Day Three (October 25th)

We started the day down in the lobby of our hotel, eating a quick to-go breakfast before heading to the airport. My first official meal in the philippines consisted of rice, cold chicken, bread and butter. This interesting meal was very short-lived as we were rushed off to the airport to catch our early flight. We made the flight and arrived in Bohol a few hours later. This is when the abundance of appreciation began.. We stepped off the plane and were greeted by a marching band, huge welcome banner and seashell necklaces.. oh yah, tons of hugs from the staff of the mayor's office. It was the best welcome ever! I was overwhelmed with the appreciation and yep.. I shed some tears. Big shocker to everyone, I'm sure. We gathered our bags and loaded in the vans. It was probably about a 30 minute drive to the hotel.. actually, it was a resort. An amazing resort (www.thepeacockgarden.com). We pulled up to the resort and everyone's jaws dropped.. It was beautiful! As we stepped out of the vans we were greeted with coconuts with umbrella straws.. a fresh drink of coconut milk. I'll be honest.. I didn't really like it, but the setting was pretty awesome! The relations manager "Mel" gave us a brief tour of the resort and showed us all to our rooms. We found out that the mayor worked out a deal with the resort owner and made it possible for us to stay there. It was an amazing way to start our Bohol adventure! This day was to be our only day until the very end to sight see and relax. After lunch, we went to see the Chocolate Hills (www.bohol.ph/article6.html). It was alot of fun and truly beautiful! Time flew while we were at the hills.. We had to go straight to our dinner destination. On this night, we enjoyed dinner on a river boat with a ton of mysterious Filippino food. I say mysterious because at this point, I just didn't know what to think about all the new foods. I'm usually very open to trying new foods, but in a different country, my mind wasn't feeling so open. I made it through the meal though and life was still very good! A favorite part of this day was a performance by the Loboc Childrens Choir (www.bohol.ph/article76.html). It was amazing! I have to say though that the best part of the evening was a performance by the Loboc Childrens Ambassador Band (www.boholchronicle.com/2008/oct/5/comm1.htm). We had finished dinner and were all very tired. We were ready to go home and the mayor was insistent that we stayed to hear just a couple songs from this band. We gave in.. and we were all blown away! Again, I shed some tears. It was just blowing my mind that these beautiful people were so thankful that we were there! I felt unbelievably humbled to be part of this group! I wish there was some way that I could transport everyone to that very night and share the experience of this band! Unbelievable is all that I can say!! After the band, we did head back to the Peacock and we all crashed. For me, I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours at that point. I was ready for bed!!
And so ends day 3.