This morning I woke up early, despite the late night, at 6:30 am.  (Note that this is very surprising for people who know me because I hate to wake up early--I don't really function before 10 am.)  Anyway, I listened to the rain for a little while and then got up to start the day.

My uncle and aunt planned to drive the jeep into Calapan after lunch to go to the palengke (market) and suggested that Sharon and I go with them.  I was glad to have the opportunity to see the city during the day!

It was a terrible typhoon season (the last big one happening on my cousin Keren's birthday) and as we drove along I saw many roofless houses.  The most striking thing on the road toward Calapan (about a 45 minute drive, unless my cousin Keren is driving, and in that case it is only about 20-30 minutes) are the rice fields.  Mindoro is known as one of the most beautiful islands in the Philippines and I can definitely see why.  Much of it is untouched, in a natural state, and that is just beautiful.  There are many green rice fields, and I thought I was hallucinating when I smelled the rice.  But no, I asked my aunts and uncles and they say yes, you can definitely smell it.  Reminds me of how a good friend of mine growing up always said our house smelled like rice pudding; I think she would find that rural Mindoro smells very similarly.

The word Mindoro actually comes from the Spanish, "Mina de Oro," meaning gold mine, but there haven't been any major gold discoveries there (info courtesy of Jens Peters' Philippines Travel Guide).

In Calapan, we went to the town plaza and saw the statue of a Mangyan, which are the native peoples of the island.  Also, there was a statue of Jose Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and a prominant advocate for Philippine independence from Spain, martyred for his beliefs and writings.

After that, we texted Keren (texting is huge all over the world--outside the US--and the Philippines is no different) and she met us at the Catholic church.  We rode on her motorbike with her to the high school where they graduated and then over to Chowking (Filipino fast food) for some snacks.  I had my first taste of Halo-halo (mix-mix) which is delicious.  The base of this dessert is shaved ice, over which you pour condensed milk and a mix-mix of different sweet fruits, beans, gelatins and flan.

So one last word about cell phone service: um, amazing.  Especially amazing because we are staying in a very remote area where the roads aren't paved and there are frequent brown outs.  And the cell service?  Perfection.  Full bars.  It isn't that good in my apartment in Cville.  Sigh.