I love vacations....

For those dying to see more pictures, Ross took about 1000 of them so it is taking time to sort through them all. Plus, he started his first week of nursing school on Monday which has been very time consuming. He goes to school Monday through Friday from 8-4 in what they are calling "boot camp". I am glad that he is taking school very seriously but it leaves me with time on my hands since he doesn't have much time to lounge around with me. But the Olympics have kept me occupied this week. And also trying to figure out some sort of a sleep schedule.

So my impression of the Philippines- I enjoyed meeting Ross' mom and family. They all treated me well and were very kind. They were trying to feed me all the time which sounds like a good thing except I wasn't always sure what it was they were trying to feed me. It was a little stressful to make sure I didn't offend them but to discreetly avoid eating certain things. I don't have an iron stomach. Ross is from Cebu City so we spent part of our time there. Ross said it has changed in 14 years- I think he and Cebu have changed. He said that it used to be greener and less crowded. That was my first impression- so many people, cars, jeepneys, taxis and tricycles on too small roads. People work very hard there for what we would consider barely any money. But they seem happy to just be working and make do with what they have. That is one of the reasons why I love to travel- it always teaches me about gratitude and perspective. It is easy to feel ungrateful sometimes and wish I had more. But then i see the situations that other people live in and how happy they are regardless. I have too many luxuries to count. I did miss some of those while I was in the Philippines- like warm showers and comfortable mattresses. I will admit that I would not want to trade my life in America for a life there. But I enjoyed seeing a new place and meeting new people.

Ross and I went to the resort of El Nido in the Palawan islands for our last five days. This was one of the most beautiful places that I have been. We flew there on a small plane and landed on a lush barely inhabited island where they greeted us with singing and snacks. Then we took a 45 minute boat ride to reach the resort. We stayed in a water cottage which was on stilts above the water and had beautiful views of the resort and the surrounding islands. The employees were there to meet our every need. They had a long list of available activities and we just told them what we wanted to do and they arranged it all. We did a 15 minute introductory scuba dive- my first time. It hurt my ears as I expected but it was cool. We spent a lot of time snorkeling because the reefs were amazing. The reef around our resort had hundreds of fish and even some huge fish- like half my size. And then we had access to the surrounding islands and beaches. There were times when we were surrounded by hundreds of fish. The coral was beautiful as was the other underwater life. So that was my favorite part. I could have stayed in the water for hours just discovering all there was to see. But watch out for those territorial fish because I got attacked a couple of times- these tiny fish came right at my face. Pretty brave I thought.

The resort was all inclusive so we ate so much. I think i was on Michael Phelp's diet. But I wanted to try everything. We kayaked, explored hidden lagoons, relaxed on the beach, went sailing and fishing, and had lunch with just the two of us on an isolated beach. A five course lunch. This place was fantastic. The scenery was stunning and they treated us so well. So we would recommend it to anyone. We definetly want to go back. Our time there went by way too fast.