Hey hey! Welcome to blog #2 about the Philippines! I have been having lots of fun here in Cainta with the girls and cannot wait to share what I have been up to outside of a ministry setting! Sorry that this is very late… the Philippines season was very packed with ministry and other activities. Thank you for your patience!

As you might know, my team along with 2 other girl teams are staying in Cainta, a suburb of Manila! The Kids International Ministries base is here. Looking back to Vietnam, this season has been busier in terms of ministry, but is much slower when it comes to adventuring and exploring the country. When you think of the Philippines, you probably think of tropical islands, crystal clear water, and nature- and yes, that is 100% the case, just not really where we are. We are surrounded by city which makes it hard to get to places that we desired going. This does bring some disappointment, but leaves more room for rest and reflection on the week prior and for the week ahead! With all that said, we have found some fun things to do in the area which I am excited to fill you all in about!

On one of the first adventure days, we tried out a new mode of transportation: the trikes! These are motorcycles with an attachment on the side to fit more people on. We see these everywhere and are cheap and easy to take us to the main road from where we live. It's a tight squeeze, but something fun we do often!

Most weekends, my team likes to go to coffee shops, mainly because of the WiFi. Our leaders made the decision to not give us to password so we are more present, however I have data so this did not affect me as much as the other girls who could only connect with people back home on the weekends.

Because it is challenging to find adventurey things to do, lots of our days consist of "type 2 fun" which is literally just going out on a whim with little information and seeing what happens. One weekday, some of my team went to a neighboring town, Antipolo, to visit the boys team at their ministry site. Adeline and I took a trike to the main road and then waited to hop on a jeepney. These are long vehicles that kind of opperarte like busses. They will take as many people as it can carry, just 2 benches lining the sides. They do get pretty cramped but are a cheap and efficient way to get from place to place. They are everywhere and have multiple routes between all the towns. You can get on one wherever and get off wherever. We hopped on one going to Antipolo, but had no idea what road it took us on, where the route ended, or where it would drop us off. So we just waited until the end of the route, and then took a GRAB (SE Asia's version of UBER) to the ministry site. It was a fun adventure for sure!

Aside from that night, I have been to Antipolo 2 other times. The first was to go to a waterfall! We took a grab there, thought we were at the wrong place, so walked a mile in the wrong direction just to find out we were dropped off at the exact spot we needed to go to. So we walked back, saw the waterfall, and walked a little ways to meet some of the boys at the local mall. One thing about all the countries we've been to is that they have INSANE malls. Every single one is huge and really nice. And they are everywhere. It seems like they are multiple in every suburb. Fun fact: ToysRus is still open in the Philippines!

Recently, we went back to Antipolo to go to a place called "Cloud 9" which was a restaurant with a really nice overlook of the area. This was accessible by a hanging bridge that you walk up to get to the 360 lookout! this was really awesome, except it was overcast that day so the sunset wasn't visible. But it was a thrill walking up the bridge and was a fun local activity to do. After we were don't there, we sat on the side of the road for a long time trying to get a GRAB back. We eventually made it though! Some of the best moments are when we have no idea what to do and have to make quick decisions in the moment. Another thing to note about this day was the amount of stares we got- this area of the Philippines is really not used to foreigners, so we get a lot of looks. We've also had cases where people take pictures of us, or with us because it's so rare to see white people.

A few weeks ago, Adeline, Abby, Addie, and a guy from school named Ashely and I went into Manila! We walked around Rizal park, walked along some bridges, and found Texas Roadhouse in... you guessed it... a mall! Addie was BEAMING with excitement and was literally on cloud 9 the whole time we were there. It was a chill day exploring the city and nice to get out of Cainta.

