Baras

2-7 Feb 06

2-13 Sep 06

Written in Baras, 8Sep06
So, I had this severely eloquent post I compsed in my head as I clung to the back of a motorcycle riding at 2am from Tanay to Baras, wind blowing, drunk, trying not to laugh out loud for fear of catchign a bug to the throat. I had some brilliance to share, but I've not the time to write it. The days here are incredible! Sleep until it's too hot, eat fantastic breakfast, take a cold shower, lather in deoderant and bug spray (7 people died in the next town over from a mosquito disease), then go visit people around town. Maybe grab some food, maybe go shopping, maybe have some drinks at the biker bar...

I've done such a variety of things... I've shopped at the flea markets for fresh meat and produce, I've hung out with the local bikers for kicks, I've celebrated a first birthday, I've helped teach a super- super-cute 7-year old to swim, I've met a very sweet and beautiful girl at a gentleman's club called Georgetown after witnessing her smoke cigarettes from a rather unorthodox orafice (those biker guys know how to party!), I've bought my beloved cheesebread, I went shopping for guitar strings to jam with a girl I'm staying with, I've sang and danced and saw tons of familiar faces and met tons of new people... Too much to even tell, especially now.

I'm heading to Morong now to watch Alecs sing with her band. Should be a treat. But first I have to go finish another cocktail with Jhomari and her harem of girls! What a fun life it is here!

How's life at home? Anything I should miss?

(PS. Sorry if this post sucks. I'm drunk. Sue me.)

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Written in Baras, 17Sep06
In the Philippines I managed to party pretty well, meet soem new people, hang out with fantastic old friends, and have some great adventures. One day I learned how to Jetski. Let me rephrase that: One day I accidentally went swimming in a lake. Let me try one more time: One day I got clotheslined off a Jetski for the first time, and after swallowing a mouthful of lake water from laughing so hard, I'm pretty sure there are parasites living in my stomach now.

I started to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I hung out with a buncha bikers whose club name translated to "Boob Grabbers." I spent $80 on my birthday and fed 30 or so people on my favorite foods. I went to Tangaytay and saw Taal Lake and volcanos from the People's Park in the Sky, a huge hill overlooking the fantastic landscape. I hung out in a huge 3-story, 9 room mansion for a day or two and had a dinner feats overlooking a ravine and the lake. I went shopping for music and DVDs and food at the markets in Tanay, where it starts off tame with toys and goods like that, then food and produce, then a huge meat market where they chop up fish guts on slabs and fish bits and juice go flying all over the place and hte smell is awful and the buzz of it all is dizzying and cool! I hung out in Morong and saw their church, and tried not ot get mosquito bites since Dengue has killed like 10 or 12 people in that town alone and made tons more sick.

I did everything.