Home Again
A couple of days after leaving Topeka
(see post Stranded Part II), we arrived in Manila about 4:30 am on
Saturday 6/3/2017. The Mabuhay Manor had received our e-mail about
being a day late and they had the shuttle waiting for us. Activities
at the airport looked normal, Resorts World Manila across the street
looked okay as if nothing terrible happened the night before (also in
post Stranded Part II)
We arrived at the hotel about 5:00 am
and our friends, the Watsons from Wichita were in the lobby waiting
for the shuttle to take them to the airport for their return flight
to the United States. We had about 10 minutes of time together
before they left.
We did an early check-in at the hotel
so we can shower and take a nap before we head for the Cebu Pacific
booking office. We could not contact Cebu Pacific Air from San
Francisco to cancel our tickets for Tacloban. Due to our delayed
flight in Dallas, we missed our connecting flight to Manila, which in
turn made us miss our Cebu Pacific flight to Tacloban. We knew our
tickets are already considered flown but we were still hoping they'll
listen to our plea....NOT. So we booked and paid for another flight.
JJ had to be in school that Tuesday.
Due to time change, we all slept from
about 10 in the morning that day and didn't wake up until 4:00 am
Sunday. That 2 hours from 4:00 am to 6:00 am was hard as the last
meal we had was breakfast the previous day.
Later we met up with my sister Jane and
her family at Market-Market at Bonifacio Global City and had dinner
at the Seafood Island. In the Philippines, malls are always crowded
no matter what day of the year. They are called mega malls with 4 or
5 stories of specialties shops and stores. Today, Sunday, it is even
more crowded as it is the day before school opening and there were
back-to-school sales going on.
On Monday, we went to the U.S. Embassy
to surrender JJ's emergency passport and obtain his new permanent
one. This was a smooth transaction with no problems. After the
Embassy we went to the Mall of Asia, another mega mall, and had
Shakey's Pizza for lunch.
We spent one more night in the hotel
and at 2:30 Tuesday morning we were up again so we could catch the
airport shuttle at 3:00 for our 5:30 flight to Tacloban. We arrived
in Tacloban about 7:30 and had to tell several porters to leave our
bags alone. At the regional airports, the porters are very
aggressive trying to get your bags for a tip. Flor went ahead and
had one porter help us find transportation back to Hinunangan.
After about a 2 hour drive we arrived home.
We had the transportation driver stay
around for a few minutes while we made sure our car would start. The
battery was dead on our car and the driver was more than happy to
give us a jump start.
We found out we were in a black out and
had no electricity until about 6:00 pm. I turned the water back on
(or so I thought), but we did not have water. Thinking we were in
the dry season, we thought we might be back to only having water from
3:00 am – 5:00 am. A neighbor said they had water and we checked
our valve again. Unlike America, the water pipes are not 3' below
ground. Here the pipes are barely buried and sometimes even above
ground. This leads to pipe breakage. So, before we left, I had
turned off the water at the meter so we would not lose water. I went
back to the meter and turned the valve again and we had water and
started filling our water barrel. The only thing I can think of is
someone turned our water on while we were gone. Not knowing this, I
had turned it off when I thought I had turned it on.
Because we did not have enough water to
run the washing machine yet, we went to the mountain stream to wash
our curtains and bedding and heavier clothing items.
We are finally back into a normal
day-to-day routine. We have the porch swing hung again. I did some
repairs on the pig shed and goat shed. We sold all but 3 of the
piglets. The people who took care of the animals while we were gone
are going to raise the 3 remaining piglets. I have started planting
the seeds that we brought from America (will let you know how that
goes).
We drove to Talcoban on Thursday
6/15/17 so Flor could buy supplies to restock her store.
While in America, we bought a KU flag.
We now have it flying on the porch of the house.
The people who took care of the animals
while we were gone needed a new place to live. Flor and I decided to
rent our shed to them. They will help take care of the store and
take care of the maintenance on the shed. They will also continue to
help with the animals and property.
Even though it was a stressful trip
with many turns, it was nice seeing family and friends. Zachary,
Joshua, Mom, Dad, Lynette, Rick, the Hicks, the Allens, Pat, Esther,
David and Violet, Brenda, Dolores Wells, the Rojeros, Sunnyside
Baptist family in Wichita, First Southern Baptist family in Topeka,
the Midway family, the Carsons in Salina and many more. We enjoyed
hot dogs and s'mores with mom and dad at the lake. We helped dad
move a patio table made of cement, the top was about 400 pounds.
Returning to Topeka from Wichita we stopped at the scenic overlook,
cattle pens, near Cassoday on the Turnpike. Brenda Foster was very
generous and bought JJ a build-your-own stuffed Sonic while we were
at Towne East Mall in Wichita.
We were impressed with Philippine
Airline (PAL). Even in economy class, there was enough leg room for
me. Customer care was excellent and when we had our problems at the
airport, PAL was very accommodating. When we make the trip again we
will fly PAL for sure.
We have always like Mahbuay Manor in
Manila. If you book on line, they have deals for round trip airport
shuttle and continental breakfast. If you stay there a couple of
days, they provide shuttles to the Mall of Asia. They will also help
arrange transportation to other destinations.
We also want to thank the Midway
Wholesale family (a premier construction and building supply house in
the Topeka area) for being very generous with art supplies and
shipping. Sunnyside Baptist church in Wichita for hygiene supplies
and money. First Baptist church in Topeka for more supplies and
money. June and Phillip Hicks of Wichita for hospitality and
shipping. John and Gina Allen of Topeka for allowing Flor to help
them in their time of grief. My sister Lynette Beebe of Kansas City
for supplies and having JJ spend the night with her. And many
others.
