I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t excited about the stop in Davao. I get to reunite with my worship mentor, Kuya Rey, Ate Minette and their entire family. I’m very excited to see how they are doing back in the Philippines and what they have been up to.
They pick me up and take me back to their place where the rest of the family is waiting to greet me: Mama Perla, Papa Rudy, Ate Micah, Kuya Rey’s children, Sheng-Sheng and Nette-Nette, Ate Melissa, Kuya Jonel and their son Alec. It was great to see them all again, I had seen them all over the years but not altogether. I had no idea what to expect for the next four days, but I was sure they would be eventful and exciting.
The next morning, they took me to a very nice and authentic Filipino breakfast buffet. They told me during my stay in Davao, they would take me on the “tour”: a list of restaurants and resorts where they normally take all of their guests. Along with that they would include things they thought I would enjoy. To my pleasant surprise, right after breakfast they took me to a zipline where I enjoyed an aerial view of Davao. We returned back to the house to pick up the kids and then we headed to Jack’s Ridge, a scenic restaurant up in the mountains.
After a great lunch with nice scenery to boot we headed over to PISD, the school founded by Mama Perl. The school started a little over 10 years ago with just 40 students for the 1st grade. Now PISD caters to students grades K-12 and has grown to over 1700 students with a preschool being formed in the near future. I got to tour around the high school campus, asking questions about their curriculum (especially in math!) and other school logistics.
We end the day by going to Abreeza, the newest mall in the city (as well as the only Starbucks in the city). After some delicious coffee and banana bread we called it a night, quite a lot for my first day here.
It’s Sunday and Kuya Rey forwarns me that today is going to be a day-long affair. It turns out that the church they attend is so big that there are three services: one at 7 am, one at 9 am and one at 7 pm and he tells me that we are going to the later two. To top that all it is also Nette-Nette’s birthday today.
We get to the church where Kuya Rey and Ate Minette mic check with the band while I am being introduced and take in the surroundings. To make a long story short, the service was a very powerful experience that I really needed at the time (I’ll go into more detail about this later).
We then proceeded to go back to the house where the party was thrown for Nette-Nette. It was a pretty small party in Filipino terms, the whole family plus the pastor’s family, around 15 people or so. However there was enough food for probably 60+ people, it was crazy! They had lechon (roasted pig, a staple for any Filipino party), chicken, fish, beef plus desserts, quite the feast to say the least. We have lechons in the U.S. but they pale significantly in comparison to the ones here in the Philippines. The meat is so tender and the skin is so crispy, oh it’s lamit!
After the extended lunch we go back to church for the night service. However instead of holding it at the sanctuary in Buhangin, it is held at the school, PISD. The service ends around 8:30 and by then I am just dead. Kuya Rey wasn’t kidding about Sunday being a whole-day affair. Nevertheless, it was a spirit-filled day with some great food to boot.
On Monday, we go to one of the resorts, the Mergrande. The cool thing about Kuya Rey and Ate Minette’s location is that since they live close to the middle of the city, everything is accessible. The beach resorts are only 30 minutes away, the malls are only 10-15 minutes away, it is really convenient.
I first went to the dagat (the ocean) since I haven’t been yet, but the water looked pretty filthy so I passed and just settled for the pool at the resort. I don’t know what it is but there is something very calm and serene about the water. I would just float in the water and stare upwards all day if I could. There were a couple of slides there by the pool but other than that nothing extravagant. However it did not matter at all, I just had a great time with Kuya Rey and the family there.
Mama Perl and Ate Micah met us there for lunch at the beach. It was the perfect ambience, eating right beside the beach in beautiful weather with the wind blowing at us and the mountains in the distance. To top that all the food was fantastic. I know I keep ranting on the food here, but it truly is delicious! But Mama Perl is really trying to kill me, serving me more and more and more food. She told me that I was not to leave Davao unless I gained 5 lbs. The way she is feeding me I don’t think that’s a problem ;) Afterwards we go back to the pool and swim for another couple of hours, then we go back to the school as they all need to get stuff ready for the first day of school on Wednesday.
It’s Tuesday and my last full day in Davao L Kuya Rey and Ate Minette decide to take me to the Eden Gardens. It is up in the mountains, but from there you can see the entire city of Davao, it was quite a spectacle to see.
I got to go yet again on another zipline, not as long as some of the others, but still another thrilling experience. Afterwards Kuya Rey and I tried the obstacle course as well as the “Indiana Jones” (pretty much a rope sliding thingamajigger). Later on we got to look a little around the gardens. To be honest, I’m not much into flowers and all, but the gardens there are absolutely beautiful. Since the garden has trees surrounding the whole place, the colors are really vibrant and look amazing.
We end our stay at the Eden Gardens by going fishing in some of the ponds. However instead of using real rods and smaller fish for bait, we used bamboo sticks with fishing line and real worms for bait. In spite of the lack of advanced fishing equipment, I caught my first fish in literally 30 seconds! I was pretty proud of myself, given that my previous fishing experiences have not been too successful. However my success was overshadowed as later, Nette-Nette went on to catch three fish in the duration of like 3 minutes. Here I am, a recent college graduate being outperformed by an eight-year in fishing, not one of my finer moments. I was able to redeem myself and catch another fish.
Before leaving we ate lunch there, the main course being the fish that we just caught. It was a simple preparation, the tilapia was just deep fried, but it was some of the best fish I’ve ever had in my life. Probably it was just the combination that the fish was really fresh and it was one of the fish that I caught, but it was some pretty solid fish. Being a true Filipino I used a dipping sauce of soy sauce, calamansi (small citrus fruit, like a lime) a couple of small chilies and some vinegar, ooh it was delicious, so much that I ate virtually the entire fish, head and all only leaving the bones left. Yes it sounds weird, eating the head, the eyes and all but hey, it’s the Philippines.
After heading back home and taking a small nap, I was informed that we were going to eat at a buffet for dinner. I tell you, Mama Perl wasn’t joking about me gaining weight and all. In the Philippines, you eat and eat and eat… and eat. I’m not complaining about it, I know for myself if my clothes are still going to fit I can’t gain too much. It was a pretty good buffet and a nice way to cap off my stay in Davao.
What an amazing time I had in Davao! As busy as they all were with school stuff, Kuya Rey, Ate Minette, Mama Perl, Papa Rudy and family all made me feel so welcome and were so accommodating. They are truly a family who love to serve God and to be able to see that manifested in their ministries, both in the school and church was truly admirable and encouraging. I will miss them all dearly, but it’s time to move on. Next stop is my parents' hometown of Cabadbaran!
