Christmas Day

Christmas Day was spent at Kuya Ewin's house. It was a pretty big party with lots of kids and lots of games.

Of course the boys of the house were these three cuties











Despite the intermittent rain, it was still a festive day with LOTS of food.

Christmas Eve

For part of Christmas Eve, Mae and I decided to hang out with the Argosinos. Since things were a bit hectic, it was just a small get together/ drinking session. We gave our presents and just hung out w/ the kids.




no inuman (drinking session) will be complete without balut. This one's a little ... overdeveloped though. Here's lookin' at you, kid!







Of course we dropped by Kuya Jali's place to see his kids too

Afterwards, it was an evening mass before the eve festivities with the Marinos.
Church in RGR


We labeled christmas stockings for all the kids. SO MANY of them





what party is complete without videoke??

Tattoos & Mangrove

After the island hopping, Mae got a tattoo (not pictured here). We ended up meeting a lot of our family members there so it was like a little party at the tattoo parlor. I'm sure they were not as amused.

We ended up hanging out with KM and Simon that night and going to the Mugs Cafe @ Pacific Mall. It was the suck and they kept forgetting they DIDN'T have the food we ordered. Poor Simon ordered three times and waited over an hour for his food.






Finally Simon got to eat after the rest of us.

The next day, Kuya Ewin took me and Jawen to the mangrove plantation. It was originally begun by the Mirant Power Plant as a sort of penance for polluting our precious planet. There are several different species of mangroves that were planted there and it spans many kilometers. Surprisingly, the power plant has several good conservation projects to help decrease the damage of their waste output. We drove a little while from the main road along farmland.




I miss the lush greens of the province when I'm stuck in Manila


bridge to the exhibitions


me & jawen




I was gonna throw a fit if this was the entire route


thankfully most of the trail was like this. Although it was slippery it was quite a pleasant walk.








mangroves as far as the eye can see.

Lukang Pt III

Pardon the blurs on the pictures. My underwater camera case works better in water than out. Anyway, here are more pictures from island hopping day. We ended up going to Lukang Beach again, so here are the pics.


the power plant that Ate Liza & Kuya Ewin work for


sea monster Rissa!





pitiful




Dimple's barnacles

water inside the cafe


kid at the town we rented the boat


Tita Elsa

Island Hopping

So my goal when I first got to the Philippines was to step foot on 100 of the seven thousand some that make up the Philippines. To help me accomplish that goal, Kuya Ewin booked a boat for us to go around the islets right near my hometown. We went with Mae, Tita Elsa & Dimples. This happened right before Christmas so it was a great present. So far the count is now 21 and hopefully I'll be able to get close to my ideal number. Here are the pictures from that day. Again, too many to post all here so check out the photo album for more.

Yes, this counts as an island





crocodile "island"



turtle island
at the neck