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Four Monday June 6 - Went to the Doctor again. Still in pain and he has no clue what to make of my condition. Gave me Prednisone (a Steroid). Already feeling better but it is not a permanent but just a temporary solution. Seeing him again on Wednesday probably for some blood tests. Tuesday June 7- What a surprise. My 13 Balikbayan boxes arrived at 7am this morning and everything was in perfect condition. Spent the day rearranging the boxes to prioritize what I will need now, soon and in the future. Was able to cut back to about 7 boxes. Now all that is left to wait for are my 3 crates and then I can be on my way to the provinces. Hooray!!! About 5pm went to visit a gal named Karina. She is 45 years old and a devout diver. Spends much of her time with Eco projects which I really respect. Protecting whales, turtles and such. Had a nice chat with her about places to dive. She is really hyperactive but I do look forward to jumping into the water with her sometime in the future. Had dinner with William, Georgie, Mike and Glory as it was Mikes birthday. Had fun and got back home around 10pm. Wednesday June 8 - Sitting here with Ramon in the office of Silvana at about 8am. Made some calls to the states including one to Steven. Miss him already but am going to be lining up places for him and his girlfriend Alli to see when they get here in whenever time. Thursday
June 9 - Nothing new to report Friday June 10 - Hooray. My 3 crates have arrived. Only had to pay about $600USD for clearance, paperwork and customs. Less than I thought. Great news and the fact everything arrived intact with no damage or theft of any kind. Was so excited to get everything unpacked. Now I am really ready for my journey to the province. Saturday June 11- Went with Ramon and Silvana to their beach House in Calatagan. This is a long holiday weekend as Filipinos will be celebrating their independence from all us colonialists. The house is located about 2 hours south west of Manila. I know that this is old news and probably tiresome to read already but, I am really being prevented from engaging in good conversation and stories with you here in the Blog because of this crap of my health. Fact is, I am still bothered by this massive arthritic condition and the more people I speak to the more convinced I am that I am de-toxing from my abuse of cigarettes and coffee which I quit cold turkey a few days before I left the states. It has made me something of an invalid with each day a different story regarding my body. Some days I can't move or close my fingers. Other days not my legs ache so much I dare not walk in fear of breaking them. Pretty scary stuff. Anyway I am hoping the beach will be good therapy for me. Arrived at around noon and promptly went into the water. It felt great. Spent about an hour swimming around. Came out and still felt the same. The house is pretty cool. It is mostly an open/outdoor sitting and eating area with two enclose bedrooms with attached bathrooms behind. Another nice design idea for my eventual house.
We spent most of the day lounging, eating and sleeping. Had dinner around 9pm and then hit the hay early. I slept part of the night on the outside deck and then went into the bedroom. Nice cool breeze Sunday
June 12 - Got
up early and took a swim. Around noon Ramon took me over to meet
his neighbor Boo. Boo is an extremely wealthy man and part of one
of the 200 or so elite extre,ely wealthy families of the Philippines.
His house is right next to Ramon's and about 10 times the size.
He also has about 20 boats including power, bancas and sails and
a helicopter to take him wherever he wants with a simple phone call.
I liked Boo right off the bat. He is a huge guy. Kind of reminds
me of Java the Hut. He sits in this one chair all day drinking beer
and tequila. Apparently he has a heart condition and figures if
it's going to happen might as well with a drink in his hand. Despite
all his money he wasn't full of himself and was a gracious host.
What really impressed me was that he founded a reef conservatory
which is working to replenish the reefs with new corals that have
been devastated from dynamiting. He is also active in fighting the
ever present dynamiters by going after them with his power boats
and then confiscating their banca's. It has actually gotten kind
of bad in recent months as the dynamiters are kind of like a mafia
and have now declared war on Boo. They already killed a policeman
over this and Boo is surrounded by armed guards 24/7 all carrying
armlite rifles. Anyway, Boo has this save the reef program which
is alreaady having a positive impact. He has over 1500 dive volunteers
to help put in the artificial reef. He has his staff build man-made
coral blocks that make up a pyramid formation that they then sink
with the help of divers to create an artificial reef. The fish love
it and quickly make these man made coral formations their homes.
The blocks weigh about 150lbs each and it takes about 50 blocks
for each pyramid. I told Boo I would love to volunteer to help him
build the Pyramids. Looks like I will be going down to his place
a bunch of times a year to help out. 2005
Home,
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