We got up at 4:30am to shower and head downstairs by 5am. We took a bus to the ferry and the 2-hour ferry ride took us to the island of Bohol. We had free Wi-Fi on the ferry so we were able to call and check on the boys. We found out Dylan had been sent home from school with an upset stomach. We were briefly able to talk to him and excited to hear his voice. I'm really missing my boys. We haven't talked to Eli since LAX but I don't think he minds so much. They are doing well with their Aunt and sounds like they are having tons of fun with the beautiful weather. We met Pastor Richard Famadoro at the ferry to take us to Bohol. He has been at our church (Wilson Creek) before and we gave him money to help pay for church property. He was our tour guide. We started at McDonald's for breakfast where they serve rice with almost every meal you can order. It was super cheap, even cheaper than McDonald's in the states. I took pictures of McDonald's and the menu so everyone can see. Hopefully, I can get some pictures uploaded tonight.
We left there to go to Blood Point, at least I think that's what it was called. It had something to do with Magellan coming to the island and signing an agreement with them that was supposed to be a Peace Treaty but turned into the Spaniards turning the people of Bohol into slaves.
We moved from there to go to the oldest Catholic church on the island (400 years old). It was built by the people of Bohol under slave control. It was an old run down building but inside had all the fancy idols and things you would typically see in a Catholic church. They still hold mass there but they have a museum upstairs. It was interesting to say the least.
Our next stop was this place where we got to see what they think is the largest python in the Philippines. I don't know what the measurement is now, but in 2005 they said it was 23 feet long. I actually got in the cage and touched it. Chris even sat "Flat Dylan" on the python for a picture. If you don't know who "Flat Dylan" is you'll have to ask me later. It's a fun story.
We went from there to a different stop where they had Tarsier monkeys. They are the smallest monkey in the world and are going extinct. I think you can actually only find them on the island of Bohol. They are super cute. The place also had a couple other monkeys who were chained to fences and that had a small python which you could have wrapped around your shoulders and then a picture taken. I refrained this time. I was taking a picture of one of the other monkeys and it actually jumped at my camera. Good thing it was on a chain!
We then took a riverboat cruise that had a buffet on it. We got to eat all kinds of things that we didn't know what it was. A guy sang to us and we went down the river and saw some really short waterfalls and then back up the river. We stopped alongside at one time and this group of about 20 girls, women, boys, and men sang to us and danced and played all kinds of music. I took some pictures and video.
After that, we headed to this place called Chocolate Hills. It was these really neat hills that are supposedly made of coral. Of course, you can't see the coral because it's covered in grass. The funny thing is that all the valleys had palm trees and other trees, but there were no trees on these hills. The other funny thing, they didn't market very well. I couldn't even buy chocolate there unless it was milk or ice cream. We chose mango ice cream and it was absolutely delicious.
We drove through a man-made forest. I guess the area was completely undeveloped so they mandated boys to be in boy scouts and they had to plant trees. They created a forest along part of the road we traveled. It was pretty neat.
Our last touristy stop was the zip line. We went across the river that we had taken the riverboat cruise on earlier in the day. We got to go side by side going one way. Chris and I started at the same time, but he ended up passing me about halfway. On the way back it was only one at a time and I chose to go last so Chris could take my picture coming in. The last zip line was much faster but both were totally fun. We did them both Superman style!
After all the tourist stuff, the pastor took us to show us the property their church was in the process of purchasing and then we got to go to their current church which is quite a drive away. I will definitely have to show you pictures of this. I am so thankful for our church and the building we have. They run about 180 people, but meet in plastic lawn chairs under a tent. There aren't even enough chairs for everyone to sit down, yet their church continues to grow. There aren't any fans to move air and it was just plain old dirty. The back of the church had dorms for their Bible college students. I can't even put into words how sad my heart felt to see where they sleep, cook, eat, and do laundry. Their church also has a Christian school and lots of the kids were still there. They use old A.C.E. curriculum that churches in the states send them. They are happy with that and well known in their community for having an American style school. That is a good thing on their island. It's highly regarded. The pastor lives in part of the building and also has his office there. It's so small, but I know that's normal for them.
We then went to eat an authentic dinner at a local chicken place. We got to watch them cook our chicken on an open flame grill at the front of the restaurant. Then, they took it to the back and put it on plates and served it with none other than "rice" :) They eat rice with everything here just like most oriental countries. We headed back and waited on our ferry, got on the ferry and got back to the pier around 8:30pm. There was only 1 van there so our driver waited around for a while to make sure another van got there to pick up the rest of the group. We got back to our hotel around 9:00pm. We got cleaned up and crawled into bed. I responded to some e-mails and Chris informed me he wasn't tired. However, within about 3 minutes he was snoring so loud I had to wake him up to get him to roll over. Guess he was more tired than he thought. I turned off the lights about 10pm. This mattress is probably just as comfortable as the one back home :) Some of you will actually understand that joke!
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