I survived another 2 weeks in the Philippines with the Mrs. She was there for just over a month. She was a little home sick so I sent her back ahead of me, I couldn't get the time off that quickly. She said after 3 days she was ready to come back home. lol
Trip started out BAD. First the ticket agent at the airport tried to tell me I HAD to have a Covid booster shot to go. Not true, dont need any vaccine, only a current PCR test. Got her manager to verify I was correct. Then she still denied me because the PCR test had to be within 48 hrs. Mine was just over 50 hrs because my flight was at 1am Monday and I did the test on Friday since they dont do them on Sunday. Really??? Yup, denied. Called the ticketing agent at Expedia and they rescheduled my flight for 2 days later. I was originally only going for 10 days but revised my return so it was 15 days. Much better. Got a new test and returned. The same agent wasnt there.The other agent who recognized me from before apologized but nothing they could do at the time. I was surprised they remembered me because I didnt make a scene or anything.
Like most of our other trips we spend a couple days going up into the mountains to visit some of the indigenous villages that are forgotten about by the local government in T'Boli. We purchase a couple hundred pounds of rice, soap, laundry detergent and other staples and bag them up into individual gift bags to pass out. Usually there are 30 - 100 people living in these small villages and many have never seen someone in person with white skin. Im pretty pale too. lol
This time we went a little further up into the hills where even 4x4s cant really make it due to no roads or "road" conditions. We hire local motorcycle drivers on Enduro typ bikes to take us and the supplies. Pictures dont do the places or people justice. Usually 80% of the people are not in the pictures.
We also spent almost a week just relaxing for the most part on one of the island near Manila called Puerto Galera. It was just re opened to the public in Jan or Feb due to "Cough" Covid restrictions.
Unfortunately around the main cities they are still Covid paranoid or at least still use it as a control tool.
I figure Ive got 2 more years in the states before we move back there full time and build another house to permanently live in. We have our little 2 bedroom starter house that works for now. We have a couple locations ideas for the other house a little further away from immediate family.
I still dont have full use of the right shoulder after my full shoulder replacement December 30th but its definitely getting better week by week and I should be able to start lifting LIGHTLY again soon. Not pushing it this time so I dont have to do the full replacement 2x like I did on my left shoulder.
Only had 2 earthquakes in the 1 week we were in T'Boli. We are surrounded by volcanos (not active) so its pretty much a weekly activity. Most houses that are concrete or have tile floors/walls have cracked or popped tiles. Luckily so far after almost 3 years no popped tiles or cracked walls. When it was being built I had to add rebar to everything and when they did I told them to double it.
The wife decided to do a little repainting on the inside walls before I got there. I told her to make sure to be done before I got there because I didnt want to do any. lol I had to Not look at thing to closely. There is still a bit to be learned about details especially when it comes to painting trim and using masking tape. lol
Overall had a great time. Didn't do much/any work on the house this time. Last time it was 80% working vacation. This time spent time with the family (got enough of that to last me a while) and the kids. Always have a good time with all the nieces and nephews. They don't ask for much and are appreciative of everything we do for them. Love giving them 1st experiences and memories to last and hopefully encourage them to strive for more.
Almost forgot. Normally I end up getting sick (montezuma's revenge) for 2-3 days. Dont drink the water, ice, anything made with water. lol I actually remembered to bring my cure. I started eating Pepto bismal chew tabs 2x a day starting day 1 and 1 tablet a day. I had a bottle of Peto with me just in case but it was all good and worked. No problems this time.
Wife and I had fever and just felt bad the last few days. She actually got it a few days before me and was feeling worse. I think she had a temp of around 103 at one point but Tylenol brought it down. I always bring a med kit with a little of everything. Kids always come to me to mend their cuts and put band-aids on them. Luckily our fever was gone before the flight back and didn't have much of a cough with the help of some cough drops and cough syrup. No Covid, we tested with the home test kits. Just your typical jungle fever. One of the kids had a fever and was sick the week prior.
Fun roads. Had to cross a few streams as well
Little volcanic activity. Yeah they like bright colors
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Originally Posted by Test Monsterone
lol
