Posted by: Jenn
So you know how Jonathan mentioned the couple, Herb and Lorna, that we stayed with that resembled Hugh Hef and one of his girls? Well I just wanted to expand on that for a second because I find it pretty revolting but interesting at the same time. Herb was very open in discussing his choice to move to the Philippines from West Virginia to marry a Filipino girl and live out the rest of his life here. Apparently, most Filipino men do not treat their women right. They are supposedly very spoiled as kids and grow up to not appreciate their girlfriends or wives. As a result, most women here have no desire to marry a Filipino. They spend their time trying to find a white guy. They don't care if he is young, old, fat, skinny, ugly, rich, or poor, they just want a white, long nosed foreigner. Oh yeah, we are referred to as long noses here and like how we have skin darkening lotion, they have skin whitening lotion. They also hope to one day have a baby that has whiter skin than it would have had they married a Filipino. So, in return, there are bookoos of retired white men here that have their pick of women. Although I find it disgusting, I guess they are lucky because if you saw half these men you would agree that they wouldn't have their pick in the states. Anyways, Herb, who didn't move from the couch the whole time we were there, seemed happy to have his Filipino goddess who will worship until he dies (which shouldn't be too much longer). Did the pictures make you cringe a little? If not, you have issues.
Now, on to bigger and better things! Yes I got my McDonald's, and yes it was wonderful compared to Filipino food. We spent our first day in Dumaguete hanging out at this chill hostel where we finally got a ton of backpacker interaction. Something we have missed in the Philippines, as it is not super touristy. Luckily, the day we arrived at the hostel was Friday and the hostel had an all you can eat oyster meal for free. I don't do oysters but Jonathan seemed to enjoy them. It was a great time though because most of the people staying at the hostel partook in the social gathering.
So you know how Jonathan mentioned the couple, Herb and Lorna, that we stayed with that resembled Hugh Hef and one of his girls? Well I just wanted to expand on that for a second because I find it pretty revolting but interesting at the same time. Herb was very open in discussing his choice to move to the Philippines from West Virginia to marry a Filipino girl and live out the rest of his life here. Apparently, most Filipino men do not treat their women right. They are supposedly very spoiled as kids and grow up to not appreciate their girlfriends or wives. As a result, most women here have no desire to marry a Filipino. They spend their time trying to find a white guy. They don't care if he is young, old, fat, skinny, ugly, rich, or poor, they just want a white, long nosed foreigner. Oh yeah, we are referred to as long noses here and like how we have skin darkening lotion, they have skin whitening lotion. They also hope to one day have a baby that has whiter skin than it would have had they married a Filipino. So, in return, there are bookoos of retired white men here that have their pick of women. Although I find it disgusting, I guess they are lucky because if you saw half these men you would agree that they wouldn't have their pick in the states. Anyways, Herb, who didn't move from the couch the whole time we were there, seemed happy to have his Filipino goddess who will worship until he dies (which shouldn't be too much longer). Did the pictures make you cringe a little? If not, you have issues.
Now, on to bigger and better things! Yes I got my McDonald's, and yes it was wonderful compared to Filipino food. We spent our first day in Dumaguete hanging out at this chill hostel where we finally got a ton of backpacker interaction. Something we have missed in the Philippines, as it is not super touristy. Luckily, the day we arrived at the hostel was Friday and the hostel had an all you can eat oyster meal for free. I don't do oysters but Jonathan seemed to enjoy them. It was a great time though because most of the people staying at the hostel partook in the social gathering.
After everyone got their fill of slimy, chewy-ness we all piled into taxis to head out on the town. We had so much fun going out with people and getting to socialize with other English speakers. We even met two dudes from the states who are now working in the Philippines! It was nice to be out with other Americans for sure!!!
The next morning we woke up at 6:30 so that we could get ready for our dive trip that we had scheduled the day before. You'd think we'd be smarter than to stay out until 3:30 AM...but we just couldn't let the opportunity to go out with other Americans pass us by. So we gathered our things, checked out of the hostel and met up with our dive master and a girl from Germany who booked the dive with us. The dive sites are located immediately offshore of Apo Island which is a quick boat ride away from Dumaguete. We had heard that Apo Island was a nice place to stay so we planned to stay for a few days on the island after our dives instead of head back to Dumaguete on the dive boat. We did three dives, all amazing, but one sticks out the most in my mind because we saw TURTLES!! I know, you are probably disappointed we don't have a diving camera... Well, luckily the German chick had one and she was able to snap some photos for us! Yay - diving pictures!!!
After our dives we got settled into the hotel on Apo Island. The family that ran the hotel informed an overly excited me that we could snorkel right out in front of the hotel and see turtles. I about flipped. As I turned around in mid conversation to grab my snorkel, the guy stopped me and said to wait until later in the day or early in the morning when the sun is lower because there will be more turtles to see. Like I was waiting until the morning. I watched the clock and when the time was right I bee-lined for the beach with Jonathan and Bianca 2.0 in tow. Oh...my...goodness! Best activity on the trip thus far, for me at least. We snorkeled until Jonathan's stomach started talking and he literally had to drag me away from the ocean. We ate an amazing dinner of chicken curry and then hit the sack so we could wake up and see more turtles. The next morning I scarfed down my breakfast and headed for the beach again. We saw more turtles than the night before and you couldn't have paid me to stop smiling.
Below is a compilation of videos we took while swimming with the turtles! Yeah Bianca 2.0, git it gurl!
After a few hours of swimming next to turtles we decided to check out some of the other beaches on the island. We spent some time playing with a few local kids and photographing them showing off their moves. Jonathan couldn't be shown up so he joined right in.
That afternoon we had of course planned to swim with the turtles again but a nasty storm bringing lightning and wind that stirred up the ocean slowed us down. So we hung out on the beach a little longer and then headed back to the hotel in time to enjoy a meal of stuffed grilled fish, chicken, rice and veggies.
The next morning we said goodbye to the turtles and Apo Island and caught a boat back to Dumaguete where we will figure out how to spend our last few days in the Philippines.
Wow, the Philippines! Once again...AMAZING!
Wow, the Philippines! Once again...AMAZING!