Joseph's Notes

Moving After living in a studio condo high above Uptown Cagayan de Oro for a couple of months, we packed up all our stuff and headed four or five hours away to the province of Bukidnon in Central Mindanao.  Bukidnon is a rather small (in population) province of about 1.5 million people. The name "Bukidnon" means "mountain dweller", and mountains are very prevalent here. Four of the ten tallest mountains in the Philippines are in Bukidnon. The provincial capital is Malaybalay, a city of about 190,000 people. Thirty-five kilometers south of Malaybalay on the Sayre Highway is the largest (and only other) city in the province, Valencia City, with about 216,000 people.  We are currently living in the town of Don Carlos which is about thirty kilometers south of Valencia. Flower bushes for sale in Malabalay   Fruit trees for sale. Bukidnon is considered the Food Basket of Mindanao                   ...

We planned to spend Christmas with Lyn’s extended family in Bukidnon for the first time. We did, and it was good. Lyn and her brothers and sister did a lot of cooking and preparation. It was a magnificent feast for two days! Among other things they fixed barbecued pork and chicken (meat on a stick), pancit bihon, chicken adobo, Elizabeth’s famous green bean and chicken dish, fruit salad, Wendie’s famous mango float, and biko. On Christmas Eve night we had a party with games for the kids and prizes. It was so funny we laughed until we cried! Nearly 20 people slept in Lorenzo’s small house that night. Christmas morning 12 people volunteered to go over to our new property near Maramag to clean it up. The weeds were high, but the volunteers (mostly Lyn’s Papa) cleared it in an hour. The malunggay and lemongrass Wendie planted earlier are doing well, but the ginger not so much. I was excited to see the dragon fruit doing well. We also harvested 8 watermelons from the seeds Lorenzo had pl...

  From the time we landed in Cebu, the heat, the dust, the rampant poverty, the crowds, the traffic--oh, the traffic--yet I missed this place. Well, we had a safe trip, not without a few mishaps. In Columbia when we were checking in, the attendant told us that the Philippine government demands an on-going or return ticket before entry. While that's true in most cases, they allow a balikbayan privilege: if one of a husband or wife is a returning Filipino, the other, the foreigner, can stay for one year without a return ticket. The attendant was nice and polite, but also very helpful. While I desperately looked for a throw away ticket to buy, s he stayed on the phone with her superiors for about twenty minutes until she got the answer we needed. We could proceed. When we got to Atlanta, without our prior knowledge or consent, they told us that because of weight considerations, our luggage would not be travelling with us. They did not know when it would arrive. Sure enough, when we ar...

 (The following comparison is my opinion only after having lived in both Dumaguete and Tagbilaran before and during the pandemic. I published a shorter comparison of the two cities on November 19, 2019 when we first moved to Bohol. This one is more complete.) Standing in the middle of "The Boulevard" in Dumaguete at sunrise Dumaguete and Tagbilaran, are two smaller but significant cities in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. They are on distinct islands, Dumaguete on the island of Negros and Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol, separated only by the island of Cebu. Both are thriving cities, and are well known for being tourist hot spots and retirement destinations for expats from around the world. They are similar in size, Dumaguete with about 134,000 residents and Tagbilaran with about 105,000. Each is the provincial capital, Dumaguete of the province of Negros Oriental and Tagbilaran of the province of Bohol; and each is the largest city in the province (Tagbil...

Bohol!   So many memories: Visiting all 47 towns in the province Exploring the Bohol countryside Eating at the original Bohol Bee Farm over the ocean on Panglao Enjoying Sagbayan Peak Viewing the Chocolate Hills Seeing the tarsiers up close Trips to Island City Mall (our favorite mall) Visiting Mirror of the World in Sikatuna All You Can Eat shrimp and chicken buffet Thrilling rides in Danao Adventure Park Swimming, snorkeling, and free diving lessons with Blue Freedom Apnea Staying at 10 different resorts in Panglao $7 professional massages at Masaje de Bohol Board games at home Flying the camera drone Excellent meals at Talimbaw Art Museum and Restaurant Eating street food whenever we wanted (especially barbecue) Visiting several nature centers and zoos But it is time to move on. In early March we left Bohol to spend a few weeks with Lyn’s family in Bukidnon. We loaded up a truck with our belongings bringing our car and motorcycle down to the doc...