Sights from the Philippines

The monument to Quezon, in the heart of Quezon City. This park was just down the road and was visible from our hotel.

A typical city street in Meycauyan, Bulacan.

University of Santo Tomas, a school very proud to be "older than Harvard". This is where Gus went to school.

Inside Fort Santiago

Statue of Lapu Lapu, the hero who killed Ferdinand Magellan.

View across Manila Bay

Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila

The Monument to Jose Rizal, the Luneta, Manila. Near the location of his execution by the Spanish.

One of our favorite meals was at a restaurant overlooking Subic Bay. The view was great, and the treetops were full of parrots and other birds.

View across Subic bay from our beach.

Boardwalk at Mangrove Park, Subic Bay

We visited a gorgeous beach in Batangas. We didn't get to spend much time there, but the views were incredible.

One last look at Manila from the plane as we depart at sunrise.

Santos Family Reunion

The main event during our trip to the Philippines was the family reunion. There was a representative from each of the eight siblings in my dad's family. As you can imagine, there were tons and tons of family pictures. Here are just a few...

The Santos siblings (minus 1). From Left to Right (and Oldest to Youngest): Tita Gloria, Augusto (Dad), Tita Zeny, Tito Boy, (Tita Rebeccah was not able to attend), Tito Romulo, Tita Tessie, and Tito Nel

Picture of most of my cousins.

A smaller group shot.

Almost everyone who was present was in the picture. Ben was taking the picture (someone has to). I won't bother trying to list everyone for you!

Remembering my grandparents

During our trip, we visited the grave site of my grandparents. My grandfather passed away before I was born and I only met my grandmother twice before she passed, so I didn't really know either of them. It was nice to hear stories about them from all of my relatives.

Some Random Pictures in the Philippines

Here is Dad, me, Shannon, Judah, and Ben in front of our hotel, the Great Eastern Hotel.

Shannon, Judah, Jason, and Dad with the Jollibee. Jollibee is the most popular fast food restaurants in the Philippines. It is sort of like the Filipino equivalent to McDonald's.

Proof that there are Ohio State fans in the Philippines! Ha ha. Only because my dad gave his sister (Tita Gloria) that shirt and we had her put on his hat too!

Tita Gloria and Dad posing in the cut outs.

My brother, Jason, Dad and me.

Our late night visit with my cousin Koolih before we left for the states. We had to wake up Judah for this picture, that is why he doesn't look very awake.

Our Tree Top Adventure

While in Subic Bay, we got to experience a fairly new attraction called Tree Top Adventure. It was a lot of fun to ride from tree top to tree top. Even more fun was seeing some people get over their fear of heights.

Joy and Ben at the start of the tour.

Natalie wasn't too sure she wanted to experience the tree tops.

Matthew and Ryan getting ready for the next ride.

Hanna and Candie (they were a little nervous)

Shannon, Jason, and Judah

Close up of Jason and Judah

Natalie and Jessica

Joy enjoying the view.

Group picture!

Philippine Birds

Philippine Bird Checklist
I saw 43 birds, including 8 endemics, in the Philippines, but only had one real chance to bird outside of Metro Manila. I can't wait for the next chance to spend some time in the countryside and do some birding. The complete list of Philippine birds is included. I entered a comment beside birds seen. Identification was primarily from A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines by Robert S. Kennedy. I would recommend this book.

Filipino Food

During our stay in the Philippines, we had the opportunity to experience lots and lots of authentic filipino food. Every family meal was like a huge thanksgiving day meal! Below are some of the meals that we enjoyed. Lunch in Arayat, at Joy's Great Aunt Albina's House.

At a very cool restaurant we had bamboo cooked rice and soup with freshly cooked fish.

Close up of what most of the fish we ate looked like. We got good at eating them by taking off the head and tail and avoiding the bones.

Lunch at Tita Zeny's house. The pancit (noodles) had quail eggs in it!

Lunch at Tita Aurora's house. This is only some of the food; they bought out more later.

Refreshments at Ima's (Joy's grandma's) memorial service.

Some of the food at the family reunion. The food just kept coming!

Dinner at Tito Romulo's house.

Philippine Butterflies

There were so many butterflies in the many gardens. There were some of the nicest gardens in the neighborhoods we saw in Metro Manila. I have no clue on the identity of these butterflies, if any of you have any guesses, even to genus, that would be appreciated.This one was in the rain forest in Subic.

These two were also in the rain forest in Subic.

This guy was in Tita Zenaida's garden in Bulacan.

In a garden in Tita Zenaida's neighborhood.

At a park in Metro Manila.

In the garden at Tita Aurora's in Metro Manila.

At a park in down town Manila. It is not just shadow, the underside of his wings really were dark brown. Striking when he would open and close them.

Flying Foxes

One of the coolest experiences in the Philippines happened in Subic Bay. I was running along a road through the rain forest. I saw something the size of a red-tailed hawk soaring, but strangely, it looked like a bat. A little further along there were thousands of them swirling around in the sky, and thousands roosting in the tree tops. It felt other-worldly. I took Joy and the rest of the relatives there later. Dispite their intimidating size, they are harmless frugivores in the suborder Megachiroptera (literally Megabats).