pretty much off roading the whole time. Very steep hills and giants rocks to watch out for. Once we finally made it to a point of grass we had to park and walk the rest of the way. It was slippery and all down hill. At some spots I had to sit and slide a little in order to make it down with out tumbling. But it was worth it! There were three caves with in the water fall that we were able to swim into and sit on a nature created ledge. It was so beautiful. I also was able to jump off a couple of the cliffs. One spot was about 25 feet high. It seemed a lot higher when I was waiting to hit the water. We were able to climb up over the top of one cave’s mouth and jump off. That was so exciting. After we returned from the cave Dennis and his wife Marilou took me and two other teachers out to a resort restaurant on the island of Panglao. It was right next to the ocean and very beautiful. Looking at the menu I noticed they served pork belly. Almost gagging I went on to look at the other selections. One of the teachers ordered pork belly and or course offered me to try it. So I did. It actually was very good. It just tasted like a big slice of bacon. All in all.. a great birthday!

I wanted to make a list of things that I want to do on this trip. I added a few things I have already done since I should have put this up here before the first week.
1. jump off a cliff
2. climb a mountain
3. learn the local dialect conversationally
4. approve 1 Pag-IBIG loan
5. eat what ever is offered to me
6. visit friends from other islands
7. go snorkeling
8. get a massage on the beach.
9.perpare my own fish
10. watch the sun rise/set at the pier.
11. listen intently to why God has brought me here
12. explore every moment I can.
13. find a waterfall
14. ride with a passenger on my bike.

I am sure I will add more down the road.