Day 190 - Over the Rainbow

We woke up early this morning to visit the Davao Watershed Park and Eagle Conservation Area. The park was very beautiful with a nice balance of landscaped grounds and rain forest. Tucked in between the planted areas, were various perches and cages for the different raptors that live in the Philippines. The main goal of the park is education about the Davao Watershed, and the breeding and reintroduction of the Philippine Eagle, of which there are only 500 known left in the wild. The Braminy Kite, on the other hand, is quite common. The park had several in residence; some lived in cages, I'm guessing because they had permanent injuries, but others, like this fellow, were free to fly round and keep an eye on the guests.

After the park, we visited the Davao Chinese Cemetery, where Cz's paternal grandmother, Lola S, is buried. Chinese families preferred that their children marry other Chinese. Cz's Grandfather was the first in his family to break that tradition when he chose Lola S for his bride. She had been raised by a Chinese family, but was in fact, Filipina. Furthermore, Chinese ladies were generally not educated (Lola S only went to school through grade 4), as they were expected to stay in the house and take care of the family. Lola S bucked tradition by being the original shopkeeper of the store that preceded where we had dinner last night. In her spare time, she loved gardening, and maintained a flower bed where she could be seen working outside right by the street. Shocking! I can only imagine how appalled Cz's grandparents would be by his decision to marry not only a non-Chinese, but a Whitey foreigner.

We followed our visit to the cemetery with lunch at a street stall. Among the tasty treats were stuffed squid, a version of ceviche, seaweed salad, meat dishes, sauteed green beans, and assorted soups. Cz got especially excited over the flattened, fried eggplant. It tasted pretty uncomplicated (and very nice), so I will try to reproduce it when we get back to Cagayan.

Which is where we headed after lunch. Auntie R, Cz's mom, Cz, and I were lucky enough to catch one of the super-deluxe air-con buses heading to Cagayan. The landscape passing by was a tangle of rumpled green hills draped in strange yellow-grey clouds. Occasionally the sun streaked through the clouds, often splashing dramatic light on the hillsides, and once, even making a HUGE rainbow.

We arrived back in Cagayan shortly after dark, and just in time to hear a group of carolers, all carrying candles and decked out in Santa hats. Traditional Christmas caroling is still alive and well in Cagayan, and it is impossible to go anywhere without a few street urchins coming up and singing for coins. Surprisingly, though, if you give the kids a coin, they all say 'Thank you', and some even sing a thank-you song. Polite street kids! It says a lot for a country when even the street kids are polite.

Day 189 - Davao

We boarded the bus to Davao at midnight last night to visit Cz's father's side of the family. Auntie R would be flying into Davao from Manila, and her plane was scheduled to arrive at 7:00AM. Our bus was due in at 6:30 AM. In theory the sisters who were picking her up from the airport could stop by the bus station and pick us up too. Only the sisters hadn't been told WHO was at the bus station. They only knew that they were going to be picking up 'some people'. It was a happy surprise, and there was much hugging when we all met up.

Soon we arrived at Auntie S's house (the eldest sister), and were introduced to another phalanx of family. Everyone was very sweet and insisted that we drink Milo (like hot chocolate) and eat local bananas and bread. As a child, Cz loved Milo, and his mom would use the Milo to sneak milk, vitamins, and other healthy tidbits (read: tidbits which Cz would normally refuse) into his diet. Cz's aunties were thoroughly amused that his love of Milo had not diminished with age, and this inspired a spate of family remembrances and the introduction of old photo albums.

After our little visit and breakfast, we all went down for a nap. I hadn't slept at all the night before, and Cz and his mom had only gotten six hours of sleep on the bus. As a result, our 'nap' lasted from 10AM until 4PM.

When we were awoken by the merriment of yet more family. This group were the husbands, children, grandchildren, and in-laws (I think) of Cz's dad's sisters. Do you see how everyone being uncle, auntie, or cousin according to age makes sense? You could spend the whole visit just trying to keep relationships straight otherwise. (I still spent most of the visit trying to keep relationships straight...) They had just come from the wedding of a nephew[?], and consequently were in high spirits. Everyone was super-friendly, spoke a little English, and wanted to talk to us. The conversation resolved itself into "So when are you going to make Cz's Mom a grandma?" No surprise there.

The house was still full when we piled into a jeep to sight see around the area. Our first stop was the public beach. The sand was black, whether naturally so, or from pollution, I don't know. Even so the beach was very pretty, and the children splashing in the water didn't seem to care about the state of the water. I imagine they have played in it their whole lives, and have immune systems of steel.

In town, we stopped at the church. The old church was taken down to allow room for a much larger new church to be built. The facade of the old church was left standing, though unfortunately on very busy street, so we weren't able to take a picture from the from to compare scale. The new church seems to be about 4 times the size of the old. Even so, it is still filled to overflowing for Sunday masses. India may have been the most visibly religious country that we have visited, but the Philippines seems most devout.

Cz's dad's family used to own a store at the town crossroads. They joked that their 'Chinese blood' made them good shop owners. To this day, the youngest sister runs a small shop with her husband. After a stop at the open-air market for fish and mangoes, we made our way to her shop for dinner. The 'neighbor's cat' (who sleeps in Auntie M or her daughter's bed, who has been named Puti (white), and who stops by for meals) wanted in on the grilled fish feast. I slipped her little bits of fish all evening. Little did I know that at the end of the meal, she would get all the leftover rice and fish. Her belly was so round that it made her fur stand on end. She slept my lap, all four paws in the air, until the camera flash woke her up. Even then, she didn't seem inclined to move. I can't say that I blamed her.