Bohol

Spent most of Sunday on Bohol, a hilly, Delaware-sized about 2/3 of the way down the archipelago.

The trip was mostly a day off for our assessment, with a visit to a midwives' clinic thrown in just because.  We ended up wishing we'd had more time, because Bohol is pretty nice.  It's provincial, but in a good way.  Like, there's a huge cathedral, which we tourists were free to wander around just after the Sunday morning service, because there aren't all that many tourists.  (It's a cool cathedral.  Built in the 16th century, rebuilt in the 18th, all cool damp coral limestone with moss on it and swallows nesting up on the ceiling.)  Next to the cathedral is a museum, which is really more like an attic full of random stuff: 200-year-old hymnals, endless Virgins, priestly vestments in six different colors, a mimeograph machine from the days when the Church was quietly supporting samizdat against Ferdinand Marcos.  For about 40 cents you can wander around for an hour, then stand in the old balcony where the creole elites used to look down on everyone else for just as long as you care to.  It's... nice.

Other high points included a short cruise on a local river, the sort-of-famous Chocolate hills, some giant millipedes, and half an hour at the beach.  (Only half an hour, because time was running short.) 

And tarsiers!  Oh, man, are tarsiers great.  I felt kind of bad because these little guys were being shown in conditions that, while humane, were not too good from a conservation standpoint -- they don't breed in captivity -- and also kind of unpleasant, what with constantly being woken up (they're really nocturnal).  On the other hand, I may never have another chance to see a tarsier, and I'm really glad I did, because they're beautiful and wonderful.

And the midwife clinic, of which perhaps more anon. 

And then we came back to Manila and I got my cell phone stolen.  Tcha, stuff happens.

USAID has decided that the team should make a proper visit to an outer island, though, so two of us will go to Cebu City all day Thursday.  This will involve waking up at 4:30 am to catch a 6 am flight.  Imagine my enthusiasm.  Oh, well, it's another piece of the puzzle.

Comments

[Mike Ralls]

Just got back from Bali, and one the most fascinating places we went to was a Christian Church done completely in Balinese style. There was just something really interesting about seeing something familiar done in a completely foreign style.