Maki's Surprise Birthday Party

Every birthday that has happened during training has been celebrated with a cake, but Maki's boyfriend invited us to a special celebration with her. He told us that not only has she never had a surprise party, but has never even had a birthday party! It's always been her dream to have a Jollibee Birthday so Bon made it happen. She was so shocked, she told us all to leave and then went to the corner to hide her happy tears. It was a great time, full of ridiculous games and, of course, Jollibee himself came out for a dance party.

Puerta Galera

After a full day of work, we ran back to Raffles, collected Isahi and off we went on our excursion to Puerta Galera....and it was an excursion. We traveled by taxi to the bus station, by bus to the port, by boat to the island, and by trike to the hotel. On our way back from the island we learned an extremely valuable piece of information: travel by boat in the morning. The waters are more smooth. To you, my reader, that detail may not mean much, but to me, the traveler who gets motion sick (along with half the boat) this information is KEY. Lucky for me, I only got nauseous and not actually sick, but I cannot say the same for the rest of the boat. Don't worry though!!! They have barf bags on hand. How considerate. 

Once we arrived at Badladz Beach Resort, we went to check out our rooms. I do believe I got the better end of this deal. The views below are all taken from my doorway. After dinner and a walk on the beach with the guys (Bryant and I collected rocks and shells =) I slept with my shutters wide open so I could listen to the waves crashing on the shore all night. Those two nights were the best nights sleep I've had since I arrived in the Philippines and I've decided that owning a home on the beach is a must for me. Any volunteers to buy it for me? No one? Really? What if I said pretty please with a cherry on top? Still no one, eh? Darn. 

The next morning we woke up to rain, but what else do you expect when Typoon Luis is rolling by? Lucky for us, Luis has a conscience. The rain let up to a sprinkle around noon. So after a lovely morning of breakfast and great conversation with the resort owners and their daughter, the guys and I rented some scooters and set off on an adventure. I have to say, I love traveling with Bryant. He is always so willing to go explore and he and I have seen some amazing things together in the Philippines. This trip was no exception to that rule. First stop, Tamaraw Falls. While they were beautiful, the sweet young man that took the photo below for us recommend something far more excited. Now, as I've already mentioned, Bryant and I are alllllways up for an adventure. Without much debate, the guys and I hopped back on the bikes and set off in search of Tukuran Falls Hidden Paradise. 

To recap: taxi, bus, boat, trike, scooter....and now a water buffalo. See that cart behind the bull-looking-animal? We rode in that...across a river...that we crossed 6 times. Yeah. It was entertaining and downright scary at times. I swear, Isahi and I almost fell out of the cart twice and into each other's laps several more times. While on our little trek we found indigenous people in Mindoro called Mangyan. That is the generic name for the 8 groups, each of which have their own name, language and customs. Oh, and they were naked. I bought a couple of small woven baskets they made. We had an entourage Filipino women too. They followed us so they could sell us souvenirs. How sweet of them, but I'll get into that later.

Once off the water buffalo, we trekked across the river by foot with the assistance of our lovely souvenir-selling tour guides. The falls were breath taking. The only disappointed being it wasn't warmer or sunnier because I really wanted to jump into the water. They say when the sun shines, the water turns a beautiful bluish-green. I also didn't think to bring my camera to the island. I'm still mad at myself for that one. At least I had my phone. 

So these little women. There were about about 6 of them and they followed us on foot to the fall (apparently they knew something we didn't know...stupid Americans). During that trek they found us all sorts of wild things. Cacau, guava, wild mushrooms (yes, the kind you're thinking. no, we did not get high. This is work people. Come on!)

