Our time on the island of Samar

Our three days on Samar included a lot of visiting with my brother, Burt, his wife Linn, and family; shopping in Calbayog; and attending a cockfight. On Friday, Burt, Phillip, Mom, and I went into Calbayog, the town of 147,000 about 8 miles north of Burt’s small town of Santa Margerite. I took Mom to the beauty shop to get her hair washed. She decided on a haircut as well. So, for 120 pesos, Mom had a haircut, shampoo, and blow dry. Less than $3 and the haircut was perfect. Because of the sun, Mom kept her hat on, so I don’t have a picture of it. While we were waiting for Burt to conduct some business at a bank, I couldn’t resist the nearby street food vendor. (I’ve yet to get sick from street vendor food, as I only buy from one that is swarmed with locals). Pancakes made in a rounded-bottom muffin tin-looking cooker. The vendor cooked them, them flipped one on top of a second so you end up with tall pancake. Tasty, with a sweet corn flavor, it needed no syrup.

Burt and Linn don’t have a vehicle, so all our traveling on Samar was by motorcycle taxi or on foot. This cityscape of Calbayog shows the motorcycle taxis, bicycles, and pedestrians that were more common than cars. Although she had a little trouble getting out of one or two, Mom rode the motorcycle taxis without complaint. I usually rode in the back passenger compartment where I had a great position to get pictures as we passed items of interest. We frequently saw tarps covered with rice along the side of the road, the rice drying in the sun. Burt said that although it dries quicker there, the rice will end up with small stones that you then have to pick out before you bag it or cook it. The person he buys rice from dries it away from the road, so no rocks in their rice!

I’ve posted a picture of Burt, now time for one of Linn. She is so sweet, and so happy that we came to visit with Mom. Linn knows everybody in their area and is related to about half the people. She enlisted one of her relatives whenever we needed anything. A ride to town after dark? Her nephew Elmer has his own motorcycle taxi, so she sent for him. Mom needed a pedicure? Her cousin does that. She always had some relative with whatever skill or resource was needed.  Linn always had food or drinks for us, making a coconut drink one afternoon, a mango drink another. Linn didn’t go with us Saturday afternoon to the cockfight. The local arena is just about 500 feet from Burt’s house. The main activity of a cock fight isn’t the roosters, it is the betting. Phillip and I had front row seats, at rooster-level to the raised, caged arena. The “cristos” who took the bets were behind us, screaming during the betting period. These two roosters haven’t fought yet, but are being evaluated by the betters. It was an interesting cultural event, not as bloody or gruesome as I had thought. It’s not something I’d do, or probably even go see again, but I saw the agility, strength, and single-mindedness of some of those roosters, and they were a sight to behold. Almost every motorcycle taxi in the area was parked on the road for the fights, but they didn’t all belong to Linn’s nephews!

This morning, we boarded a Philippines Air flight in Calbayog and flew to Manila. Not even a set of roll-up stairs was needed for this plane. The ride, only an hour long, was basically one of those up then down flights. We are at the Miramar Hotel, the same one we stayed in when we arrived to the Philippines. Lots of hot water and Albano, the talkative, friendly security officer/doorman. We get up tomorrow at 2:30 am to catch the first leg of our flight home. Manila to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to LAX, LAX to DFW.