Watermelon at Carbon Market

We always love to see all the melons at the market.   So many red and yellow ones!  One of the blessings of living in paradise-- year-round watermelon!

First trip to Bohol, March 12, 2018

March 12 is our oldest son's birthday, so we celebrated by going on a daytrip.  We just wish he could have been with us!  Bohol is an island just east of Cebu Island.  Elder Hobbs spent a lot of time and energy arranging this trip, which was a birthday celebration for all of us with February and March birthdays. 

The port where we got on the ferry had security like an airport,
but the carved deer heads puzzled me.  Maybe they are hiding the security cameras?

Comfy ferry seats, very cold aircon, crummy movie, but great company!  

I love living in a religious country.  There was a safety video-- like a plane--
then a "Prayer and Safety" video.
I especially liked this line.  I need that help every day! 

The rain started just as we disembarked from the ferry.  

Bohol is an island just southeast of Cebu. Our ferry ride took about two hours.
We were blessed with calm seas, so nobody got seasick.    

View from the van as we drove.  It was so good to get out in the country.
Cebu is such a crowded city that this was a wonderful contrast.

But even in the jungle there is road construction! 

Carabao, domesticated water buffalo, have traditionally been the "workhorses" of Filipino farms.

They are the national animal of the Philippines.

Carabao, domesticated water buffalo, have traditionally been the "workhorses" of Filipino farms.

Harvesting rice.  Such hard physical work. 

Sister Siguiente  at the Chocolate Hills in the rain. 

 More tourists in the rain.

View from the top of the staircase.  There are about 1500 small hills, designated as a National Geological Monument.  Here's some of the Wikipedia article :"The Chocolate Hills form a rolling terrain of haycock hills – mounds of a generally conical and almost symmetrical shape. Estimated to be from 1,268 to about 1,776 individual mounds, these cone-shaped or dome-shaped hills are actually made of grass-covered limestone. The domes vary in sizes from 30 to 50 metres (98 to 164 ft) high with the largest being 120 metres (390 ft) in height. Bohol's "main attraction", these unique mound-shaped hills are scattered by the hundreds throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan in Bohol.
During the dry season, the grass-covered hills dry up and turn chocolate brown. This transforms the area into seemingly endless rows of "chocolate kisses"." They were beautiful in the misty rain, but I'd love to visit again on a sunny day. 

Our van driver, Romie. 

The Hobbs and the Alfornons at the Tarsier Preserve. 

Most of these tiny, nocturnal, fist-size monkeys
that we saw were asleep,
but this one posed for us with his eyes open.  

 Look at these missionary triplets all in blue plaid shirts!

The double swinging bridge.   

The swinging bridges again, and Ron in the foreground with a real smile--
very unusual in a picture of him. 

Big Aussie photobomber. I love Elder Siguiente's surprised look!

Big Aussie photobomber.
I love Elder Siguiente's surprised look!

Sister and Elder Siguiente
with their new friend. 

                                                       

Elder and Sister Kidd

My birthday presents from the trip-- a woven tray, and a young coconut that was sliced off for me to drink the coconut water.  After that, we took it back to the little stall and they bored out the young, tender coconut meat, called buko.  Filipinos don't eat the old coconut like we do;
instead the meat from the older coconut will be ground finely, covered with water,
and then squeezed out to make fresh coconut milk. 

An idyllic scene from the road by the swinging bridges.
The fisherman is using the original version of a bamboo rod-- a piece of bamboo! 

Bohoc River floating restaurant.
We had planned on doing a dinner cruise on a riverboat,
but we ran out of time.  Next time... 

We visited a small zoo that had a butterfly enclosure.
Ron takes butterfly pictures like I take flower pictures,
but we will just share one of many.   

Beautiful!

WARNING to those with ophiophobia (snake-phobia).  

You might want to stop reading now.  

There were about seven large pythons at this little zoo, along with a few alligators, some chickens (python food), and a hawk that looked like a miniature bald eagle.
This albino python was full and sluggish, so she didn't mind getting some love. Since we couldn't pick this one up, we got another chance with another python.

It was a memorable day.  I can't wait to go back to Bohol.