Tarak Ridge Overnight

Post-Baguio, I had a quick trip back down to Mindanao for work, but was finally able to do my 1st backpacking trip since moving to the Philippines.  We had a surprisingly dry weekend given the fact that it is still rainy season.  Typhoon Glenda, which passed in July, did quite a bit of damage to trees along the trail.  We hiked Tarak Ridge which is at the bottom of the Bataan Peninsula, most famous for the Bataan Death March during World War II.

Rats ate through my bag in the night

Return to Baguio

Made a long weekend and headed back up to Baguio for some cooler weather and a lot of fog and rain.  The weather put a damper on some of our plans for the weekend, but when you have a historic mansion all to yourself it's actually nice to have an excuse to just hang out and stay inside by the fireplace.

Not quite what I was expecting when I ordered an ice cream sandwich….

Water projects in Basilan, Mindanao

Last week I made a return trip to the island of Basilan in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao to look at some potential sites for water infrastructure projects.  We had great weather for the trip and spent the morning touring schools and health clinics on Malamawi island, including a floating Badjao school.  We even ended up in a parade for nutrition month has we walked from the dock to the 1st school and on stage for a formal presentation of one of the basketballs and nets we brought with us.