Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

The shock caused by the attempted burglary of October 3 and the death of my good Doberman Brousse eased and then there was the presence of my wife and her sister and soon that of a couple of friends.

(Our lovely dog, Brousse)

Also we took further steps to strengthen the security of the house with the most turbulent but reassuring presence of our dogs Zoey and Zarah.

(Our black devils dogs, Zarah the sister and Zoey the brother'jaws)

(Our hornet with .38 Special stings)

The Philippines are not (yet) as some countries in South America or Africa without being a naïve optimist we are not surrounded by fear and insecurity. The population is mostly smiling and friendly. On the other hand my family and I are very fond of our tropical house where we have all invested so much and for now my lifestyle shared between France and this country suits me very well so therefore I didn't want to anticipate my departure anymore.

(The house has already Xmas lights)

So October 19 we welcomed Bonita and Bjorn at the Dumaguete airport.They had come to spend ten days at home and it was the first visit of Bjorn in the Philippines.
Bonita is originally from the island of Luzon and she lives in Paris for nineteen years. Bjorn is Norwegian staying in France one month and every other month alternating with Kazakhstan, where as a mechanical engineer, he maintains helicopters.
The weather was not really so good go but they still took advantage of our beach side and we made a few trips though sometimes very wet.

(Bonita, Dhana my wife and Bjorn on our beach front)

The 21, it was the traditional visit to the Malatapay market.

(The Malatapay market)

The 23 was the equally traditional visit to Lake Banalan under downpour but first we stopped on the way to visit the zoo of Zamboanguita founded by the late Father Tropa whose teachings were at least original.

(Amazing!)

Unfortunately for the animals there were almost none left any more.

The crocodile and the bird of prey, both endangered species in the Philippines)

(My wife and the giant but gentle python "Billy boy")

(The rainy Balanan lake)

On our way back we passed by the Tombobo bay where the rain had finally stopped.

(The Tombobo bay)

On October 24, the next day I accompanied them in front of the house on Apo Island where they could get a glimpse of the underwater fauna. It's like being in an aquarium they said. We rented a small banca (outrigger canoe) and the return crossing of 7 km seemed endless as the sea was so rough. We used to receive big waves in the face and luckily our camera gear was in the watertight trunk of the banca, also protected by a plastic garbage bag. Little trick of photographers but how useful.

(Bonita and Bjorn discovering the wonders of the island)

(Still such a nice island even with bad weather)

On the 25th it was my wife's departure for Manila and Paris and the 26 Bonita and Bjorn went three days in Siquijor.

(The departure of my wife)

They were delighted by their stay and came back on the 29, then the 30 it was their turn to fly to Manila and Paris a few days later.
I was alone again but I had already made plans to go to San Carlos for the Pinta Flores Festival the first week of November.