My totally selfish goal for the next two years: make it to as many islands as possible. I'm gonna put the small goal at 1% of the total islands in the Philippines. Out of 7,107 islands, that means I'm gonna set foot on 71 of them. So far I'm at 20, almost halfway. After I finish 1% gonna try for 2%. 140 different islands in 2 years. Doable? I think so. Worth a try anyway.

I no longer find it weird that I wash my dishes from a pail of water, from a pail that I have to walk outside to fill up from a hand-crank water pump. But if it's any consolation, I have to ride 2 hours for a proper cappuccino. It's a trade-off

Random scenes from over the weekend. So we were invited to an island for a fiesta, onlt the pumpboat couldn't get to the shore because of low tide. So the vice governor, two of his guys and me all waded...shore. There wasn't a full moon, but what little moon there was made each muddy step I took sparkle. Magical in a way. Funny how the only constallation I can ever make out with regularity is Orion