Shantaram

We spent the last few days in San Juan and had a great and relaxing time.  We were lucky to surf the first day we were there but unfortunately there weren't any waves for the rest of the week.  So we spent a lot of our days reading, exploring the city, and one night we went out to a concert with some locals.


So for this post I (Megan) wanted to share some of my reflections from the book I am reading.  It's called Shantaram and is about a man who escapes from prison in Australia and goes to India.  He lands in Bombay and describes his experience with the hectic city as an immediate connection.  He knew within the first hour of landing that it was the right place for him.  He also meet a woman named Karla and said something about her that struck me: "She was so relaxed and at home, so much a part of the street and its inscrutable love...She seemed calm and content in Bombay.  She seemed to belong.  I envied her, the warmth and acceptance she drew from those around her." 


This strikes a chord in me because it is one of the fears that I am working to overcome in this pursuit that Tad and I are on; a fear of finding a place that feels like home and a sense of belonging.  I recognize that it is silly to worry about because until I try I can never know.  I think I love my community and home in Seattle that it is hard to imagine being fulfilled somewhere new.  I know that it takes time to build a home and community no matter where in the world we end up.  But I guess that is why this book is interesting to me- I can't grasp the idea of walking into a country and saying "this is it".  Yet again, that's not something that can be predicted.  


For now I try to remind myself that this desire to work abroad is a gift from God and to trust my intentions and passions.  I am excited to continue to explore- I guess the fear is just from so much unknown.  But from that unknown comes so much opportunity and  relationships.  I will also say that even after just 2 weeks of being gone, Tad and I have noticed how much more comfortable we feel compared to the first few days stepping into the hectic Manila. We just went back to Manila yesterday and were surprisingly comforted by the familiarity. But it's not just that, we also feel more comfortable within the unknown.


So for now, we are headed south to Coron- a small island south of Luzon and will be here for the next 5 days.  It is absolutely stunning and tomorrow we are planning to kayak and camp on a nearby island.  We send our love back home!!

Spelunking in Sagada

We had our last day in Sagada on Tuesday and spent the day before exploring the Sumaging Caves. We weren't quiet sure what to expect, we started down the stairs and the first thing we noticed was the sound of thousands of screeching bats, second was the very slippery limestone rock covered in their guano.  But once we passed the bats the environment changed completely to crystal clear pools of water flowing over course rock.  Our guide told us to take our shoes off and told us it was "natures foot spa".  The texture of the rock was like sandpaper which made it virtually slip-proof and exfoliated our feet quiet nicely.  We are still in awe of how beautiful it was in the caves. There were several narrow spaces to crawl through, a huge pool that Tad went swimming in, and gigantic formations.  Needless to say, it was stunning.  We arrived in San Juan La Union last night, it is a quiet town on the coast, famous for surfing.  This morning we took advantage of the cheap lessons and both had our first experience on the waves.

Just some pictures

Filipinos harvesting rice, taken on our way up to Banaue

Woman in traditional headdress above Banaue

The village of Batad amid the rice terraces

At the underground river just outside of Sagada


We uploaded more photos on the web album.  Here's the link:  Philippines Photos

Last few days...

Alright, its going to be tough to fill you in on the last several days without writing a short novel, so I will do my best to summarize.  We made it to Manila and to our hotel without any trouble, but as soon as we woke up and walked outside we knew we wanted to get out of the city.  Luckily it didn’t take long to secure two tickets on a night bus to Banaue, a town famous for 2000 year old rice terraces carved into the mountains.  We arrived at the bus station, which was a few benches under a tin roof next to a single beat up bus.  The estimated travel time was around 9 hours so we were supposed to get to Banaue sometime in the morning.  Little did we know that we would get stuck about half way in a traffic jam.  It took 5 horrible action movies and a total of 15 hours to get us to our final destination, where we got a room with a view and a private bathroom for nearly half the price we paid in Manila. 

The next day we joined Rob, a traveller we got to know on the bus from Manila on an adventure to Batad.  The three of us hopped into a trike (motorcycle with a covered side carriage) and started the 45 minute drive on one of the worst roads imaginable.  Just as we were reaching the last bend up the hill the tire on the carriage blew out, so we ended up hiking to the junction and started up the hill to Batad.  We didn’t know much about the hike but the guide book didn’t seem to mention that it was too difficult so we weren’t worried.  The “not so difficult” hike turned into a solid six hours of stair master but it was totally worth it.  The scenery was absolutely stunning, walking up and down the steep terrain and through the rice terraces finally ending at a massive waterfall which provided a great place to cool off.  It was a bit tough for some as you can see on Megan’s face, but we made it and slept well that night. 

Today we took a Jeepeny to Sagada another town in the Mountains further north, its very peaceful hear and we even got to play some volleyball with the locals just before the sun went down.  We plan on staying here a few days but nothing is really planned…  

On the way...

Well, after a year of dreaming, anticipating and procrastinating we find our selves on the way. We just got off our first leg of the flight to Manila, which puts us in South Korea for a few hours and provides some time to write our first post. Not much to report as you can imagine, but we find ourselves incredibly blessed to start this journey.