Here in Baguio

Hello! I'm writing an update sooner than I thought because I am at an internet cafe in Baguio, waiting to go meet my supervisor at 3:00 this afternoon. It's about 12:30 now.

Our trip here was a piece of cake. I met up with two other volunteers (Jody and Tom) at 6:45 yesterday morning. We were going to catch a bus to Baguio. It just so happened that a private minivan came by the busstop on his way to Baguio. We took a ride with him, which cost 100 pesos less than the bus fare. The van was airconditioned (the bus would not have been.) The van driver took us all the way to our hotel. And we arrived in five hours instead of eight! It was a beautiful thing.

And speaking of beautiful, Kennan Road, the road into Baguio, is famous for its beautiful scenery. It winds through gorgeous mountains and the greenery and flowers are some of the most splendid that I have ever seen. It reminded me a lot of the area near Machu Picchu in Peru, but there aren't any palm trees there. Another beautiful thing is that the more we climbed into the mountains, the more the temperature dropped. We actually felt comfortable walking around town yesterday afternoon! The weather here feels more like Santa Barbara than August in Oklahoma (which is what it feels like in Solano.) I'm hoping it's this nice at my site.

When we arrived around one oclock yesterday afternoon, we checked to our room and then went to McDonalds to eat. Then, we walked to the bus station so that Tom could find a bus to Loag, in Ilocos Norte, which is his site. We found the bus station and found a bus, after wandering around for about 30 minutes asking people where to go and getting sent in different directions. It's always an adventure.

Tom left and then Jody and I met up with two other volunteers who are stationed here in the Baguio area. One is a lady named Joanie who is a year older than me. She will be finished with her service in August. The other volunteer is Chuck, who is 23 and has been here one year. Joanie was on her way to Manila to go to the dentist today, so we had coffee with her and she left.

Then Chuck showed us around Baguio a little bit. We walked to the open market. It was the largest I've been in so far. It was HUGE!! And people were shoulder to shoulder practically everywhere. We were looking for Jody a pair of shower shoes / tcinellas / thongs. It was tough because she is 6'2" and wears a size 11 shoe. Filipinos, for the most part, are small so shoe sizes generally don't go higher than a 10. She got lucky and found a pair, but they charged her 50 pesos instead of 20. Oh well.

It was interesting to me to hear all the comments that people made about her as we walked by. I mean it seemed like EVERYONE had something to say and then they would laugh. Filipinos are really blunt about telling you how you look. Appearance is extremely important here. So if they don't think you look good, they will tell you. To your face. "You are too fat." "You're hair doesn't look good today." But, if they think you look good they will say, " You look sexy." Or whatever. It's bizarre, but that's how it is.

Well, I'm going to go get some lunch and try to find my supervisor now. Love to all and take care!