Weekly Philippines Photo Montage 2.7.15

 

 Our Weekly Philippines Photo Montage 2.7.15

 

Welcome back to the second installment of our weekly Philippines photo montage, this particular one as of February 7, 2015.  All of these photos are taken off of my pretty crummy MyPhone Infinity Lite.  One of our faithful subscribers has been kind enough to bring over a very nice Sony point and shoot that I got off of Ebay, so when that arrives, the quality of the photos SHOULD improve.  /knocks on wood.   

Through our You Tube channel and website, we strive to give folks who are contemplating retirement to a tropical shore with a small to moderate pension a fair and balanced view of what life here is like.  We can’t capture the smell of burning trash and plastic nor adequately convey how brutally hot it can get here at times, but on the other sight and sound stuff, we hope we are passing on a fair view of both the good and the bad.

But enough of that – let’s get to the photos.

 

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 This is taken down at Silliman Beach, just north of the city.  I was filming the Amor Propio Final Thoughts video one morning last week and took a few shots of the sun rising over Siquior Island (the haunted isle…..).  As pretty much usual, it was a beautiful morning, and as I have said before countless times, getting up early to enjoy these mornings is a must if you are looking to get the most out of your Philippines experience.  

 

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 Also taken at Silliman Beaach, this is a pretty standard “banca” outrigger canoe of Polynesian-Malay design.  These handcrafted boats are built out of a single log and the bamboo outriggers provide stability and contribute to it’s shallow draft (a must considering the shallow reefs that lie along most of island coasts.  These small boats are very speedy and maneuverable and can often be seen out along the coast fishing or jigging for squid. Some bancas are equipped with little engines that blast them through the water at pretty high speeds – banca racing is pretty popular and is a common thing at coastal town fiestas.  

 

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 When I was at Silliman University Hospital getting X-rays of my spine, I happened to notice a rather interesting offering in one of the coffee machines – “Relaxing Cucumber.”  I am not sure if it a flavored coffee or just some sort of weird hot cucumber concoction, but it was interesting enough to take a photo of.  Not interesting enough to actually sample, however.  Also on tape was the ubiquitous Nescafe 3-in-1, to which I am fully addicted.  Mmmmm – so very lami…….

 

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 This was also taken the same day I got my X-rays. This is the cost scheduling sheet for all imaging services offered by the hospital.  As you can see, the “X Lumbar APL (Adult)” imaging (two x-rays) cost 530 pesos.  Pretty dang inexpensive, di ba?  Makes me think that maybe the US should have gone with a single payer scheme like the Philippines has.  The cost also included the orthopedic looking over the films and giving a brief diagnosis.  That photo should be further down the page….

 

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 You see these small dune buggies now and then.  In other parts of the world, they typically have Volkswagon engines, and that’s what I thought this one was.  A viewer noted that they are actually propelled by 125-150cc motorcycle engines and are not all that fast.  Still though, it’s pretty cool.

 

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 Another shot of the dune buggy.  This was taken down at Dauin center, right next to the lechon manock stand where we pick up our weekly contribution to the Dauin Wednesday Potluck.

 

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 After being down at Dauin for a glorious afternoon on the beach at Marine Sanctuary, I stopped off at Taco Tayo on the South National Road for a quick chicken quesadilla (homemade salsa, tortillas, and fixings).  Taco Tayo is owned by a foreigner and his better half and offers good food cheap.  They started as a simple stall with an electric frypan and are expanding and improving their location every day.  Recommended are the tacos, which are super lami!  The San Miguel was also nice and cold….

 

IMG_20150128_203516Well, here’s the photo of the diagnosis I received based on the x-rays taken at Silliman Hospital.  I basically broke my back this past September (two compression fractures on L1), and although they mended, the pot hole impact has pretty much screwed up the alignment of my lumbar vertabrae.  MRI tests will be done back in the US when I next visit to see exactly what type of soft tissue/disk damage has incurred.  I deal with the pain of this every day, but it could have been worse – at least I don’t (yet) have any nerve damage/sciatica as a result of it.  /crosses fingers.  The scoliosis I had before, but it was the first time I was able to see the strange curve of my spine in an x-ray as a result of it.

