256K!



ahhh.... the joys of internet cafes! I'm now surrounded by tech savvy teens in a 24 hour net cafe (what a happy insomniac am I!) where I can blog away at 35 cents/hour. Something for me to do when I can't go to the beach anymore because it's after hours.



Davao is as wonderful as always. A nutty combo of America and decidedly local, I'm so happy just wandering around. And it's all perfectly safe here. So I'll stop reporting on that, and just fill you on the good stuff.



Yesterday, my father, stepmother, aunt and I went to a small beach resort called "Pacific's Little Secret" on the Samal side of Talikud Island. It was so calm and gorgeous there. White sand is so normal here that when I showed a photo from SF to one of my local friends, he asked, "why is the sand brown?" I had to explain that all sand is brown in the states, and that beaches were cold. Pacific's Little Secret's secret is not just the beautifully artistic houses overlooking the beach or protected water... I think the big secret is their cook, Francine. We had the most overwhelmingly fabulous meal yesterday: barbecued tuna jaw, steamed prawns, kinilaw (raw tuna with vinegar, radish and onion), barbecue chicken, eggplant & coconut milk salad and local asparagus. I was so excited about the asparagus! They've just started growing it here and it's really yummy. Small tender stalks, almost like asparagus shoots. Later they served fried banana for merienda (a customary mid-afternoon meal) which you just have to taste to understand how good that can be. (Sorry to all my Salvadorean friends -- I think the Pinoy version is far superior!).



The night before I went ballroom dancing, as I will tonight as well. My friend Arvin is trying to teach me international style for latin dancing. I think it's funny so I'll do it. He has agreed to be in my documentary on the Dance Instructors (DIs) and will get the others to join in as well. As luck would have it, he's competing in the national championships this month while I'm here so I'll head up to Manila mid-trip to be there and tape that. Maybe I'll get some of the Manila DIs in as well. I hear that some of the women up there have gone as far as to buy houses for their DIs -- their husbands are not too happy about this turn of events. Time for me to film!



I checked in with the dive shop and will go out soon. Coral Garden, my regular dive site when I was here last, has been protected for the last couple of years and I'm eager to see if there's been much improvement. I will report out after I go.



Thanks for the emails and such. I'll be much more able to respond now that I don't have to wait (literally) 5-10 minutes for a page to load!