Jet Legged and Sun-drunk

Hi Everyone!!

It is currently 3am here in a little sea-side town called Moalboal (moh-al-Boh-al. We layed down for a nap and slept right through. Think there must be a little jet leg left to get over.

It has been a busy few days here in the Philippines so we'll start from the top!
Our flight was long, but movies and books/sudoku made time fly, 23 hours and 2 days later (due to the 14hrs ahead time difference) we arrived in the hot and humid Cebu City. Andrew works with a man named Teo at ATCO in Grande Prairie and Teo's family still lives in Cebu while he lives in Canada (it has been 5 years since he has seen them!). The two arranged for Teo's wife Luz to pick us up at the airport. After fetching our bags we made our way to the exit, the whole time wondering how on earth we would pick out a woman we had never seen before among hundreds of other women..most Filipino and Korean. Fortunately for us we were greeted with a cute little Filipino woman holding a sign almost as big as her reading, "WELCOME TO CEBU ANDREW BELYAN AND CHELSIE" Oh happy day!
We spent our first night in the hotel we booked online, which turned out pretty nice, although quite hard to find. Luz picked us up the next morning around 9am and told us she was our driver for the time we would spend in Cebu-Apparently Teo wanted to make sure she took good care of Andrew and Chelsie. We spent the day touring the city,checking out some of Cebu's nicest resorts, walking the narrow streets, and even stopping for a delicious sea-food feast. The restaurant we stopped at didn't look like much from the start, a little shack with baskets of raw seafood, giant coconuts, and 3 Filipino men pointing out our choices for lunch. Calamari? Shrimp? Lapu Lapu? Luz helped us pick out a few things and then we followed her to the back and up a set of stairs to an open balcony. We had rice, calamari, garlic shrimp, and sweet and sour Lapu Lapu(a fish that Andrew thought very similar to pickerel, except red). It was all delicious. The best part is that for 3 of us to eat all that, including a San Miguel beer for Andy,and a coconut for Luz and I, it was only $20.
After a busy day Luz brought us to her house and announced we would be staying with her! The area she lives in is very safe and everyone is so friendly. The houses are all skinny and tall with no room in between them. Every house is a different color and there are banners and flags hanging everywhere. Luz introduced us to her son Dennis and his friend Omar(who have insisted Andrew play basketball with them when we get back to Cebu city). We relaxed with a beer and a coke and chatted with Omar and Dennis for the night.
Before I move on to our trip to Moalboal I have to talk about the food. Filipino's eat. A lot. Our "snack" was a bowl full of pasta, bread, hotdogs, and mangos. Then a few hours later Luz cooked us supper consisting of bbq'd pork on a stick, "hanging" rice, some kind of potato and meat mixture, and left-over pasta from lunch. We fell asleep that night with full bellies.
The next morning(so Tuesday) we had planned to wake up at 5am to drive 3 hours to a town called Moalboal for a few days. Luz ended up waking us at 330!! So we got up to a...breakfast...of hot chocolate and cookies, haha. We passed on the cookies at 4 in the morning. Then we were off to pick up Luz's friend Romi who would be doing the driving. By about 5, with a stop to KFC first (At 430am! Luz parked, told us to stay put, and came back with burgers, popcorn chicken, and frys! All we could do was laugh..silently to ourselves) we picked up Romi and were on our way. Turns out, it only took us 2 hours, so we arrived at 7 am..slightly carsick and craving breakfast. Luz and Romi dropped us off and will pick us up on Friday.
Little side note here.. The driving is absolutely ridiculous! It is a free for all. There are lines on the road, but they might as well not be there. There is a lot of honking and not a lot of signaling. But with that said, no one gets angry! Here, there is no such thing as road rage. Once we got over the fear of crashing into an oncoming vehicle, it is quite entertaining to watch the weaving and crossing. It is a mastered skill really.
Now, Moalboal. After enjoying some fruit and yogurt we ventured around looking for a place to stay. Finally found a good room for 700 pesos a night (about $12) dropped our bags and headed for the ocean.
Today we are renting a motorbike and driving 8km to the nicer part of Moalboal, White Beach. Do some snorkeling, beach-bumming, and just relaaax.
We'll have a beer for ya!