Note: Will work on putting up pictures ASAP!

Making progress on the time adjustment front. Second night in the Philippines is coming up fast, and I’m feeling appropriately sleepy this close to midnight. Active day today. As was mentioned earlier, today was house-hunting day and, well… we saw houses all right! Right next to the Technopark, there are a number of subdivisions where you find houses at different price classes. We started with the high-end housing at what are called the Santa Rosa Estates I and II, where the prices range from between around 25,000 Philippine Pesos to the highest at 60,000, which is an exception - a house with an indoor swimming pool (see how much this is in your own currency Here). Not that it’s needed. The estates are closed off areas with excellent secutiry, and have a number of amenities – the standard tennis and basketball courts and swimming pool. Second-tier housing is to be found at the San Jose Village (Villages? I think there were two of them as well). Rental fees here range from just under 20,000 to 30,000 max. There are no public, shared amenities here, and the quality of housing here varies considerably. We passed by a couple of condemned houses even, cordoned off with yellow ‘Caution’ tape. They are not too keen on transients in both housing areas, which is to say people who are staying less than a year, but there were still quite a handful of places to look at. The Philippines IS a capital-starved country always on the lookout for a potential customer or two, and the real estate business is no different.

We started off early after a sleepless night and took a heavy breakfast at the hotel buffet - combined Philippine/European style where cereal, toast and omelets were on offer as well as Philippine breakfast specialties such as sweet-marinated pork with rice, and a noodle dish with vegetables and chicken. Tropical fruits of the season were also available. At 9 AM, we met up with a Vidian Centenos at the hotel lobby (not too sure about the spelling at all! But notice the Spanish-influenced names, which are quite common here although no one really speaks Spanish), who was the person our Sunpower contact arranged for us to have a look at houses. And off we went. Following along with us was a broker, a girl named Monet who apparently takes a 1/12 commission on any deal we make, although she was extremely valuable and I don’t think we could have seen the wide range of houses we saw without her. Pleasant to talk to as well.

House-hunting was made over two legs – from 9AM to 11 and from 2 PM to about 3 or 4ish. In between, there was a much needed nap and lunch break. This shit is energy-draining stuff! What really surprised me was how much I perspired like a pig in the heat while we were looking at homes. Seriously, I find this extremely odd – back when I used to live in the tropics as a kid the heat was not a problem at all, but now I’m sweating more than Jacob. Not acceptable, must take measures to acclimatize! I’m not dehydrating, however, I’m feeling quite healthy and the signs are good. My leg is fine too, btw. At any rate, as for the houses, all of them were two-storey units, almost all of them well over 100 square meters in living area. Some would include furnishing in the price, some wouldn’t.

Well, we settled on a house. Tomorrow we’re set to have a look at it one last time and then we can finalize matters. I’ll say more about it next time I blog and hopefully show you the pictures. It’s a house in the Santa Rosa Estate I and there will be plenty of space for a guest or two! Hint, hint!

House-hunting took its toll on the both of us and we dozed off in the hotel room for hours afterward until we couldn’t hold off the hunger anymore and needed fooding. This was about 8 PM. We were supposed to meet with our main Sunpower contact sometime late in the afternoon but he never came. He did show up on our way out, however, by coincidence. A note on who he is: Telesforo Alfelor, or ‘Boy’, is the Manufacturing Manager at Sunpower who is an old friend of the family and quite superhuman in his working ability, seriously. He was delayed because a family emergency suddenly popped up but despite that and the fact that he had been doing a 12-hour working day, he took that time to have a chat with Jacob and I and dealt with practical matters about our housing and vacation planning incredibly. I’m entirely at ease with Boy and I’m sure the traineeship will be great with him keeping an eye on us.

We have our short-term vacation plans settled. Tomorrow, after finalizing the housing, we check out of our hotel and head straight to the Boracay tourist resort via a bus down to Batangas (Wiki it!) and then a 10-hour ferry trip to the island where Boracay is at. Beaches, cervezas, sports and fun... Fuckin’-A! We’ll be brought to the bus by Boy’s son, a guy called Antonio (nickname ‘Nugget’) who is my age and went a class under mine in my 7 years in Indonesia during my childhood (this is where Boy’s family and mine go back, by the way). Looking forward to seeing him again!

The day was rounded off by Jacob and I eating out again. We had Filipino food this time, the local version of one of my favorite dishes that my mom sometimes makes – Pork Adobo, a traditional Philippine dish. It’s essentially pieces of pork cooked in a sauce that includes a lot of garlic, soy sauce and vinegar among other things, and eaten with rice. It was nice, but nothing beats momma’s cookin’!!!

We downed a handful of San Miguels at the same Mexican bar/restaurant we went to yesterday, a place called El Simon. The bare midriff girl is named Claudette, she’s 23 years old and very, very sweet. She expects gifts from us once we get back from Boracay, and I don’t suppose we’ll disappoint her ;)

Lights out. Catch you all on the flipside!

PS – Ma, I need the contact info for Jojo – he lives close to Boracay right? Thinking of dropping by. Also, the telephone number down to the family in Davao… could you perhaps call in advance and tell them I’ll be coming to visit sometime in July? Or should I do it? Love ya, catch ya later!