visiting bryan!

one of the main reasons that i have been really excited to come to the philippines was the chance to visit one of my great friends bryan.  bryan and i have known each other since high school and also went to college together.  he's been over here living in san jose (near naga) for the past year and half volunteering for the peace corps.  he's in charge of working with the town on coastal resource management but since the peace corps really isn't as organized as you'd perceive them to be, he's kind of been keeping himself busy in his village doing things from building communal areas to hosting hiv/aids awareness courses.

i've been horrible at planning out each country so naturally the philippines were no exception but i had to see bryan.  so i decided that once i arrived in manila, i'd get another flight out to the naga airport and then bryan would meet me and we'd head back to his place.  [meanwhile pert headed to legazpi to try to check out the whale sharks in donsol...we met up a few days later.]  sounds like a fool proof plan, right?  well not if you're me!  my flight from bangkok arrived at 5am and my flight to naga left at 8:40am so i had some time to chill at the gate.  knowing myself and how exhausted i was, i decided to get smart and set the alarm on my watch to make sure i woke up in time to board.  i sat right in front of my gate and after a while my watch went off.  i went to the bathroom to freshen up and then went back to my gate to suddenly be struck with the realization that there was a mother effing timezone change that i did NOT account for while setting the alarm.  the flight already left.  i was still at the airport.  bryan was going to meet me at the airport.  i wasn't going to be there.  EFF!!!

i went up to the airphils express counter and i said to the ladies i was supposed to be on the naga flight to which they say immediately 'carolyn bee?' and i'm like yep that's me!  they're like where were you!? we called your name 7 times over the intercom.  i pointed to the chairs right in front of them.  yeah.  i had no headphones in when i slept.  i was that tired.  in the end, i got on the next flight, found some wifi after begging a coffee shop and then bryan found an internet cafe so i could tell him how big of an asshole i was.  in the end, i made it to his town and we were reunited.  yay!!

bryan lives in a very rural area about 1.5 hours away from the naga airport.  when i say rural, i mean there is no ATM in his town but he lives in a beautiful area surrounded by rice fields and palm trees.  to pass the time, bryan spends time on the hammock outside the house he rents and with his dog ender.  he is also a celebrity in his village.  everywhere that i walked with him people were shouting 'bry' this and 'bry' that.  i mean he is the token white kid after all.

view from my bus ride to san jose

jeepneys! main form of transportation here

brian and his coworkers

his crib

cooking me stirfry!

beer pong...naturally

we had planned to go check out the beach and some really cool waterfalls during my visit but the weather got in the way since the 'pines are headed into monsoon season right now!  the rain was so schizo though!  one minute it was nice out and two minutes later it was raining harder than i'd ever seen in my life.  it was a bummer not to see the sights but i didn't really mind because i got to spend time with him.  bryan has two other peace corps friends that live in a bigger town called goa, which is just a 5 minute bus ride away so we hung out with his friends a bit.  

 dinner at mel's in goa

 bryan, mel and taylor (his other peace corps buds)

so far, the 'pines have definitely been the least developed country that i have ever been to.  i commend bryan for his volunteer work and for surviving the past year and half in san jose.  he's had to give up so many of the commodities that he's used to.  the homeboy now hand washes and line dries all his clothing.  on many occasions he loses power which means no fan in the sweltering heat and he's lived without running water for multiple periods of time.  the water actually stopped running the last night i was there and i didn't know how to function.  he did it for three months!  these type of experiences really put a lot of stuff into perspective for you..

shot of san jose as we walked around

i was sad to leave bryan after a fun three days but excited to continue my journey around the philippines.  his family is actually heading over to visit him in a few days and they're taking off for vietnam so naturally, i informed him of everything he had to try while he was there!  can't wait to see him again stateside!

bye fattie :(