We decided to go to Mactan Island and explore. Mactan Island is where the airport is, and also where they sell ukuleles.....YUP you guessed it!
Sights of the island:
shopping
churches
schools and students in uniforms
Trikes...Want a ride?
I take lots of pictures from the car window.
Notice the head gear many of the young people wear here.
After driving around for awhile, we saw a large resort - The Imperial Palace. It turned out to be a very elegant, very pricy hotel. We walked through the lobby and down toward the swimming pools.
The beach was mostly rocks with a little sand, and really wasn't what we had anticipated, even though the pictures look lovely.
On our way out, we checked at the desk to see how much they would charge us to just come and swim in their pools for the day: 2500 pesos each a day. That is about $81.00 each. Guess we won't be doing that!
As we were leaving the resort, we asked where we might find a ukulele factory. They said to turn right at Julie's Bakeshop. ( There is only a Julie's Bakeshop on every other corner.) When we got to that street, it looked more like a narrow alley, so we didn't turn in. After eating lunch a little further down the street, we asked someone there where we might find a ukulele factory.They said to go back up the road and turn left at Julie's Bakeshop. So, we went back and sure enough it was the right street.
The guitar and ukulele shop was a very small, pleasant, clean place that was run by a husband and wife. She made jewelry out of shells - of course I bought a necklace from her - 40 pesos. They carried very expensive to very inexpensive ukuleles.
The husband said that was just too low. Will explained that theirs was the first shop we had stopped at, so we would look around. We said a pleasant good-bye, walked out of the store, opened the car doors to get in and the wife said, "He will take that, come back." So we did! The wife also gave us a carrying bag for each instrument.
Then, I asked her for two picks. She only had one new one. She said it cost 25 pesos, and would just give us the other used one. Will was trying to pull out 25 pesos, and I said, "For heavens sake, just give them this, and pulled a 100 peso bill from his hands. They were laughing hard. 100 pesos is such a small amount, but I think it made their day, leaving them feeling good about the sale, and I also think we got a good deal. It made a very pleasant day and a fun memory.
We are now the owners of two fine looking and sounding ukuleles. Each day we are taking lessons from u-tube, trying to figure out how to play the darn things. I can't believe how sore our fingers get. Also, Karen hates that she had to cut all her fingernails short to play the chords.
A couple more stops on the way home - a stop at the mall for a ukulele chord book, etc., and a quick grocery store stop completed the shopping.
Because Monday is the day we are allowed to use the washer and dryer at the mission office - which laundry room is actually the temple laundry - we ended up at the office.
There we were invited to go to dinner with Ernstrom's and French's. Sister French is the mission mental health advisor. She is working with some of the Tacloban missionaries who are still struggling. About four more missionaries have now chosen to return home early, with a medical discharge from their missions. Many have been able to move forward, but some feel they need to return home. They may return at a later date. However, now they need the stability of home to heal. Our love and blessings go with them.
Sister Schmutz has also been ill for the last three days. She is such a sweetheart and a very integral part of this mission. Thank goodness for the Priesthood, and a blessing given to her by her good husband. We need her here with us.
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