Dear friends of friends, thank you so much for connections and generosity! May we always remember this and the other innumerable favors and helpful tips and myriad kindnesses and always open our doors and hearts to travelers and flimsy links of knowing each other. In this magnanimous spirit Arnold (friend of a friend) has been so kind in helping us get settled here in Mactan. He is a manager of sales at a…planned community? I guess…neighborhood… called Newtown Mactan, it has fancy hotels/condos, restaurants (fancy ones but also McDonald’s, 7-11, Starbucks and such) which he is also expanding. Construction underway lines the road to the private beachfront associated with Newtown (which he generously let us visit when we first arrived…because all the nice beachfront is private…don’t let me get started on that here).
He again extended his lovely generosity by inviting us to his town’s tree lighting and Christmas kickoff celebration. We were treated to the day at his condo, swimming in the infinity pool, relaxing in the sun and finishing the day with a buffet. There was even green salad! But the best part. The best part by far (ok for my personal proclivities). Was the entertainment!!
The choir from the University of the Philippines sang Christmas Carols! And they were SOOO good. Alys loves a good video opportunity and I am delighted she captured so much of their singing because it was a pleasure. After the singing and food we went and joined the rest of the crowd to count down to the lighting of the strings of Christmas lights climbing up the palm trees and providing upside down umbrellas under the canopies of the mango trees that line the road (they had to do lights under the branches because one year a tree was lit on fire. whoops).
Overall it was a great day and great evening and again we are so thankful to have these generous and lovely people open up their lives to us. I hope the videos show up well enough to do them justice.
The Adobo Hobos 