big country, little island.

battle update... vermin: 24, eleanor: 1
(life is getting mighty itchy)

you know, when you are on a 9 hour bus ride (with the help of a little over the counter Valium - gotta love 3rd world countries) followed by two 2 hour flights just to get to the paradise island of Cebu this sure doesn't feel like a small country. speaking of flying and the related airport baggage claim areas, i sidenote: impatience in the baggage claim area is, indeed, an international affliction. here, too, the people rush forward to form an impenetrable wall around the conveyor belt before it even starts moving and without the foggiest inclination as to whether their bag will come about first or last, or ever for that matter. thus, it becomes impossible for the less pushy of the bunch (ahem... moi) to spot their bag until it has already flown by, back into the never reaches of the airport's belly. come on people, those big ol' hunks of grey matter lumbering over our shoulders aren't just there to give us nicely defined neck muscles. sheesh.

anyway, when we finally did manage to retrieve our luggage and get outside the airport to embrace the sun and sand part of our vaccation we stepped into the middle of a downpour. apparently the dry season isnt quite as dry as we'd hoped. but no matter, it only lasted a few hours and the rain did paint quite a nice picture on the streets of cebu city... school age girls linked at the elbow dashing about in drenched uniforms, small children playing in the water cascading down from the drainpipes, and young boys beside their equally ripped grandfathers leaning shirtless with arms folded beneath store aunings staring vacantly into the streets. cant say i was sad to see it stop the next day, though, and we even had time to get in a snorkel and a dive afterward and, since the good weather held for the most part, one more of each the next day. so far we have seen a sea turtle, a sea snake, clownfish living in a aneneme, lots of yellowstripped fairy basslets (my new favorite fish), a couple dragon fish and plethora of irridescent coral and other fishes. id kindof forgotten how awesome the colors are down where its wetter, under the sea. right up my alley in the color department, really. made me wish i had a hot pink wet suit... i think i am going into spandex withdrawals. the little dive town where we're staying, moalboal, is a bit of a sunburned sleezeball tourist trap. lots of washed up middle aged dude bros picking up on pretty philippino women. it's painful to watch really. however, tonight we did come a across a diamond in the ruff. he's not as hot as aladin, but he is a chubby, red-faced german in his late fifties, which makes him an automatic gem in my book. his name is peter and my dad and i wandered into his restaurant only to wander out again 3 hours later full of homemade sourkraut, wurst, beer and a shot of brandy. he talked and talked about the old country and politics and his life story and made me blush about 20 times with all his flattery. and if that werent enough, he threw in a palm reading for free. peter says "ahh ja, you arrre a verrry strong voman und du vill have maany men try und tie you down, BUT you vill never be caught. oh, ah, vait. ok, you vill have a little bit love. but it vill not last long." great, peter. thanks. anyway, what does he know? i doubt he could even see my palm after the river of beer his philippino girlfriend (of course) had kept flowing past him all night. but, regardless of my disappointing love forecast, it was a very interesting evening. so thank you Peter, you big, sweet, crazy german man, you.