On the road again.

We arrived back at the Blue House on Saturday Afternoon. Less than 24 hours later we packed our bags to head up to Santiago, Isabela in Northern Luzon to visit Wendy. We're really excited to see another part of the Philippines and to help out as much as we can there....but we're really gonna miss our Palawan family. Luckily we'll make a stop back before we leave in December! :)

So around 3pm on Sunday afternoon we took at shuttle from Brooke's Point to Puerto Princesa. We spent the night at AWA and then woke up early the next morning to catch our flight at the airport.

Though traveling can be somewhat cheap in the Philippines they find ways to stick it to you. For example, though they have departure and arrival times, they rarely ever go by them. You're considered lucky if your flights comes in 30 minutes late. Not to mention EVERY airport in the Philippines requires you to pay a Terminal Fee. You have to pay it, in cash, right before going through security. Of course, the "restaurants" and "stores" make it worth the fee...ha, ha.

Luckily, the terminal fee in the Puerto Airport is only 40 php (92 cents) each. The other airports are more expensive. We went inside the terminal and enjoyed some breakfast...of iced creamy drinks and muffins, not exactly healthy but hey it works. Then we waited for our flight to come in....we sat there for 2 hours past our departure time until our flight finally came in. But I was relieved...I've heard worse....

We wanted a picture of our breakfast. But the shakes took too long to make...so we put the muffin cup in for dramatic effect :)

We had an hour flight over to Manila and then we took a taxi to the Victory Liner Bus Terminal. We went to the ticket counter and asked for the next bus to Santiago. Lucky for us, it was leaving in 20 minutes and there were available seats. We were excited to not have to wait so long in another terminal. We loaded the bus and started our lovely 10 hour bus trip to Santiago.

Ten hours is a long time to be on a bus....especially an air-conditioned bus. Many would consider that a luxury...but in the Philippines, they really abuse the right to have air conditioning. They always turn it up SOO high that it feels like December in Wisconsin. In fact, when riding Air-condtioned buses, most Filipinos wear winter coats and hats (why they even have winter coats and hats in the first place, I'll never know). But anyways, LeAnne and I were not dressed for "December in Wisconsin". So it was a very long, cold bus ride.

 Every 2 hours or so they would stop for bathroom breaks. There would also be various snack foods sold. So guess what we had for dinner? Lol, our 3rd severely unhealthy meal in a 24-hour period...needless to say, we were looking forward to eating nice, balanced meals.

We arrived in Santiago at 11pm and Wendy came to pick us up from the bus terminal. We're very excited for this next adventure in our trip and we hope to witness many miracles and blessings. But for now, we're just excited to be in one place for an extended period of time :)

"The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore."

~Psalms 121:8