We had lunch on a boat on a beautiful river.
After lunch as we cruised, we stopped at a dock of locals singing and dancing.
They invited the boat guests to join them in their dance and ukulele playing. Tom always declines. I declined this time.
Click for the view.
Note at the beginning of the video the little boat attached to the back of the large boat like the one we were on. It pushes the entire big boat!!
Our tour guide, Enz, was singing on the boat!! A woman of many talents!!
Click for dancing.
Reminds me of paddle boarding — being right on the water.
More churches. Notice the line that says FLOOD LEVEL. A typhoon caused the church to be filled with water the mud up to that line. The walls were ruined, but the ceilings survived.
Huge statues and the old pulpits.
The mad rush to harvest the rice (by hand) before the rains come.
Ordered crispy fish on fried rice. AAUUGGHH! These deep fried little strings ARE the fish. Needless to say, I swept them off my fried rice, thank you very much.
Listen to the music in the background. Christmas!! And this was the beginning of November.
My fabulous first view in the morning!
This was cenote that was popular so people could swim. It was a lake inside a cave. Cool!
This hotel is owned by a rich businessman who truly appreciates wood and the past. The entire place is just magical in all the old wooden doors, frames, carvings he has collected from old buildings being torn down. The center chair had a gecko carved into the seat. The carvings came from one piece of wood. Huge doors had been saved from other buildings along with their entire frames. And the locks were COMPLETELY made entirely of wood. Fascinating!
The baby Jesus doesn’t get put in the manger of the wooden Nativity Scene until December 24th.
More snacks. Note the purple ube. And note all the salvaged wood for the table signs and napkin holders. The actual table was reclaimed also.
Learned all about the 2013 earthquake and it’s destruction.
Another section of the museum showed how proud they are of the only Philippines president who came from the Island of Bohol, Carlos Garcia, from 1957 to 1961.
How purple ube grows underground. Rumor has it if you get lage-breasted women to plant it, it grows bigger.
Some of the equipment used to collect the coconut juice to make the liquor and tools for their fishing industry.
Some of the art was fantastic. The bust of he one with the glasses was the artist.
I see the similarities.
Garcia often posed this way.
Look how short Enz is!!
Another wonderful meal at the Bee Farm.
Had to at least get in the water halfway across the world.
Don’t know what these puff ball bags of water were, but they were all over. click.
By the end of the trip, I start eating only what I know I like. In this country is was a delicious mushroom soup and a mango shake …. and a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake.
Have you ever been in a place with temperatures so consistent???
And the humidity was 100% — that’s why it felt like 98 degrees; and the sun somehow felt hotter than Florida.
More to come. Heading to Cebu for that roast pig.