Where's Scott?

Our gay neighbor has decided to play with fire, and has complained to the house’s owner about the generator. The Pepitos are up in arms about it, and the owner has dismissed the complaint and encourages us to use and abuse the generator as often as we need. After Seb’s “heroic” effort to placate the […]

For breakfast, Noel makes a wicked dish called Kinilaw; it’s a spicy mixture of very tiny de-boned raw fish mixed with chopped onions, hot peppers, vinegar, and a thick coconut milk created by combining the milk with shredded coconut meat and then squeezing it out so that the milk is almost white and much richer […]

(edit 3/14: dive after Bogo) Seb’s suffering from a bit throat infection though, and our cash reserves are also running dry; it’s clear we’re going to need to hit the mainland for a little ATM and clinic help. The nearest town with facilities is Bogo on Cebu island, about two hours by boat and bus. […]

Mabel tells us that we’re renting a house down the beach – a little two story, 3 bedroom with a sleeping porch and a kitchen. The place is cute and certainly cheap enough, about $20 a day for the whole family! There’s a generator out back to power up the evenings, and a open well […]

Seb and Mabel finally have it out over the house project… since nothing was prepared ahead of time (despite Seb’s efforts to organize the project for 3 months!), itemizing of the parts, pricing, and ordering is just starting 6 days after our arrival… and Seb has had enough of Basud, and wants to move on […]

Tensions have been rising between Seb and Mabel over the house project (and the lack of planning and preparation that’s been done for it), and Seb grouses about the lack of cost estimates and general lack of cash planning while Mabel gives him the silent treatment and generally pouts. Seb’s tried to keep cash in […]

Burikat tasted like a nice cross between beef and chicken, and Noel (Mabel’s cousin) did an excellent job of spicing it! We bought (or more to the point Seb bought) basically the whole extended family San Miguel (beer) and Tanduay (rum), and while Mabel, Seb and I sang Karioke with Noel’s wife and kids (who […]

I feared I’d never sleep between the roosters crowing and the monster fan thundering by my bed (without the fan would be mosquito city), but I slept better than I had in days and woke dreaming of Mangos. We didn’t. have any formal plans for the day, and as soon as I mentioned Mangos, a […]

First order of business next morning is getting Mabel’s dad a doctor’s appointment. He’s been sickening over the past year, but hasn’t yet had a checkup, so we’re going to make a trip back or Ormoc to get him evaluated. We also plan on getting the truck Seb’s arranged for us to rent a few […]

Arriving in Basud, Mabel’s village, we finally get a chance to see Mabel’s home. The family quickly unloads and gives us the peso tour. It’s a two bedroom, about 400 sq ft (half inside, half outside), and sits on 3ft stilts over the high tide (it’s in the tidal plane, but the area is overgrown […]