We have arrived

We gave our hair clippers to the Villamor family. Someone will have to finish the job as Noel only started the process of cutting Leri's hair.

 The port getting loaded onto the ferry.

 At the back of the ferry there are cots to rest on. It is only a 3 hour ride but takes 

an hour or more to load

 There are random islands all over the place

 Arriving in Bohol.

 The port was destroyed in the earthquake and this is the new building.

 No groceries except an egg and the cans we came with. So spam 1/2 egg and some beans were breakfast on Monday morning. A better breakfast than the cookies and water we had on Sunday morning. We had chili for dinner on Sunday. Glad we brought some cans of food over with us.

 Welcome signs on the door and house welcomed us.

 A nice apartment complex to live in. The young sister missionaries live a couple of doors down.

 This sight is next door. No wonder they have had problems with snakes in the past. Hope they took care of them all before we arrived.

 Love the sight of this Nipa Hut (house) across the street from us.

 Its garbage day. They come early 3 times a week and ring a bell announcing that 

they are picking up the garbage.

 Our spacious kitchen. Much more room than the last.

 Cute cupboard but it has roach traps in it on all the shelves. 

Not a good sign of the cock roach population. 

 CR and laundry room. Now we can do laundry without getting wet even if it is raining outside.

 Our living room

 Stairs going up to the bedroom. They are narrow steps and our feet do not fit on them 

so I have to walk carefully.

 Upstairs bathroom. The bucket is for flushing the toilet and washing up as they run out of water on a regular basis.

 We have been attending District missionary meetings

 The  missionaries go out to eat afterwards

Zone leaders having keys made to take up to one of the apartments/churches. They visited with the woman at the fruit stand and gave her a Restoration pamphlet.

 We see some wonderful sights as we go around visiting the different areas. The man made forest.

 Helping missionaries fix their bikes.

 I found the national flower. it is very fragrant, smells kind of like Jasmine. I have pressed some and they still smell lovely.

More to follow when we get the internet.

Malapascua Island

 A new couple arrived from Australia and two couples have finished their service and are returning to their homes and families. The senior couples all got together and did an activity in Malapascua Island, up above Bogo while we were all together. We got up early and drove 2 hours to Bogo. Picked up a friend Arlene who helped us make all the right connections to go to the island and try out some snorkeling.

Leaving Maya

Other boats in the area

Working to get the motor to work.
It took several tries but they got it going and we were on our way.

The water was beautiful

Headed for Malapascua island in the background

Beach front Nipa huts

White sand beaches

Besides the sand there are lots of coral  and shells on the beaches

Disembarking from our boat

We packed a lunch and ate at this resort under the grass roof.
Arlene's friend owns the resort and allowed us to eat here.

Map of the island

Selling fruit and snacks

There were numerous resorts.
Most people come to dive among the Thrasher sharks.

Beautiful beaches and water

 After lunch and a walk along the beach we headed back to the boat to go around the island and find a place to do some snorkeling.

Beautiful. Love the color of the water, very crystal clear.

A good place to try some snorkeling

Dad didn't want any sun screen, so you can guess what his back
looked like that night when we returned home. Yep, lobster red.

We couldn't see many fish the water was quite deep here. 

After doing some snorkeling we headed to the village to pick up the owner of the boat who was going with us to the main island. We were greeted by the local children who were out playing in the wash tubs using their flip flops for paddles. Seeing the children made up for the mediocre snorkeling.

The older boys were fishing

Arlene and I. Love this family. 

 On  the way back the tire blew. We ran over something that punctured the tire. The spare wasn't much better but it got us back home. We were using the AP"s van and they definitely needed to remedy the situation with the spare tire being not much better than the tire that blew. 

 Sister Caycayon, "How many seniors does it take to change a tire?"

 Halfway home we stopped at Borussia for dinner. It is a lovely place that we have eaten at a couple of times. They serve German food and have the most lovely breads. They make bread for the resorts and nice restaurants. I had squash soup and Schnitzel (breaded pork or veal cutlets) with mashed potatoes. 

 The next morning we did a Temple session and then went to dinner at a Mexican resturant.

 Fun decor in the restaurant.

 I had fish tacos and dad had a burrito

 And of course everyone had a traditional Mango smoothie or variation. 

I enjoyed my watermelon smoothie.