Villa Escudero

Today we went a couple of hours south to a coconut plantation named Villa Escudero. It was nice to be a little bit out of the city and see some green- mainly rice paddies.  We even saw a couple of mountains.  Once out of Manila, we traveled through several little towns.  The towns are exactly what you would imagine they would be in a developing tropical country- lots of crazy little markets and stores, random types of transportation, and general chaos.

There are several things in this photo that are typical of the Philippines.  The first is the old jeep on the left.  They are everywhere.  The second is the "tricycle."  People hook additions onto their motorcycles and either haul cargo (like this one) or people.  The last is the name of the store- There aren't creative store names here- just the first name of the proprietor then the kind of store it is.  Hence, "Mary Rose Store."  It was the same for funeral homes, restaurants- "Sheena's Buko Pie Restaurant," and my favorite, "Alice Fiberglass Repair."

This is a tricycle for people.  The building in the background is pretty typical of what we saw today.  It's almost impossible to describe what these towns are like: A McDonald's or a Jollibee (the Pinoy equivalent) and a 7-11, followed by a bunch of randomly built stores and houses, followed by a brand new Goodyear Tire Center, followed by a rice paddy and a bunch of fighting roosters for sale.  And just people, people, people.  Just like Manila, drivers follow no rules.  It is every man for himself. I don't know why they even bother with road signs here, because in my opinion they should all say, "Good Luck, Sucker!"

Villa Escudero seemed so quiet after the 2 hour car ride there. 

Kiki and Kate waited patiently while Bruce paid our way.  We were offered drinks when we got there-it looked like apple juice with ice, but that's not what it was.  It WAS some kind of juice, but what we though was ice was actually chunks of unflavored gelatin.  Filipinos love gelatin- this is not the first time we've had an inexplicable gelatin run-in. 

I love these next couple of pictures of Kiki- she looks like her natural self with no weird camera smile.

This was a church and is now a museum.  No pictures were allowed, but believe you me, I was wishing they were.  There was a lot of religious paraphernalia, which including some amazing work in silver and gold.  That was most of the first floor, but then things got random.  It was like this: And here is a mannequin Jesus carrying His cross made out of silver!  Look! It's the butterflies of the world!  Let's go around the corner and see a leopard that killed a carnival dancer in 1925!  Here is money from all over the globe!  Now we see a bunch of saints in fancy outfits with precious stones!  Let's enjoy half a floor of pottery and miniature trinkets!  Here is the sterling silver flatware Queen Elizabeth gave us!  It's Mrs. Escudero's wedding dress!

It was totally awesome.

The gardens in front of the church/museum.

Front view of the church/museum.

After the museum, this nice water buffalo hauled a cart (with us in it) over to a lagoon for rafting, lunch, and swimming.

When you are an American, you can walk right by a sign that says, "Must be 7 years or older to ride the rafts," and just say, "She's a good swimmer.  Which life jacket should she wear?" and then your 4 year old can paddle a raft.  Also, Melvin, our driver, continually proves himself handy- driving, hauling bags, and now taking family pictures.  We've never had so many photos together.

I kept Kiki's blanket in a very safe place.

Bruce and Kiki head out to the lagoon.

Kate and I.

You can stay in the huts on the water if you want.  We are the little specks.

She's glad I bent the rules for her.

The other thing Villa Escudero specializes in is statues.  These were nice folks.  ET was around the corner, as was a herd of baby pigs and some illegal Disney characters.

Then it was time for lunch.  Lunch is served in picnic tables in the water.  There is a waterfall and you wade out to your table to eat.

My Filipino lunch.
It was delicious.

Kate was dying to order a coconut drink.
She is still smiling because she hasn't yet realized that the coconut water inside a coconut tastes like crap.

There were tons of little fish inside the water.  We could feel them around our feet as we ate- we dropped grains of rice in the water and watched the fish eat.  Kiki begged and begged for me to catch her one, but to no avail.  But then, I saw a crab!  I gathered up my courage and a plastic cup and I caught that crab for her! 

...and look how happy she was!
Only then, one second later, she said, "Now catch me a fish."

He was happy to be free.

By the waterfall.  This was right in the same place where the picnic tables were.

These are Filipino Christmas lanterns.

After lunch, we went swimming in the pool and watched some traditional Filipino dances.  It was a very full day.  I don't think the girls missed trick or treating at all.