We Love Aunt Amber!

We've had our first (and only) guest this week- Amber came to see us!

Kiki had fortunately recovered from the trauma of her stitches.  It was touch and go when they were removed, but we predict no lingering psychological consequences. 

We started at Mall of Asia, which was maybe not the best choice since once inside a mall one could be anywhere in the whole entire world.

But probably most of the world's malls don't have these handy dandy exercisers outside.

We saw Manila Bay.

Kiki didn't let the stitches stop her from pretending to be an astronaut.

The next day we went to Intramuros.  Unbeknownst to us, it was also the day of some random political/religious festival.  (The purpose of the festival was for the members of the Church of Christ to demonstrate their loyalty to a Supreme Court Justice who is being tried on corruption charges.)  The embassy estimated that 2 million people were in attendance, and I believe them.  It was chaos!  Once we were in Intramuros, things calmed down a little.

We started at a 440 year old church.

It had some cool wooden doors.

This bell weighed a ton. I didn't catch what made it so important but that didn't stop us from taking a whole bunch of pictures by it.

The interior of the church was beautiful.

The girls are going through this phase where they want their pictures taken ALONE.  Then sometimes after their alone pictures they decide they want a together picture.  Hence, the duplicates, and thank goodness I'm not using film anymore.

Just read the history.  I think maybe if I was building a church and it was destroyed five times I might think to myself that maybe I shouldn't be building that church.

This is a different church- fortunately the interior is being renovated so we didn't feel obligated to enter.

The view out from Manila Cathedral.

Inside Fort Santiago:

Looking out from Intramuros to the Pasig River.  All of the buses on the bridge were bringing in people from the provinces for the festival.

Kiki needs to learn not to lead with the chin.

We also went to the Manila American Cemetery- I didn't take a ton of pictures since we've been there before, but it was great as always.

We spent Thursday going to Corregidor.  There was a little trouble booking the ferry, meaning we spent quite a bit of time in cabs and hanging out in the weird lobby of the ferry company, but Kiki made herself at home.

Like a hobo would have.

Kiki showed Aunt Amber her very best table manners.  This was one of two traditional Filipino lunches we subjected Amber to.  It was two too many.

Pouting because I wanted a together picture when she felt insufficient quantities of alone pictures had been taken.

Look for Kate and Amber up on the balcony of the lighthouse.

This is a fertility statue of some kind- apparently the last person to touch it on any given day becomes pregnant. 
None of us touched it at all.  I think it would be very uncomfortable to have a statue in my uterus.

Friday we went to the most amazing zoo of all time: Ark of Avalon Zoo in Pasig- just down the street.  When we arrived the zoo staff had the pythons spread out on the front walk for a little sun.  They told us not to get too close because the snakes hadn't eaten in a week. 

Naturally then, we needed a picture of the baby by a python.

We fed the carp for 70 cents.

We bought a bucket of chicken heads to feed to the crocodiles.  Fortunately, the $1 purchase price included 2 pair of rubber gloves.

One more python picture.

There was a nice assortment of birds of prey.

Her face kills me- staring down that chicken head. 
When she threw it in the water the animals attacked so viciously that I screamed out loud.



Okay, okay...it's a real quandary when your whole life you've been disgusted by circuses and the like and feel really bad for trained animals, and then all of a sudden you have the chance to sit right down with an orangutan.  Because part of you is like, "Holy crap!  It's an orangutan!  Awesome!"  And the other part of you is like, "Holy crap.  She's in a purple outfit.  And crocs.  And an adult diaper.  I cannot condone this."

Kate and I caved.  Her name is Jenny and she caressed my ass as I walked away.

Kiki wanted NO PART of it.  She would not come within ten feet of Jenny.  When I asked her about it, the child who has kissed every snake in this country on the lips said the following:  "Monkeys creep me out."

Later this same day, one of the security guards asked if I was pregnant.
Perhaps horizontal stripes do not become me.

The girls pet the owl- its feathers were softer than you can imagine...it felt like a bunny.

So far, then, we had seen the pythons, held all kinds of birds, fed the crocodiles, and cuddled up to orangutan, all with very little supervision and/or precautions.  But, when it came time to feed the guinea pigs, this zoo had standards. 

You held a carrot on a stick and stood in a specially constructed wooden box so the guinea pigs wouldn't eat your feet off.  Kiki treated it like a fishing expedition. 

The zoo ran out of boxes.
It was like that movie "Arachnophobia" only with guinea pigs.
Nuts.

"Hmmmm....tell me again why I am considered one of God's noble creatures and yet am currently wearing Depends."

After all that zoo fun, kebabs and ice cream was required.

Saturday we drove to Tagaytay.  The alone picture trend had surpassed irritating and was approaching excruciating.

The view of People's Park in the Sky.

Lake Taal, in case you've forgotten, is the site of a lake inside a volcano in a lake in a volcano.

We had our second Filipino lunch.  The girls stuck with ham and cheese sandwiches which might have been palatable had they not been coated in so much mayonnaise that it leaked out on all sides. 

Amber and I thought we'd share what the menu described as "Noodles with Vegetables."  It WAS noodles with vegetables, but unfortunately also included a variety of organ meats, squid, and some kind of a tentacle that was so long it was tied in a knot.  Luckily, Bruce had brought in a buko (coconut) pie for us so no one left hungry. 

After lunch we decided to hire a boat to take us to the inside volcanic lake which we hadn't seen yet.  It was a twenty minute boat ride across the outer lake followed by a 4 km. (round trip) horse ride to the inner lake.

This child did not stop smiling for 3 solid hours.

The guide could not understand that I wanted a picture of us ON THE HORSE so just take my word for it. 

The time of her life continues. 

The temperature of the lake closest to us is hot enough to boil an egg.  Look closely and you can see lake, then land, then more lake, then more land. 

There was a little island inside the inner lake which made it this:  An island in a lake in a volcano in a lake in a volcano on an island. 

Whew.

Could someone shorten this man's stirrups?

The crazy scene where we started the horse ride.  I have never seen so many mangy pus dogs in my life.  "Can I pet him?" Kiki said, to which I obviously replied, "Hell, no."  I don't think my kid should pet an animal that is 70% hairless with open, fly riddled wounds.  I'm kind of picky like that.

The boat ride back was WET.  But fun.  Unfortunately all of the trail dust turned to mud on our skin.

The only thing that was dry on Bruce and I was one butt cheek each.

Today we went to church and had dinner with friends. I hope Amber had as much fun with us as we did with her- I'm sad to see her go, but we loved the sight of a familiar face in this faraway land.