On the Road Again - Tabaco and Legaspi

December 17th: Early to bed, early to rise...I'm not sure that meant 4:00 am. We feel we've adjusted pretty well to Philippine time, but we are a little tired of waking up at 4 am! Mid-morning we hit the road to Tabaco where President Smith needed to interview missionaries. The scenery along the way was amazing! A highlight on this trip for Amy was the firework stands. She had her eye on a huge package of fireworks to set off on Christmas Eve.

Fireworks! Lots of FIREWORKS!!!

Bananas growing along the side of the road.

We stopped to get some bananas, 45 p ($1.00) got us a whole stem!

Caribou (water buffalo) wallowing in the mud.

Rice drying on the road.

Coconut groves and rice fields.

The Mayon Volcano (last eruption Sept 2006)

We stopped at an observation point-Rest House-on the Mayon. The view was incredible. From the observation point we could see the ocean. We met a 2nd year priest-in-training for the Catholic Church. His name was Norman, he was super friendly, and we had a good visit with him.

Looking back at the Mayon. It's a little hard to tell the difference between the smoke and the clouds. More on the Mayon yet to come.

In Tabaco we went to the ATM to get some money. The exchange rate here is 48 p/dollar. We browsed the little tourist shops which are full of hand-made bags and purses. Amy wanted to do a little "market research" by trying the cheese-mango ice cream. It was pretty good!

Amy tried to buy garlic roasted peanuts. There was a bit of a language barrier and it took awhile to get what she wanted--one of those foreign country experiences to remember.

President Smith had more missionaries to interview in Legaspi so on we drove taking in more scenery!