My 1rst visit

I remember we were fetched from the pier, I think it was her dad who had waited for us already. It wasn't too easy to walk down the slippery landing bridge while carrying the baggage, but we managed without falling into the water. In Cebu somebody had helped us but here we needed to carry our stuff by ourselves. Warm and very humid air awaited us outside and I felt like entering a green house. Her father, his name is Jesus, helped us putting the baggage into his jeep-alike vehicle, which reminded me of my days serving the German army years ago, but it was definitely more colorful compared to the boring olive-green. I was sitting in front next to him, but as he was not really used to speak english, we didn't talk much during our drive to their house, which is about 4km away beyond the city in Barangay Luna. It is a modern style villa (see picture) which is affordable to only 5% of the Philippine populace, I found out later. Her older sister Marilyn who married a Japanese has uplifted the family's financial status through her unlimited support over the years. This is also an unwritten Philippine law, the rich must give to the poor. Being a "VIP visitor", I was allowed to stay inside Bebeth's airconditioned room equipped with telephone, computer, etc. Definitely true luxury compared to common local standard. While I packed out my stuff, Bebeth observed me and seemed to be very curious about the other gifts and stuff I had brought. After a while she asked me, if I wanted to "take a bath" first. This was my first encounter with a typical filipino expression... a while later I understood that she had meant taking a shower only.

Afterwards there was some time for resting and I was really glad to have a real bed again, which even fit to my height. I surely had slept for a while alone in my room until Bebeth came in and fetched me for having breakfast. I had a bad headache this morning which was probably caused by the sudden change of climate, but I tried to disguise. When I reached the breakfast table a new surprise awaited me there. Instead of my "continental breakfast" I was used to from home, we were offered a big plate with rice and some different kinds of fish, corned beef and vegetables. My book about Filipino culture had told me that this is the main food commonly eaten 3 times a day, but I had some troubles to get used to this at the beginning. Later they must have noticed this and toast bread was also organized for me, though I really adored most of the Filipino meals I tried. I cannot remember exactly what we talked about while eating, but one of the main topics was surely SARS. Her father wasn't too happy to hear that I had a stopover in Hongkong, but I assured the family that I had been very careful wearing my breathing mask most of the time while traveling.

Her mother Elizabeth gave her best to make me feel comfortable and welcome. She was also one of those speaking the best english, maybe because she had been a teacher before. Her husband as being "under-graduate" as I heard later, had big troubles to converse with me, but he tried at least. Today children there start learning english at the kindergarten already, but this surely was different during their childhood. So I knew, if I wanted to really get to know the family better, I would need to learn some Visaya later. I often felt being left out of the conversation, as soon as they started to speak their mother dialect among eachothers... Note in the Philippines, many dialects and languages spoken are spoken. Today's national language is called "Filipino" which mainly derives from Tagalog, which had been used in Manila region before already. Beside this English is very commonly understood, too.

The photo shows her parents and Bebeth's older brother Jochrys together with his two children. The kids live with their grand parents, as Jochrys needs to stay in Butuan City because of his work at a company there. Unfortunately I never met his wife, because they've been living separated for quite a while already.

The very same day we went to her working place at the Mines and Geosciences Bureau XIII and I was introduced to her colleagues, even to her Boss. Definitely it boosted up my ego being the only "white guy" around thus attracting everybody's attention, especially women's. The average salary there is about 4,000 PhP (about US $70), which is incomparable to western standards, of course. It's true, that western men are still very much favored there to be handsome and most of all assumed to be rich. Bebeth was very proud and honored to introduce me to everyone and familiarized me her place. The open-office itself was a big airconditioned room with a couple of desktops and I noticed some type writers, but only a few computers. In the middle there was a big karaoke amplifier combined with a radio, obviously for motivating the coworkers and for fun after work. The walls were covered with maps of the area showing places where minerals were mined. A funny note there said: "If it can't be grown, it has to be mined."
Delicious flavored ice cream (Mango and Ube) was the best way to recompense her colleagues' warm friendship, so I "sponsored" some boxes which were emptied in a blink of an eye.

Before I had started my trip we had already talked about our plans what to do and where to go. The highlight on our list was an "island hopping tour" including a visit of Siargao Island, the place which is famous to be an annual meeting point for surfers in October when the big waves are conducive for this sport. In April when I was there the ocean was calm though, calm with indescribable charm waiting to be explored but gently. Since a couple of her colleagues wanted to accompany us for an excursion to Siargao they voluntarily shouldered the food expenses and I paid the trip and the costs at the Cabuntog beach resort. This was a very clever deal to camouflage the contents of my purse and not to show-off. The prices of commodities in the Philippines are remarkably cheaper compared to those in Europe, but let the Filipinos negotiate for untagged prices of services. We, the foreigners must educate the natives that our hard-earned money is also limited and must be budgeted wisely to cover the holiday period. Something I should learn the hard way much later...

In fact it was a dream vacation, as I was enchanted with the beautiful places, beaches, lagoons, very tasty food especially the BBQ'ed tun - yum! It is a Tuna fish marinated in salt, citron, soja sauce, garlic and grilled on the glowing charcoal, preferably eaten with rice. Native fruits like mangoes, pineapples etc. are abundant around these months. We went to General Luna, Guyam and "Naked" Island, bathed at the lagoon at Pilar etc. Besides of this unforgettable trip, Bebeth and I also visited interesting places around Surigao and went down southern to Butuan City, too. Usually accompanied by somebody else like her brother or other friends who unwantedly added to my expenses (a fact which didn't bother me much those days...) but at least they served as my security guards.

As this visit was my very first time coming to the Philippines and Asia in general, I had only planned 2.5 weeks to gather my first impression. If something would have gone wrong I thought, I would maybe have stayed in Cebu at a hotel waiting for my plane going back, in worst case. But together with "my" family time flew by so very fast. Soon I needed to stop over to Cebu City on my way home. To save time we had decided to take a plane from Butuan City to Cebu and fortunately Bebeth's father brought us there together with the husband of Laxmie. As we still had some time left after arriving there, we first explored some places in Butuan and finally had something to eat at he restaurant inside the airport. There I found a new feline friend by sharing my fish with a roaming cat there which was incredibly thin. Afterwards we checked in and entered the plane. Bebeth didn't feel very well because the flight frightened her a little bit but fortunately I had brought some pills against "sea sickness" so she could manage the trip rather well...

This time it was Jochrys accompanying us and we stayed at the Montebello Villa Hotel for one night. Bebeth and her brother shared one room, while I was residing inside the next room alone. Jochrys had known this place before from business meetings of his boss, but it was his first time staying there as a guest. No wonder, as the price for one "luxury" room was about 3,000 PhP per night, but worthy. We had fun at the swimming pool and also enjoyed the beautiful garden beside.

My memorable vacation could be credited to the beautiful country and its people who always have a smile on their faces as an expression of friendship or curiosity. Amazingly, Bebeth always had kept distant from me and only hugged me good-bye when I had to leave her behind the next day at the airport. Later she told me, that she noticed in my eyes that I had started to love her and this made her feeling for me, too... but maybe it was only me giving her my leftover Peso notes before passing the gate.
Anyway, noticing the intimacy of Western-Filipino couples inside the aircraft, intensified my longing for my lady love and I was close to tears when the plane departed.