Valentine's Day in Sitio Puros

We are right in the middle of Fiesta season which runs from December until May. 

Each barangay (village) and each sitio (a more remote corner of a barangay) has their 

own day of celebration. One of Alan's sitios had their fiesta this past Saturday.  

We started out the morning by visiting the home of a Nalyn, who just had her baby baptized. We are now Pare (Par-ee) and Mare (Mar-ee) or two of the many God-parents. 

Then the eating began. We sampled numerous delicious Filipino dishes and visited with the family and friend who were visiting for the fiesta. It's custom to walk around to multiple families houses to eat and we had the pleasure of visiting a second family for a second delicious meal and another visit at the home. The families make food like we make food for Thanksgiving, so everything is delicious and in heaping portions.  

Once we consumed all that we could we moved onto the afternoon activity, games with the kids. The teams were full of energy and had a great time for a couple of hours running around and eating a variety of foods as fast as they could.

It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day, among a loving community with our friends.

The American Ambassador Visit & Dinagyang Festival

Dinagyang is the Iloilo City cultural festival of street dancing and food. While we were unable to attend the festival parade, we did had the pleasure of a social hour with the American Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg and his staff. It was wonderful to be given the chance to talk with such an experienced diplomat and to learn from the embassy staff members who were accompanying him on his visit to Iloilo. We send our thanks that PC staff members Lynn Vista (bottom left) and Bill Moore (far right) for setting this up for us.

Top left to right: Tyler Hassig, Geoff Hightower, Ambassador Goldberg, Alan Willis, Lauren Willis, Jess Gulbranson, Terry Perez, Lauren Ciesiensky, Merrill Noser, Bill Moore, Lynn Vista

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Afterwards we walked around the festival and found a street side food area amongst the ballon venders and henna tattoo artists.

Island Hopping Guimaras

While Claire and Eleanor were still visiting we had an opportunity to visit our friend Tyler on Guimaras. The weather was a bit windy and not exactly conducive for swimming but we were able to go island hoping and stop by a friend's farm for some buco (coconut).  

The islands are beautiful, barely inhabited, and full of vegetation. The local tourist guides seem to be doing a great job keeping island hopper's trash out of the water and off their shores.

The low tide snorkeling was great in the protected waters. 

We were able to get up close and personal with the coral. 

There was a bat filled cave, a sea snake, and Nemo was found several times. 

Leaving the island, we had a chance to stop by our friend Jevie's farm house. 

His family graciously welcomed us and were happy to show us where coconut water comes from.  

Photo credit: Tyler Hassig https://tylerhassig.wordpress.com

Photo Credit: Tyler Hassig https://tylerhassig.wordpress.com

Claire gives it a try after Jevie made it to the top of a 40m tree in 6 seconds.

Merry Christmas from Panay Island

Merry Christmas sa tanan!

The Cockerell family visited Iloilo and we took them on a trip to circle 

Panay Island and hit the three corners.

While in Banate, we headed over to the motocross rally to watch the 

excitement and fry in the sun.

We took a quick stop at the Church in Miagao, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

On to Anini-y Antique for some diving and relaxation.

A quick stop to meet up with the Lewis's, then it was on to 

Boracay to spend Christmas parasailing.

Our last stop was Carles for island hoping, but due to weather, 

it turned out to be just playing cards and singing videoke.