Thrilla in Manilla

We arrived in Manilla in the afternoon and Bill did not open the leg until almost 3 PM. We decided straight off to do a bonus challenge of working with a charity called Hospicio de San Jose. The traffic in Manilla is AWFUL so it took us over an hour to find the place – which turned out to be a home for orphaned or abandoned children (they call them “surrendered” children) as well as a wing for old women and a wing of severely disabled children. What a humbling experience!! Working with a skeleton staff and a crew of volunteers, this group takes care of almost 300 babies, children and elderly who have nowhere else to go. They literally have babies left on their doorstep at night. The facility operates on a shoestring budget and are constantly begging for supplies, volunteers etc. Here is us with the head nun who runs the place. On the table is the powdered milk that we went to the market and bought as a donation (formula is very expensive and they are always running out of it ). We played with the kids and hung with out with them for almost two hours. It was heartbreaking. These kids have less than nothing. They do not have a single wordly possession and not even a family to share their misery This little boy got left by my mom at the home just a few days ago. When we came in, he was sitting in the corner by himself … his eyes say it all. He had an aura of sadness and abandonment that was palpable. The best hope for him is that he is lucky enough to get adopted out. Even so, that would take about 18 months of red tape.
Pansangjan Falls
The next morning we did a WOWWWW (or A+ + scavenge). First, we had to drive about 3 hours outside of Manilla in a cramped car with limited air conditioning… not great. But then we got to a small rainforest village by a river where we did this amazing rafting trip… very great. We were loaded into narrow, wooden canoes and taken up-river to an incredible waterfall. The canoes are just a few inches out of the water and VERY tippy. The movie “Apocalypse Now” was filmed here so you can just imagine the scenery: a beautiful ravine (with waterfalls and lush rainforest vegetation all along it ). But the real highlight of the trip were the boat men… They literally drag these canoes upriver and over rapids by pushing off from the sharp stones that line the river and half-running, half-climbing – like monkeys - on the sides of the ravines and then jumping back into the boat. It is ballet and gymnastics all rolled into one. The boatmen fit the canoes into narrow channels in the rocks, over rapids, through narrow spaces in the rocks and all without bumping the boats or scratching the pain. At the top of the river, you reach a blue lagoon swimming hole with a fabulous waterfall. You then get onto a bamboo raft and the boatmen take you UNDER the waterfall and into Devil's Cave. As you pass under the waterfall, the water is so strong and powerful that you feel like you cannot breathe and that your ears will rip out of your head.

Awful eating challenge for Manilla

And yes, this one is GROSS. We had to find a local "delicacy" which is a boiled egg that contains a 1-2 day old chicken inside. It is even more disgusting in real life than it sounds as I write this teally is an embryo bird cooked into the egg and you are supposed to crack it open and eat it. Just putting the one bite (that we have to eat) into my mouth may have scarred me for life.

We are NOW IN INDONESIA (Yeah - another country that I have never been to). Can't wait to see it all. I got sick today - some weird lump came up on my jaw line which is painful and makes it difficult for me to talk. It feels like a pocket of infection. I started an antibiotics regimen and am taking Advil but it has me feeling quite poorly. I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow because this is going to be a TOUGH leg with lots of over-country travel. And I can't imagine traveling through Indonesia using only "local modes of transportation" is going to be very efficient. But it will be BE GREAT fun.