This picture is of our group at the highest point in the Philippine Highway System (hence the sign) -- so cold!
The SAVERS outreach trip was also wonderfully successful. We left late Tuesday night (the 23rd) for Cervantes, which is between 10 and 11 hours from here in Laoag. We took two vehicles -- our jeepney (which has two "regular" seats up front, then a sort of barrier/wall-type thing, then two benches along the sides of the back that face each other) and an elf (which is a small truck made for carrying animals/cargo but many people use it for people). I would have liked to ride in the elf, just for the experience, but wasn't able to -- they wouldn't let me. :[ Oh well, I think they just wanted to keep me safe.
We arrived in Cervantes on Wednesday morning, all of us completely exhausted. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon sleeping on mats in the church before attending a birthday service (service, NOT party) during the late afternoon, which also provided us with our dinner. We gave our program that evening in the church -- mostly old stuff that we have performed several times before, so we weren't as stressed in preparing, which was nice. Of course, there were mistakes, but the performance wasn't bad.
After performing we drove straight to Mankayan, which luckily is only about an hour and a half from Cervantes! This was my favorite of the two places -- the people we stayed with were the nicest and most hospitable people I have been with in a while. We unexpectedly had to stay with them for two nights, but they were not at all bothered. They told us that it was our house, they were just the managers. :)
Can you believe it was between 70 and 73 degrees Fahrenheit the whole time we were in Mankayan, and I was freezing cold?!?!
On Thursday we were able to "see the sights" in Mankayan. There is a place there called LePanto, which is sort of a village within a village - it has its own airport, school, a gold mine, etc. - and we went to see that. We took public transportation (jeepney) there, but walked home, which was quite tiring but had beautiful views. One of the Bible students from the school here comes from Mankayan, so she played tour guide. Later on we ate dinner at her house, then went to the place where we'd perform (this time it wasn't a church, but more of a stadium or arena). I thought this performance was the better of the two. We performed an additional 3 dances, were more focused, and had a bigger crowd.
Finally, Friday morning (at 4 AM!) we drove to Baguio City, which is halfway between Laoag and Mankayan, and were able to shower, rest, eat, etc. before doing some exploring of the city. Most of us went to SM Baguio, which is a really big mall. Afterwards I went with a few people to the market to buy what are considered Baguio specialties -- I bought strawberries (my favorite!), peanut brittle, choco pinipig (which is hard to describe but very tasty), and these cookies called lengua de gato. We left Baguio around 6 PM and arrived home at 1:30 AM Saturday. I've spent the days since then sleeping, sleeping, and doing even more sleeping!!!! It's still sem break for us at the Bible school, so I won't start teaching again until next Monday.
love,k
