Matt is off to Bohol

Monday, 3rd October 2011

Matt left bright and early this morning to catch a boat to Bohol, and then a bus to the other side of the island. Silas and Eden were still asleep when he left.

It was very quiet at the hall this morning after the men all left. Sis Mary Jane and Buddy left soon after breakfast to go back up to Balaas.

At about 8.27am I received a message from Matt “the boat leaves at 8.00 every day except Monday, when it leaves at 11.00”. Such is life. Pity about the sleep in!

We have had a quiet morning, doing some washing and the children have been playing 'house' in the back of the multicab and among the now cool ashes from the fire, until I decided they were sooty enough and gave them a bubble bath in the washtub.

Pretty cute!

Lunch was served early, and then Sis Conchita had to go back to the markets to buy the fish she had forgotten in the morning. I was even allowed to help cut up some vegetables for lunch!

After lunch, I read one of Silas's readers to Noah as a bedtime story and he went to sleep, and then we enjoyed reading many chapters of “On the Banks of Plum Creek”.

Noah slept of for about 4 hours, which was lovely. I even had a chance to sleep in the hall on a woven bamboo mat and a 'filipino pillow' (small and hard).

Another amazing thing has happened – we are to sleep at the hall tonight without a companion – very unusual. So an uneventful day has ended for us...

And now for Matthew's day:

Bro Felcris, Bro Frans and I left early for the ferry, only to find that we had a four hour wait in front of us before the ferry us to depart. We all slept for a while, then Felcris and myself walked into town and found the local internet cafe for a while. Then we all walked along a bamboo jetty to a floating restaurant to have our lunch of fish (lapu-lapu) and prawns. As we were finishing the food the ferry arrived.

Walking out to the floating restaurant

Our table at the floating restaurant

After the two hour ferry ride we arrived at Loon on the island of Bohol. Here Felcris introduced me to a Filipino ATM (Automated Tubig Machine, tubig being water). You take a plastic bag and put it under the spout, insert your money and out comes the water.

Anyone for some calamari?

Eventually a bus arrived, but it was full. No problem – there is always the roof, so we all climbed up and rode the next half hour into the next town (Tubigon) on the roof with another twelve people. The bus driver must have been running late for a meeting because he wasn't hanging around at all.

From Tubigon we rode in a van for an hour to Telibon. Here we found a but to take us to Ubay. An indication of how good the bus was, was the fact that it needed to be push started. A very slow trip to Ubay and now it was beginning to get dark.

This is the push start bus - a bit like a child's toy car really!

The next ride was in a jeepney packed to the brim. We were fortunate to get on early and get a good seat. Again the roof was also full of people. The most impressive part was the conductor who held onto the side of the jeepney for almost the whole trip. He collected the fares for everyone on the roof and most of those inside whilst hanging on from outside and reaching through the windows. The jeepney dropped us at Candihai, where we rode the back of a motorbike each to Canawa where we stayed.

The place we stayed is a large house, owned by a Bro from Aus who married a Filipino. They both now live in Aus and they built the house for the extended family in the Philippines. They also built it with a large room to be used as an ecclesial hall. Unfortunately the house isn't finished yet. There are no doors at all. There is a dirt floor in the kitchen and dining area. Nothing is painted, the toilet has no running water and only a shower curtain separates it from the kitchen. There are no windows either. However our bedroom had a wooden floor (upstairs) and a woven mat to sleep on and a pillow.

We were fed dinner and I had a quick wash to freshen up, then we did a Bible study on the subject of the God is one, and Jesus Christ His son. This was followed by a coffee and then sleep. It is amazing how comfortable a wooden floor is when you are tired.