A Day Trip to New Washington
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2011
1
11
Trip End
Jan 30, 2012
New Washington, Western Visayas, Philippines
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The house was a beautiful white Spanish type mansion, well, mansion might be too big of a word, but it certainly wasn't a bungalow. A similar house in Toronto would easily be a couple of million bucks.
We drove to New Washington in the Jeep and took some side roads to get there, through the fish farms that are numerous in the area, and ended up on a small road heading towards the ocean. There were lots of small houses and bamboo huts and then we came up on the walls around the compound. We knocked on the gate and were allowed into a beautifully landscaped yard and the huge house.
There was a big wrap around veranda, with nice chairs and a patio set, and inside a huge living room, with flat screen tv and comfy couches. A modern kitchen, two bedrooms, a modern laundry room and a full bath with a flush toilet and hot water shower.
The entire upstairs was a huge balcony and the master bedroom and another bathroom. Really not a very well designed space, but beautiful nonetheless.
The balcony looking over the yard is huge there is a great view of the ocean. It also gave a great view of the neighbourhood, which was mostly bamboo and bare cinderblock houses. Again, the closeness of rich and poor right beside each other is very striking. We took a walk around and down to the beach, where a fisherman was stringing his net and where another group were selling their fish. People obviously lived off the sea in this area, and there were a number of small two man fishing boats up on the shore. The waves were quite high; I could not imagine taking one of these small boats out without capsizing, but it happens all the time.
Dinner was a nice affair, out on the balcony. Served was a cucumber salad, a shrimp dish and chicken adobo. The adobo was pretty much all white meat, and that was a change, as most places in the Philippines only serve the dark meat. Not sure if they did that in deference to me atending, or because one of the family was from the western world.
After lunch we rested in the living room watching some TV, and pretty much all of us fell asleep for the afternoon siesta. When we woke, we visited a bit more, and then headed home.
We stopped for a bit in Kalibo to pick up a couple of things. We also stopped in Numancia as Allan wanted to pick up some balut which was being sold by the side of the road. Balut, as you can read in the link is a partially fertilized duck egg. Yuk, but the filipino's love them. Allan bought enough for everyone. (but me)
One more day, and it will be time to leave the country, and head to Manila.
