March 23,

We got up and about, having our Javas and breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar, simple but good. Around 0850, Jeff E-hailed a Grab taxi and went went to Grace Communion Baguio Church. It is a church under the umbrella of GCI- Grace Communion International, of which Jeff and I belong. It was great to meet up with this congregation of 60-70 Filipino brethren. They had a 2 hour service- Worship; Offering; Group prayer; Speaking of Life- a video segment from our GCI President; Sermon on God’s Faithfulness given by this areas District Director (maybe, I did not get his title); then we had communion with a closing song. Immediately after service we had a “snack”. We were given a plate of noodles and chicken strips – so second breakfast.😁 We had the meal and fellowship with two other couples. One of the couples invited us to their place and lunch. What? More food?!?🤯🤭

Of course, we accepted and went in a Grab taxi to their place. They are Filipino, but have lived in Canada for 50-some years. They are retired now and live six months in the Philippines and the other six in Canada, where their adult children and grandchildren live. We ate lunch at The Ritz Restaurant in their condo complex. I had a Crispy Chicken Sandwich and a Pecan White Mocha. Jeff had a Grilled Triple Cheese Sandwich and an Earl Grey Tea. Both meals were huge! They paid for them, which was very nice. I don’t recall how much they cost. We talked quite a bit and related our stories to each other. Then we went to their studio condo, it was actually smaller than the place we are in now, but they have definitely made it into their home. Jeff and I could see living in a place like this. They said they only pay $217 a month!🤯

Then we walked with them to an overlook view area, called Mines View Park. There were little touristy souvenir shops, horses to pose on with an American(?) Indian headdress for a photo op, and lots of local people all out for the weekend. But the views out over the surrounding hills and mountains were the draw and fantastic! The husband of the couple we were with grew up on this island and he actually worked as an engineer in some capacity dealing with the mines off in the hills – only one mine remains open now though he said. Then they invited us to a coffee/tea shop they frequent. They paid, again, so we just shared a Lemon Tea. We talked more with them and before we realized it was 1630!! The clouds were building up and it would be dark in 1.5 hours. We wanted to walk back, so we thanked them and parted ways. Very nice couple, and we should see them next week at services, as we will still be here.

As we head back to our place – three miles walking – we passed a couple of other parks and the Botanical Gardens, which we definitely want to go to. We also found a real supermarket and got some food items. Back at our place we did NOT have supper, as we were still full from three meals we’d had over about four hours! I blogged some and Jeff read. Then we were able to video connect with my Mom and her husband and later able to Zoom with our church back in Kansas. Good day of rejuvenating our souls.

       March 24,

I awoke at 0542 and was able to get up and watch the sunrise without disturbing Jeff. It was nice, but I am still a sunset girl! I was able to go back to bed and to sleep. When we really got up, we readied and had our Javas and breakfast of Muesli and yogurt.

We did video calls with our sisters and passed the morning away relating stories with them. We then made a lunch of egg sandwiches with some sourdough bread; some honeydew melon; and piece or two of chocolate bread. We started to go out but a very thick fog rolled over the city… so change of plans – I blogged more and Jeff read.

Afternoon turned into evening, and around 1700 we went out for supper. We found another supermarket – Robinson’s. It was a bit more upscale and had more imported items. It was here we finally found the local rum, Tanduay. It was so prevalent in Iloilo, but this was the first time we’d seen here in Baguio. We also found microwave popcorn! YAY! Then we went to a rotisserie chicken stand, called My Manok’s. The young lady worker cut a chicken off a spit; called it a jumbo chicken; and charged 270 PHP ($4.70).

We went back to our place and cut the small – not jumbo – chicken. It was like 3-4 pounds! It came with a bag of soy sauce, a bigger bag of homemade sauce, three small limes, and a few peppers. We had that with sourdough bread for our dinner, while watching the SM Mall and large Ferris wheel light up as the sun went down. Then we watched a movie. It’s been a good couple of days in Baguio.