Okay, so where did I leave off? I covered Day 1 so on to Day 2, November 2nd.
This was All Souls Day. On both All Saints Day and All Souls Day, Filipinos have a family reunion at the graves of their loved ones. They spend most of the day there eating food, cleaning off the graves, and socializing. It's so serious that several streets around the cemeteries are cordoned off to help control the amount of people there. This is a serious religious event and we gave our yaya the day off so she could spend the time with her family as well.
We went to Bohol for the day. This is on an island near Cebu. We took the hour long ferry over. Again, we took a tour. The Cebu tour was private so it was only us and the guide. The Bohol tour was with a group. So, the ferry dropped us off in Tagbilaran, Bohol. We boarded a bus and went off. Our first activity was the Loboc River Cruise. We floated down the river eating lunch and listening to music. There was a man on board playing his guitar and singing. He was really good. He sang a lot of old 70's Soul music and sounded good. When I closed my eyes, I was instantly transported to my childhood when my dad would play his records and we would dance together. He was good, y'all. The lunch was okay. I almost fed my children squid though. It was mixed in with bok choy and I didn't see them. Ugh! They had other things that we could eat though. The river was beautiful and we made a stop to visit the Abi tribe. They are an indigenous tribe in Bohol. They played music and performed dances and otherwise entertained us. It was good though. Dwayne and the kids joined in with the little drummers. They were playing on strategically placed bamboo. Dwayne was good too...much better than the others on this cruise. Here's pictures:
After the cruise, we headed to visit the tarsiers. This is the smallest primate in the world. It's status as a primate has been debated quite a bit because it is quite unlike the monkey. We thought it was such a cute little animal though. An interesting thing to note is that they don't handle captivity well. In fact, in this enclosure, there is no top so they do leave at night (they're nocturnal animals) to go hunt. They return to the enclosure because the owners have made it extremely suitable to their needs. Anyway, when captive, they basically commit suicide. Tarsiers have fontanels (soft spots) on the back of their heads. When captive, they continuously bang their heads until they die. Sad, huh? Here are pictures of them though. I saved the cutest tarsiers for last ;)
After visiting the tarsiers, we headed to Chocolate Hills. This is an unusual area composed of over 1,200 hills. During the dry season, the grass turns brown which is where the name comes from. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there and the kids were napping. And, we would have to climb over 200 steps to get the best view. So, Dwayne and the others went up while the kids and I waited. We still got to see the hills though. Here are just a couple of pics to give you an idea.
We also visited a Catholic church in Bohol named Immaculate Concepcion but no pictures. It was built in 1595 and much of the original church, and its furnishings, are still intact. The inside was made of coral stone. There were quite a few people worshiping inside so we didn't stay very long. The next site was to see a sculpture called The Blood Compact. It commemorates a compact between Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol in 1565. This was a treaty of friendship between the two where they each made a cut in their arms and mixed a few drops of their blood with wine. Each man drank the blood of the other.
This was the last stop on the tour before heading back to the ferry and over to Cebu. On Saturday, we just hung out at the resort. We finally swam that evening and just relaxed. We came back to Manila on Sunday afternoon. It was a very nice vacation and, as you can see, very educational.
Filipino culture reminds me of American culture in that it is a mixture of cultures of other countries. They will proudly tell you that they speak like Americans, eat like Chinese, and worship like Spaniards.
Until later...
This was All Souls Day. On both All Saints Day and All Souls Day, Filipinos have a family reunion at the graves of their loved ones. They spend most of the day there eating food, cleaning off the graves, and socializing. It's so serious that several streets around the cemeteries are cordoned off to help control the amount of people there. This is a serious religious event and we gave our yaya the day off so she could spend the time with her family as well.
We went to Bohol for the day. This is on an island near Cebu. We took the hour long ferry over. Again, we took a tour. The Cebu tour was private so it was only us and the guide. The Bohol tour was with a group. So, the ferry dropped us off in Tagbilaran, Bohol. We boarded a bus and went off. Our first activity was the Loboc River Cruise. We floated down the river eating lunch and listening to music. There was a man on board playing his guitar and singing. He was really good. He sang a lot of old 70's Soul music and sounded good. When I closed my eyes, I was instantly transported to my childhood when my dad would play his records and we would dance together. He was good, y'all. The lunch was okay. I almost fed my children squid though. It was mixed in with bok choy and I didn't see them. Ugh! They had other things that we could eat though. The river was beautiful and we made a stop to visit the Abi tribe. They are an indigenous tribe in Bohol. They played music and performed dances and otherwise entertained us. It was good though. Dwayne and the kids joined in with the little drummers. They were playing on strategically placed bamboo. Dwayne was good too...much better than the others on this cruise. Here's pictures:
After the cruise, we headed to visit the tarsiers. This is the smallest primate in the world. It's status as a primate has been debated quite a bit because it is quite unlike the monkey. We thought it was such a cute little animal though. An interesting thing to note is that they don't handle captivity well. In fact, in this enclosure, there is no top so they do leave at night (they're nocturnal animals) to go hunt. They return to the enclosure because the owners have made it extremely suitable to their needs. Anyway, when captive, they basically commit suicide. Tarsiers have fontanels (soft spots) on the back of their heads. When captive, they continuously bang their heads until they die. Sad, huh? Here are pictures of them though. I saved the cutest tarsiers for last ;)
After visiting the tarsiers, we headed to Chocolate Hills. This is an unusual area composed of over 1,200 hills. During the dry season, the grass turns brown which is where the name comes from. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there and the kids were napping. And, we would have to climb over 200 steps to get the best view. So, Dwayne and the others went up while the kids and I waited. We still got to see the hills though. Here are just a couple of pics to give you an idea.
We also visited a Catholic church in Bohol named Immaculate Concepcion but no pictures. It was built in 1595 and much of the original church, and its furnishings, are still intact. The inside was made of coral stone. There were quite a few people worshiping inside so we didn't stay very long. The next site was to see a sculpture called The Blood Compact. It commemorates a compact between Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol in 1565. This was a treaty of friendship between the two where they each made a cut in their arms and mixed a few drops of their blood with wine. Each man drank the blood of the other.
This was the last stop on the tour before heading back to the ferry and over to Cebu. On Saturday, we just hung out at the resort. We finally swam that evening and just relaxed. We came back to Manila on Sunday afternoon. It was a very nice vacation and, as you can see, very educational.Filipino culture reminds me of American culture in that it is a mixture of cultures of other countries. They will proudly tell you that they speak like Americans, eat like Chinese, and worship like Spaniards.
Until later...
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Keisha
Ayana
Nazah
P.S. We are expecting #2.
Nika