The Philippines: Christmas Day
We spent Christmas Day on our boat trip. Soren was quite concerned when I told him that we'd be in the Philippines for Christmas: "How will Santa find us?!"
I assured him that Santa would know where we are. And, I was right.
This was no small undertaking. It meant packing stockings and stocking stuffers for Soren, Peter, me, and our crew (Soren knows Santa wouldn't leave anyone out!) We traipsed half-way around the world with one of our backpacks filled with Christmas gear. The verdict: totally worth it.
For the most part, we didn't visit towns while we are the boat trip. But our crew did need to stop to refresh supplies that day and so we walked around the tiny town to see what was happening.
We were all eager to see the life in a tiny remote island town.
Since it was Christmas Day, there was no school and no one seemed to be working. Everyone was just out hanging out with their neighbors.
We happened across a huge outside bingo game in the town square. I didn't snap a picture of that because having three white people show up in the middle of the game was enough of a disturbance as it was!
As usual, kids are the best ambassadors.
They tagged along behind us as we walked around the village, shouting "Merry Christmas" everywhere we went.
This sign caught my attention.
We'd heard that cock-fighting was a popular event in the Philippines, so we shouldn't have been surprised to find it happening around the corner.
This is as close as we got though.
Cock fighting, not really our thing. Cock-fighting on Christmas Day? Nah, we'll pass.
I assured him that Santa would know where we are. And, I was right.
This was no small undertaking. It meant packing stockings and stocking stuffers for Soren, Peter, me, and our crew (Soren knows Santa wouldn't leave anyone out!) We traipsed half-way around the world with one of our backpacks filled with Christmas gear. The verdict: totally worth it.
For the most part, we didn't visit towns while we are the boat trip. But our crew did need to stop to refresh supplies that day and so we walked around the tiny town to see what was happening.
We were all eager to see the life in a tiny remote island town.
Since it was Christmas Day, there was no school and no one seemed to be working. Everyone was just out hanging out with their neighbors.
We happened across a huge outside bingo game in the town square. I didn't snap a picture of that because having three white people show up in the middle of the game was enough of a disturbance as it was!
As usual, kids are the best ambassadors.
They tagged along behind us as we walked around the village, shouting "Merry Christmas" everywhere we went.
This sign caught my attention.
We'd heard that cock-fighting was a popular event in the Philippines, so we shouldn't have been surprised to find it happening around the corner.
This is as close as we got though.
Cock fighting, not really our thing. Cock-fighting on Christmas Day? Nah, we'll pass.
Christmas day bingo with a side of cock fighting. Sounds like a great Christmas!
ReplyDeletePacking Christmas for a vacation like that would be a serious pain in the butt. I'm so glad it was worth it!