Almost 30 years after Heather’s dad visited the Philippines, we ended up staying with the same lovely Puray family in Davao City. We welcomed the change of pace, having real local guidance and an entire house complete with all of it’s amenities.

One of the most interesting things to us was the various different forms of transport. On our first full day out, we rode in four different kinds of vehicles. First, a motorcycle with an attached frame big enough to squeeze in 10 people, plus the driver and usually one person on either side of him for a total of 13 people on a 250cc bike. Quite impressive. Then we switched to a jeepney. These are converted trucks, vans and yes Jeeps that have long benches running the length of the vehicle. Imagine a small military-like transport. These are intended for larger streets and operate on a route similar to a bus. Then we transferred to an actual bus, school bus style with curtains, for a long-distance trip to the eagle center, which I’ll get to later. To reach the actual eagles we took one last converted motorcycle, but this time max capacity was seven, including the driver. This driver wasn’t in the middle like the first bike, but positioned more like an actual car. After we finished at the eagle center we did most of it reverse, but got air-con.

Another curiosity for us was the food, mostly fruit, even the bananas are different. There are kinds for eating and kinds for frying that make a great breakfast treat. We had to try the durian which requires an acquired palette that we both lack. We returned from the grocery store with an assortment of atis, guanabana, mangosteen, dragonfruit, and the very delicious local mangoes. I think we had mango for breakfast almost every day. Being uneducated about some of these local fruits, our selection wasn’t ripe. Nanay knew how to pick the good stuff from the people that came to the house. She picked out another new fruit us, linzones. In addition to the produce, we also got a cooking lesson one night from Nanay. She normally uses shrimp and pork, but chicken is also popular. Throw in lots of veggies, sauce and pancit noodles and presto you have a delicious dinner. The sauce was made from smashing the shells of the shrimp in a mortar and pestle, soy sauce and the “secret” Chinese flavoring, MSG.

We did manage to leave the house and visit some sights as well. As mentioned earlier, we had read a little about the Monkey-Eating Eagle, now known as the Philippine Eagle. They don’t always eat monkeys and if they do they are usually in the smaller species of the primate family. Unfortunately, these grand birds are endangered, but that means there is a sanctuary for us to visit. They are about 3 feet tall and have a wingspan of 6 feet. Their plumage is magnificent and they have fun puffy feathers behind their heads. We also saw some the sights downtown, including San Pedro Cathedral, Davao City Museum, a Japanese tunnel, and an obligatory stop at Jollibee. Over the weekend, Connie took us to Samal Island where we had a seaside picnic lunch before scaling a nearby waterfall. We also ate at some recommended places like Luz Kinilaw and Hirana for some great Filipino food.

After almost a week, we had to say goodbye and head to Manila to catch our flight to Japan. The only real thing we accomplished in Manila was buying a Japan rail pass and taking more jeepney rides. We also got a glimpse of the 7,198 islands that we missed from the plane window. Impossible to see everything!

Due to some unfortunate key strokes, Heather managed to erase some of our pictures that were selected for posting, so forgive us if our pictures are a little lacking this time around. I know we have some critical fans.