Relaxing in Paradise

By now I intended to have posted more, but I had no internet the past 5 days so I'm updating y'all now.



Well it's been almost a week and a half since I arrived in the Philippines and a lot of it was spent acquainting myself with Yvonne's extensive family.

And I still haven't met everyone yet...

Anyway the highlights of what I've done are in the first 2 videos. I have one more coming but some of it was filmed in Yvonne's phone so I can't put it up yet. Right now I'm staying in Cebu City with Yvonne's aunt and cousins but from last Sunday until today Thursday I was at her family's house in the island of Negros. We had no internet but I didn't mind because there was much to keep busy with. Yvonne and her best friend kept telling me there's nothing to do there but I fell in love with the place upon arrival. It's calm, clean and friendly. Lots of cheap and fresh fruit (I missed that) and good roads.
Well mostly good. Actually I was pretty surprised that when we arrived at the island her mom called her and said they'd take our stuff in the car and we'd drive the bike to the house. I wouldn't trust my daughter's boyfriend who I've barely met to drive her through the night. We were first picked up by Yvonne's aunt, uncle and grandparents and went to the grandparent's house first which was very close to the dock. Had dinner there (grandpa makes some amazing pork) and then drove to the town where her parents and brothers live (20-30 minute drive). The island was hit by an earthquake about 5 months ago so they warned me about bumpy roads, but I swear there are more potholes near our home in Guatemala than there was in that ride. I was more worried about a crazy lady that didn't give me a great first impression of the island. As we drove out of the dock there was a lady with blood on her face and a very large stick trying to swipe people on the road, came very near to whacking grandpa off the bike as he drove behind us. I don't know why I was the only one not laughing...

I didn't really get to take many photos until I was in Negros. I actually spent my first day there kind of sick but still got to drive around town a bit. Woke up early every day too. Played tennis with her dad, learned to make grandpa's pork and also improvised a pork and Chinese cabbage dish of my own. Got to take pictures of people at the market while buying ingredients, tried to go fishing and relaxed a lot. The town we stayed at looks a lot like a town in Guatemala but it was much cleaner, and much hotter. Got me a farmers tan and Yvonne's cousin says I look more Filipino now. This Saturday we hit the beach so I can even out the tan and do something about my white-ass legs!

So I leave you with some pictures. The one at the beginning of the blog is port Basak, where we arrived at Negros. Every day we had an amazing sky.

I really felt the beauty of the place was hard to capture without a panorama.

And then some portraits:

These are my 2 favorite photos:

They just have really legit smiles huh.

One of Yvonne's twin baby cousins. Really cute, balls of energy.

Just a frog I found in the yard.

This is port Tangil, going toward Negros.

And some photos back in Cebu

I call this one "The Stare"

 These are from a place called Bay Walk. I was teaching one of Yvonne's cousins a little bit about night photography.

Oh and one last thing. I need an opinion on this panorama taken off the boat towards Negros. Black and white or color?

Gladly, seems all of Yvonne's relatives have come to like me. Even her dad (who I was most worried about).
I'll keep you posted on more to come!