Philippine Adventure: Part Four

Day 7: Thursday, June 25

We woke up before 5:00 and were greeted by this beautiful sunrise. We sat along the beach taking pictures until the sun was fully up. A wonderful start to our day!

After breakfast, we got ready for SCUBA diving and snorkeling. I decided to live vicariously through Kylie and just watch her SCUBA. I stuck to snorkeling, which I loved! They put on their wetsuits,Then had a 30 minute lesson (which would have been a 2 month course at home...)And an introduction to breathing with the tanks (another month of lessons....)and they were ready to go!I have to admit I was a little freaked out when I saw Kylie disappear under the water. But Carlyn reassured me that the instructor would be with her the whole time and they only go down about 35 feet, for about 45 minutes. Here are some of the things she saw....Which I was able to see, also, but from the surface of the water looking down. The dive instructors gave us food to feed the fish and the fish swarmed around us to get it from our hands. It was like jumping into the middle of an aquarium! The water was warm, perfectly clear, and the colors were amazing. The pictures don't come close to showing how beautiful it was. I could have snorkeled all day, but we had to head back to shore after about 2 hours. We left Duka Bay that afternoon and returned to the library for a well deserved rest!

Day 8: Friday, June 26

We earned a half day of rest, in preparation for Carlyn's brother's wedding. We spent the morning wandering around the market, buying more mangoes, fried bananas, and treats from the bakery. Back at the Dumotan's we had manicures and pedicures and tried to stay out of the way as everyone hustled around, packing for the wedding. In the afternoon we set out for Malay Balay, a town about an hour up the mountain. Malay Balay is bigger than Manolo Fortich. There were signs like these hanging on the telephone poles:

Others said "Health is Wealth," "Wear your Seatbelt," "Dial 117 for Emergency." The motel we stayed in was right around the corner from the LDS chapel, so Kylie and I walked over to take a picture and met some of the young adults, Arnie, Li-Ting, and Jay, from the ward. They were very friendly and Arnie talked about his companion from Utah, so we assume he had served a mission, but our communication was a bit limited. They were surprised that Kylie was only 13, since she's taller than most of them.Friday evening was the "legal" wedding ceremony, which was a little like a counseling session for the bride and groom with parents and close relatives in attendance. The Pastora gave Mao and Jasmine some great advice about including God in their marriage and the importance of loving your spouse above yourself. After the ceremony, we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner with all the family and turned in early, ready for the big day Saturday!

Day 9: Saturday, June 27

Wedding day! The wedding started at 10:00, so everyone was up early getting ready. The wedding took place in a beautiful garden, with a permanent tented building for the guests to sit in. Here's Carlyn's kids, Sean and Camille, in their wedding finery:

Stephanie, Me, Mao (the groom) and Kylie:This is where the bride and groom would sit during the ceremony:The cake:A view of the garden surrounding the tented building:The beautiful bride, Jasmine:Dave and Carlyn were "cord sponsors" which means they wrap the bride and groom in a cord that symbolizes a life-long bond. There was also a couple who were the veil sponsors, who wrapped the bride and groom in a veil, which symbolizes unity.After the ceremony was a big feast, complete with the Lechon (roast pig). Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the whole buffet, but here's the pig after several people had gotten to it:The garden site had a big greenhouse behind it where they grow these beautiful plants:We celebrated until afternoon, then headed back down the mountain. On the way down, we stopped at this waterfall:And at a broom stand, where I bought two brooms, which are what they use to sweep their houses, (but ended up leaving them in the airport in San Francisco, because we thought we were going to miss our flight and couldn't wait for them to come out from the oversize baggage.)Here's another example of a house was saw driving down the mountain:Day 10: Sunday, June 28

We attended church in the Manolo Fortich branch Sunday morning. When we got there at 9:00, there were only about 10 people there, but by 10:00, about 15 more people had trickled in. They have Sunday School and Primary first, so that they have higher attendance in Sacrament Meeting. I was asked to be the chorister, which I'm not very good at, but I smiled and waved my arm around like I knew what I was doing. Stephanie was asked to play the piano (small electronic keyboard) and at least she actually knew how to play. The Sunday School teacher tried to accomodate us by speaking mostly in English, but we felt badly that the rest of the class couldn't really follow the lesson, so we told him it was OK to speak in his dialect. He did a good job of helping us to understand, and translated our answers to questions for the other members.

After church and lunch, we went on a hubble-hubble ride through the country-side. Notice the lack of helmets... Our drivers were cautioned to take good care of us by Carlyn's father, and not to go too fast. I was a little nervous at first, but once we got out into the country, I relaxed and really enjoyed the ride. My driver was very safe and I felt like precious cargo, the way he carefully avoided potholes and puddles. We saw some wonderful sights, like this family riding on their cart:and a grazing bull:Our first stop was the lime quary, owned by Carlyn's relatives, of course. There were fossils in the limestone and Stephanie, a geologist, was fascinated. Kylie enjoyed trying to climb up and find the coral, shell and leaf fossils. Barbara actually found a whole clam shell fossil. Our next stop was at this rice paddy. That's the farmer's hut:and in the middle of this picture, you can barely see the little stand he sits in all day. There is a series of ropes running through the rice paddy, all attached to his stand. On the ropes are cans full of rocks, and when birds come to try to eat the rice, he pulls the ropes and rattles the cans to scare the birds away. We stopped at this small family farm:So that Kylie, Barb and Stephanie could ride their caribou. I think they were shocked when seven motorcyles pulled up and we all piled off, and Carlyn asked if we could ride their caribou. "Crazy Americans!" they must have thought!The country-side was so green and beautiful. I love the rural areas so much more than the cities. Our last stop was this Catholic Church and Monestary. It was out in the middle of the fields, surrounded by God's beautiful creations; a perfect setting, away from the world. When we got back to the Dumotan's, Boyd (Carlyn's dad) offered to take us out in his "Super Bug" for a tour of the Dole Pineapple plantation. As far as the eye can see, pineapples are growing. I never knew they grew on bushes, I always thought they grew on trees. Apparently they take 14 months to mature. The fields are in constant rotation: planting, growing, harvesting.The platation includes an entire city: housing for the workers, stores, hospital, and this school that Boyd was principal of for nine years. After our pineapple tour, we came back to the Dumotan's home where Mao and Jasmine were opening their wedding gifts. Much like here, it seems one type of gift is in abundance. For them it was drinking glasses! We enjoyed visiting with them and wishing them well on the start of their life together.