My first trip to the Philippines

by David Christensen
(Fernley, NV USA)

My wife was ill and I needed to take her home to visit her family. I had never been to the Philippines, but I had often wanted to see the beautiful Islands. We flew by Philippine Airlines and they were kind enough to help with my wife's wheelchair and my own difficulty (I'm also handicapped). We arrived in Manila several hours late because the flight had been delayed leaving San Francisco and after 15 hours in the air I was exhausted caring for my handicapped wife. Then we learned we missed two connecting flights to her island and we could not reach her family to let them know we would be several hours late, but were assured the airline would contact them. We finally got on the connecting flight that afternoon and arrived about an hour later in Cebu. It was hot & muggy, but I was so excited I didn't mind. When we arrived by taxi at her sister's house in a small city called Talisay we settled in and my young nephew asked if I liked Coconut. When I said yes, I was amazed as he scurried up a tree in the yard and cut a fresh coconut down for me!

We were visited by many many relatives and my head was spinning trying to remember who was who, but I was enjoying myself and the never-ending food being served, especially the Lechon (Pit roasted whole pig) that her brother had butchered and cooked all night before.

The next few days were a whirlwind of visiting the beautiful Island, riding on Tricycles (Motorcycles with sidecars carrying up to 5 people) and Jeepneys(Gaudily decorated jeeps converted into buses). And my walks to the beach being followed by dozens of small children calling out to me "Hi, Joe (all Americans are Joe). I always carried a bag of candy to distribute amongst them.

I never met so many friendly people! When I walked around the Barrio on my daily exercise walks, I was always invited into neighborhood homes and treated to food any time of day as people always had something to share, no matter how poor they were....and everyone knew who I was... I was even asked to judge some of children dressed in costumes at the local festival. I was always treated as a friend and neighbor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Philippines and its friendly people and have traveled there many times after that even after my wife passed away...........