 

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 We had our first banana harvest, and they were absolutely delicious.  We gave a bunch of them to families around the neighborhood, as we simply had too many.  Michell also neglected to tell me that banana sap is basically glue and permanently stains anything that it touches.  Ah well, I’ll just have to do some more clothes shopping.  Note that banana field hands usually wear dark – mostly purple – clothes in order to make the sap stains less noticeable. 

 

IMG_20150129_084404This is mulunggay, also known as morninga oleifera.  It is remarkably nutritious, proving a host of vitamins, minerals and even 9.5 grams of protein per 3.5 ounces.  Powerdered mulunggay retails at $20 USD an ounce, but here in the Philippines it’s free, as it litterally….errrr…..grows on trees.  There are a bunch of trees in our yard and even more scattered around our neighborhood.  You can also see people pulling over on the National Roads to quickly harvest a bit for their evening dinner.  Michell includes mulunggay in her mogoos vegetable and chicken preparations, and it’s really quite tasty.  Read more about this “miracle leaf” over at WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera

 

IMG_20150129_084416Another view of one of the mulunggay trees growing in our yard.  Very inexpensive vitamin supplement….

 

IMG_20150129_084439Here’s a photo of the stems that have been stripped of their leaves.  The leaves are then thrown right into the cooking pot or….

 

IMG_20150129_084718…you can also dry them out.  I toss a bunch of them in our black plastic laundry basin and let them dry out in the sun.  I then toss it in a baggie and add it to my daily protein powder shakes.  

 

IMG_20150129_171842Here’s Euie (You-EE) and Nikki playing around on Michell’s RUSI.  Euie is “driving.”  You can see the brake lever is still bent from when Michell last dropped the bike.  It’s an easy fix, but we just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  You can actually see dudes driving around with bent brake levers all the time – victims of similar dropped bikes.

 

IMG_20150203_132733Here’s our “adopted” pregnant cat sleeping on the roof of our Pajero.  Life’s good in the Philippines, eh.  Although pretty feral, it is still friendly and really likes being scratched.  The kittens should be dropping any day now, as she is big as a house.

 

IMG_20150204_111205Here’s a photo of the new Yamaha Tricity, a three wheeled scooter that is said to provide more stability that it’s two wheeled cousins.  It was the first one that I have seen in the Philippines, so I took a photo.  I wonder if it allows you to stop in traffic without putting your foot down….

 

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 With the neighborhood kids coming by ever day for school and/or tumbling about the yard, we’ve been spending a lot of time in this aisle at Hypermart.  Choco Krim Sticks seem to be their favorite, and our freezer is always well stocked.

 

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 This is a crazy puppy that was hanging outside the license plate shop.  I had stopped there to order a temporary plate as – after a year of waiting – Yamaha had FINALLY given me the OR/CR (registration papers) for my YBR 125.

 

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 It’s all puppies and rainbows – until the puppy bites you.  🙂

 

IMG_20150205_190512Chicken ,  broccoli, tocino and chorizo at Atong Kamalig the other night.  Total cost – about $10 USD. 

 

IMG_20150206_072338This photo got the most “Likes” on our Facebook page than any other that we have put up there.  There were also a large number of “Mr Clean” references.  Cooking in the tub are one of our two blankets – thin Chinese ones that are like heavy sheets.  With all the dust and grime in the air, you pretty much have to wash your bedding a lot more that you do in the West.

 

IMG_20150206_164446Michell’s after school program.  These are the grade 2 kids – Nikki, Romar and Rocky.  They are using rocks to help visualize their division tables.  As you can see, our program facility is pretty basic – just our front porch.

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 Nikki’s little sister, Nano (but also named Nikki) photobombing one of the pics.

 

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 So of course, I had to give her her own photo op.

 

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 This is Andrew.  He is the youngest of the kids and weighs about 25 pounds.  I toss him around like a sack of potatoes.

 

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 Nano and Andrew playing on Michell’s RUSI after the video on scooters and motorcycles that I had just shot.  The older kids were on the porch in class, and I basically got stuck babysitting.

 

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License and registration, ma’am….

 

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 No helmets or flip flops…

 

IMG_20150206_170608So, Andrew – what do you think of the Phillipines?

See ya next time, all!

 

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