April 18,

We neither one slept well. No explanation – just one of those things. But we both felt good. We got around, having our Javas, and just enjoying our balcony. The local boys were active this morning and running about. They yelled hello to us, and then carried on playing. We noticed they had found a type of “dolly” and were pushing each other about. It entertained them and us. Our breakfast arrived around 0930. Roy had apologized for it being a bit late. He said their were a lot of customers this morning. Maybe because of Good Friday?? I did not ask. I had Chicken Tocino, which is a sweet, salty, savory cured meat. It is red colored due to annatto powder from the achiote tree (or red food coloring). I had garlic rice and a sunny-side egg with it. YUM! Jeff had corned beef with potatoes, so corned beef hash in an omelet with garlic rice.

When we finished we went inside. It was already a “feels like” 100 degrees at 1000! So we decided to wait to go out and about closer to lunch. We watched some YouTube, read a sermon our minister back home sent us, and in general chilled out – literally and figuratively. Straight up at noon, the power went out briefly. Then we heard and felt some hammering, so they must be working on the place. Around 1300, there was a light rap on our door, “Sir?” It was Roy telling us the power was going to be off more. So we decided to go to lunch. Sure enough, as soon as we were stepping out, the power did go out.

We took the scooter into San Vicente. We went to Marina Terrace, but it doesn’t open until 1700, so we went to Aloy’s. Mango’s Restaurant was closed also. So Good Friday is close-worthy for places here. Even the local bigger grocery store is closed today. Anyway, Aloy’s was packed, with mostly locals today!! We took the last table. I guess they are so busy because the other two restaurants are closed. The little ten year old girl came and took our order. She is adorable. She wrote down our items in her very nice penmanship (I had already complimented her on it last time). What Jeff had wanted was “Already done, no tuna left.” so we skipped it. She left to place our order and came back. “Sorry, Mam the Chicken Pasta is gone.” Wow! Okay, we just went with the cucumber salad. So being the only restaurant opened caused food outages!! We also ordered a shake each- me Mango, Jeff the Buko. We got our salad and finished it long before our shakes came. The place is just so busy! We finished and paid 380 PHP ($6.70). We left and swung by the only ATM, but it seems to be out of money… no surprise as it seems ½ the town is eating at Aloy’s. (This is, of course, an exaggeration.)🤭

When we arrived back at our place, the power was back on. We had just been here five minutes, when the rain started. And it rained, and rained, much of the afternoon. It was hard with a little thunder, then it stopped briefly only to resume. So the afternoon was awash…pun intended.😁  We read and played games on our phones. I did notice people out swimming in the ocean in the rain! That seems kinda weird to me! Anyway, ‘vive la difference.’ Since we weren’t able to get money and we’d been inactive much of the day; we opted for supper in and had a cup of rice-noodle ramen, crackers and some bread. Jeff went out and got this at one of the local places. While he was gone, of course, Roy came up to discuss our ride out tomorrow. I told Roy when Jeff came back, I’d send him down.

We ate our ramen with the crackers, as the bread was sweet again (saved it for dessert). It is hard to find non sweet bread here and the Philippines in general.  We watched the sunset, but it was not much because of all the clouds, but thankfully not rain anymore. Tomorrow we will leave Palawan island.