The Philippines-the adventure comes to an end

There are a few last things I have to mention to make my report on our trip to the Philippines complete. The first is the traffic...it's CRAZY! There seems to be very few laws concerning where you can drive, where people can walk, or how many people you can have in, or on your vehicle. Manila is a very crowded city, the traffic is very slow and it seems that anything goes. I didn't see very many lane lines, people just drove where ever they wanted to. Except for on the sidewalk...those, as you can see, are for people. Jason's parents have a driver, Filo, that drives them around where ever they need to go. Sundays are his day off and then Ralph gets behind the wheel. He's really learned how to maneuver through the streets. One thing I found interesting is they way they deal with intersecting streets. Instead of being able to turn left onto a street you have to turn right and then find the next U-turn and turn around. This also adds to the time it takes to get anywhere.One thing I didn't quite understand before I actually saw them was the presence of Jeepneys. They are kind of like a bus, each with a certain route, but each one individually owned...and they are not plain...the more "pimped out" the better. And they are everywhere!

Workers on their way to work. And what better way to get there?

If you can fit...get in. Or even if you can't fit...get in. On Sunday we had the great privilege (and it truly was) to drive the youth of the Ward to the Stake Center. They were all going to meet at the Ward house and Ralph was to take them to the Stake Center. Ralph and Edy kept telling us that we should go...that it would be an experience. And it was. We had 16 people in a minivan that seats 8. I had a video of us all, but it wouldn't upload to Blogger. There were 6 boys in the back row, 6 girls in the middle row and then 4 in the front seat. It was really fun to listen to them speak Tagalog to each other and then answer our questions in English. I asked one of the girls if the boys teased them a lot. She said, "Yes, and it's VERY annoying." Some things are the same no matter where you are.

This is on a major highway (like I-15) and this man (and he's not the only one) is walking down the middle of the street selling his goods or services. Anything goes.

The Philippines is a very crowded and very poor country. Most people do not have running water. They wash their clothes in a bucket or a river, if they live close, and hang them to dry where ever. We saw many clothes hanging to dry on street guardrails. A typical house is made of cinder block walls with a corrugated metal roof. People live practically on top of each other, with not much privacy. Jason's parents live in a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood, but their neighbors are still VERY close. One neighbor had a yappy dog, and another had a rooster. So at night when were exhausted and ready to sleep the dog would start to bark, if you can call it that. It sounded more like metal scraping against metal. The dog's shift was from midnight to 4 am then the rooster would start to crow. His shift was from 4am to 7am. At least we had a nice comfortable bed, that we were very grateful for...and earplugs.

I loved the flowers there. Even in the dry season the flowers and greenery were amazing.

This shows one of my favorite things...potted flowers. No matter where a person lived or what their circumstances, everyone had potted flowers or shrubs in front of their houses. Even if they couldn't afford real pots people still had their flowers potted in tin cans. I LOVED it.

Last, but not least, I had to show this picture. This is a banner we saw hanging in a strip mall. I took the picture out the window of the car, that's why it's not very centered. 700 Pesos is about $14, what a deal. If you can't read the fine print at the bottom it says, "Procedure by Surgeons also available." So who knows who the 700 Pesos actually gets you.

We had a wonderful time in the Philippines and give a huge thank you to Ralph and Edy for everything they did for us and showed us while we were there. We also give a huge thank you to my mom and dad for making it possible for us to go by staying with our kids while we were gone. Thank you.