Philippines - Trying Balut

Balut is a pinoy (filipino) delicacy: it is a developed egg, mostly for 16 or 21 days, then boiled and eaten with salt and vinegar... Depending on the stage of development the embryo is hardly identyfiable or has already feathers and is 'crunchy'... yummmmy!!!?

Cheun was brave enough to taste it... twice!!!

Philippines - Halloween in Dumaguete

Americanization has brought Halloween to the Philippines... so we headed a night to nearby Dumaguete to have a look... crazy!!!

Philippines - Apo Island reloaded

Just for fun, but also glad to earn some money, we flew over to our favourite spot in the Philippines: Apo Island!

What a joy to be back! We realized how much we had missed the noisy roosters, pigs, cats and dogs and of course all our friends: Mario, Mila, Archer, Mac Mac, Jed, Theresa, Wilma, Annabel and all the others... They all gave us an amazing welcome back!!! As usual, it took us a day or two to get into it again (no electricity etc), but we got into work pretty well and quickly... so nice to dive this breathtaking coral garden again!

How to resume these 7 weeks? First of all, there was enough to do, even though the dive shop was not as crowded as last time. We were always more or less busy except for one day were we ended up diving 'just for fun' with Mac Mac and Archer in Dauin... There was also time to introduce a couple of people from the staff to diving or snorkelling (indeed some of them were afraid of the water!!!). Not to forget all the singing, dancing, laughing!!!

An other highlight of our stay was the small fiesta next to the lighthouse. What a fantastic day! All started before noon and around 2 pm most people were drunk, dancing to the music of a guitar. Food was great and available everywhere and after sunset there was even a disco until the petrol for the generator was gone...

All in all we felt like members of the community and even got invited to the twins' birthday... unfortunately this was the beginning of a week of darkness: the generator of the island broke down and Wilson, a local fisherman died, most probably of a heart attack. During a whole week friends and family gathered together every evening, before his funeral on the mainland...

End of November, we left full of memories, looking forward to our next stay in March and April 2015!!!