Soon after, I finally got a taste of filipino nature! 4 of us girls took a ferry to an island in the lake near us to hike a mountain! The whole day was a blast and had so much fun exploring and seeing where the wind would take us. My team basically designated me as the adventuer day planner in Vietnam which has carried over to here. I was the one finding the things to go do and see, and most girls would just tag along. One of the girls told me that whenever someone asks her what she's doing on her free day, she says "probably whatever Ellie is planning". Most of my team agrees. Anyways back to this awesome adventure day: we got to the port 10 mins before the boats left which was super great timing! I asked the locals which ferry went to "tagapo port" and was directed to one boat. Most of these locals did not speak English which was a little challenging and just had to trust that we were on the right boat. And we were! After an hour ride, we made it and got off. We walked aimlessly for a while but eventually found the tourist office. We got a local to guide us up the mountain! It had rained so the path was muddy... prone for slipping. I took a few tumbles! The hike took about an hour to summit. During the hike, it was hard to tell what was sweat and what was rain- since we walked in the rain prior and hiked up the mountain which was in a cloud. the views were insane and it was basically a jungle! Bamboo was EVERYWHERE and the vegetation was beautiful. So many new plants and trees that were insanely stunning. We made it (almost) to the top and stopped at this bamboo shack. At this point, we were out of the trees and in a beautiful field/pasture of tall grasses. Then we continued to the summit! The view was crazy awesome! We were constantly in awe of this beautiful place God created. We eventually made out way down after eating a lunch consisting of banana chips and water. Walked down a different path and ended up walking through lots of neighborhoods. It is so eye opening to see the living conditions here in the Philippines, something new blows my mind daily which has made me very grateful and full of gratitude for the life I have back home.

Aside from leaving town, it is always nice to get off base for a little bit and go somewhere to rest. We met a missionary here (she's actually from Iowa!!!) and she's been taking great care of us. She will invite us to her home and provide snacks and a place to chat and rest. It is always a blessing when we go to her house and we are all so grateful for the love she has shown us. She understands the missionary life and the packed schedule that that brings and has been a great mentor through it all! Side note: another 18 year old gal from Ankeny lives with her for a couple months... what are the odds! So fun to have these connections to home and excited to continue our friendship when we both return to Ankeny in the coming months!

When we stay on base for free days, I love to hang out in the pool! I love to swim so having that here is such a blessing. The boys come over every once in a while to come swim too which is always so so much fun. We also hung our hammocks up so spending quiet time there is always refreshing as well.

One of the BIGGEST adventure days came a few weeks later when our leaders were in Japan for their squad leader trip (a time for them to step back and have rest, they do so much for our squad!!) I planned a whole 2 day trip to the beach for my team and I to stay at an air b&b! we have 2 days off in a row so it was the perfect opportunity to go to the beach which we had been itching for!! We took a van down to the beach which ended up bing about a 5 hour drive instead of 3 and we had a great time. We sang some worship songs with a guitar and just had so much joy being all together. The van is 2 rows on the sides of the vehicle which was different than what we are used to.

Our house was on a compound with 2 other places to rent with a shared pool! I spent the whole next day in the water!! Abby and I got up really early and saw the low tide! It was so low that it went further than a football field out. It was fun to walk all the way out there and see the little tide pools of sea creatures. We saw tons of starfish and little clams. After laying in the sun (and getting very burnt) we walked all the way out on the jetty and started to snorkel with my one pair of goggles- it was stunning! I even found a blue starfish which are apparently rare here!

Later that day, Addie and I walked to the lighthouse which was so cool! It’s called Cape Santiago Lighthouse and our place was right next door. Our house also came with kayaks and so we used those around sunset! The next day, our hosts took us snorkeling for free!! That truly made my weekend. He knew all the good spots around and let us use his gear and flippers!

If you know me, I LOVE the water. Literally any kind. I love being in it, so the whole weekend was very peaceful for me and was great way to spend our days off.

On a different note, recently I went to a cockfight!!! I’ve been DYING to go to one this entire country and it was epic. I may or may not have bet 3 different times, but came home 40 pisos richer! (approximately 67 cents). It’s illegal in the Philippines to gamble but apparently not there? I’m still not sure but I didn’t get arrested! The amount of money bet per fight was insane. Each rooster would have around 100,000 pisos bet on them total. (About $1,700 USD)  The fights were in a colosseum and the fights go on all day. We stayed for maybe 7 fights. The roosters have knives attached to their feet which made for a pretty bloody match. It was very sad to watch but I was glad that I finally got to go.

On that graphic note, I hope this blog gives you a little peak into what my adventure/free time looked like in the Philippines! Many more blogs to come about this amazing country! Thank you for your continued support, I miss you all dearly!

Ellie

PS- if you are wondering about the first/cover photo, tune into my coming blogs about PVT (parent vision trip!)