Below: baskets are hand woven by the Mangyans (left contains two smaller baskets and right contains coasters), wooden carved water buffalo, middle left is my collection of rocks and shells, bottom are two necklaces (one is made of small stones and the other magnetic), and everything is on top of a scarf. These little ladies just kept putting stuff in my bag! I swear I wasn't going to buy half of it but they have to make a living some how. They made a fortune off us. Then again, how could you not when you cram yourself in a tiny room with three Americans and keep putting stuff in their face and asking if they want it. If the American shows even slight interest you put it in their bag. It's a fantastically brilliant plan. Stupid Americans. (I think I'm going to re-title my blog to Sutpid Americans)

We tried the cacao. When you break it open you find seeds that you can suck on but not eat. The pulp on the outside is sweet, but the seed is bitter. Can you guess what cacao is used to make? Cocoa!

Sunday morning I heard a knock at my door and then got a text from Bryant telling me I had to open my door because the clouds had finally lifted and I was missing a beautiful sunrise. He was right! That was the perfect end to my perfect weekend get-a-way.

Mall of Asia

Today Ryan, Bryant and I ventured to the Mall of Asia which is the 9th largest mall in the world (total gross leasable space). The Mall of America is ranked #21 and Greenbelt, which I have a view of from my hotel room, is ranked #22. Now, I've never been to the Mall of America so I don't really know how big it is, but I do know Americans. Americans are impressed by the Mall of America. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the Mall of Asia. Did I miss something? Seriously, it didn't seem that big. I think Greenbelt is larger and has more stores to offer. HOWEVER, Mall of Asia had some redeeming qualities: Amazing views, Playboy, and Cupcakes. I went to the 9th largest mall in the world and walked out with cupcakes. What! On a side note, I can see that ferris wheel from my hotel room too. It holds the record at the largest ferris wheel in the Philippines. The photo at the bottom is from my trip there on the 4th of July. I don't have any pictures of it, but I did ride it that day. It's a holiday here too and you can see a brief history of it in my holiday post.

Color Manila Nite Run

Crazy "run" and by "run" I mean you couldn't actually run. Every time we got a good stride, we had to stop due to the hordes of people. It was a really awesome time though with some really fantastic people!

 After the "run" we went to Project Pie where you could customize your own pie to exactly what you want. Delicious!

Dress up your trainer team competition

Can you guess what we were?

The challenge, using only recycled materials, dress up your trainers with a theme. 

I discovered something about the team this day. We are very sore losers. In our defense, the judging was rigged. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Taal Volcano

After working a 9 hour day, my friends and I decided it would be totally fun to go hike a volcano. Whatever. It's cool. Easiest thing I've ever done. NOT! I almost died! I kid. But it was hard. I swear I almost blacked out at one point towards the top though. 

After the driver picked us up, we set off on our adventure to Tagatay; a trip I'd been dreaming about since I got here as I promised Steve I wouldn't go without him. Almost two hours later, we arrived at this beautiful little view of Taal Volcano. We shared some lunch and hopped on a boat to climb that giant rock. 

The view from the top. Looking at these pictures now, I think I appreciate them more than I did when I was standing there. I can't lie to you. I was sitting. I was exhausted. I repeat. I almost died. 

 Seriously, if you're going to hike 5.5 kilometers up a volcano take my useful tips:

1. Drink LOTS OF WATER

2. Train.

3. Don't do it after working 9 hours.

4. Repeat number 1.

 Some smoking rock in the crater.

Taal Volcano Fun Facts!

-The volcano is full of water which makes it a crater lake, in a volcano, in a crater lake, on an island, in a giant body of water. Read it again. Slowly. Lake, within a lake, within an ocean. It's okay. It took me a minute too.

-It's the 2nd most active volcano in the Philippines with 33 historical eruptions.

-The Volcano's death toll is estimated at 5000-6000.

-The island is a high-risk area and a permanent danger zone.

-The Crater lake on Volcano Island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on and island in the world. This lake also contains and island: Vulcan Island. (you can see it to the left of my head)

-The volcano's greatest recorded eruption was in 1754. It began erupting on May 15th and didn't stop until December 1st!

New Digs

The room....But don't let the fantastically comfortable king size bed distract you from the tub. 

OMG! The tub. Heaven.

And yes, the shower and toilet are both in separate glass rooms. This is a bathroom fit for a queen.

The new view.

There are chandeliers in the elevators. We're high class people.