My morning was so busy that I didn’t even realise it was the last day of the year until about 3 in the afternoon. My morning was taken up with escaping Puerto Galera, with the rain seeing us off we searched and were guided to various spots where our non-existent boat was “waiting”. It was all a lie. When the boat was actually located the theme song from “Gilligan’s island” started playing in my head, uh oh. That’s never a good sign. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind that I overheard the B’s exclaiming that it’s always rough on at least one trip to Puerto Galera.
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, and the three of us (Miss B, J and I) were the last to get into the boat and so were seated right by the prow. The breeze was filtering through but then a deckhand pulled a soaking wet blue cloth across the opening, now we had no breeze and were being showered from a wet flapping piece of cloth. Even after it was pulled across the opening one wave still managed to break through and completely soaked me! Talk about adding insult to injury. But… At least I wasn’t snoozing like Miss B was. It’s fair to say she awoke in a rather abrupt manner.
Back on the mainland I witnessed a new year superstition or custom that Filipinos practice. Lining the streets were many fruit vendors and apparently it is good luck to have at least 10 round/spherical fruits in your home while the new year crosses over as it will cause you to be prosperous. I apologise for telling you guys this now… But you can prepare for next year I guess. This custom has been in the Philippines for many years but it originated in China as they practice a similar custom there for there new year. You have to feel sorry for the poor banana sellers though. Although pineapples are counted as spherical so maybe there’s some leeway.
At home while we waited for the year to pass by we amused ourselves with various board games and a curious piece of fun called Tribond. The concept was to guess what three different things had in common, such as a pie, the earth and a slice of bread. All have a crust, see? It’s fair to say that Mr B and I absolutely decimated the competition. Trinoma, Rook and Quirkle, if anything this is what I’ll take home from my trip to the Philippines. I think my new year resolution will be to play more games with my family throughout the year.
Finally, what stuck out to me the most is the fireworks. Fireworks, unlike in the U.S and Australia, are able to be purchased by an individual for their enjoyment (legally). When midnight approached and as the year crossed over I thought Metro Manila had been invaded. Thunderous shells cracked from down the street and a continuous crackle-thump could be heard in every direction around us. It was deafening, it was exciting to see, it was probably a miracle no one died. Our neighbours seemed bent on scorching their driveway.
We ourselves had bought some low altitude fireworks. How low altitude you ask? Well they explode here:
While I was switching between photographing the surroundings and gawking at the sky I heard a deafening bang behind me and whipped round in time to photograph this:
Whether an angel was materialising behind me or what I don’t know but it scared me to death.
Happy new year by the way! New starts, new beginnings etc etc. start the diets that will end in February and break out the New Years resolutions! Now. It’s time to really celebrate the new year the way 90% of the population does. I’m going to go to sleep. Night night.
The adventures of the Ukulele kid 