After breakfast on Monday, our first full day at Stairway, we went with Jaou, Nani Jean, Ate Susan, her two sons, Lancelot and Louie, ages 9 and 7, into the town of Puerto Galera. (Jaou, Ate Susan, and the two boys live at Stairway and are part of the staff. Nani Jean is one of the cooks). The women needed to buy food at the market for the week, and Alex, Mitch, and I wanted to purchase cell phones.
Jaou drove us in Stairway's jeepnee, a truck that is used in the Philippines. It was a beautiful 15 minute ride around the coast with perfect views of the turqoise-blue water. We approached the town, and Jaou maneuvered the large jeepnee through very narrow streets until we got to the market.
It was more of a market-street. 
It was so colorful and bustling with people- and everyone stared at us because they weren't used to seeing us "white people" in the market- a very non touristy place. Jaou showed us the right place to buy a phone and we explored from there, taking pictures along the way. The market was right on the bay, and the little kids who were hanging out there saw our cameras and wanted to get their pictures taken.
We walked back to where the jeepnee was parked and found Lance and Louie hanging on it. Until now they had been shy around us, but after we let them take picture with our cameras, they began talking to us more (they speak Tagalog and enough English for us to communicate pretty well). Now it seems we can't get them to stop talking!
After the market, we went to pick up a volunteer who was coming to Stairway- she runs a resort in Puerto Galera that is located on a lagoon. We drove up the path to her place and were able to eat mangos that Jaou was hitting down from the trees with a long stick. They were delicious!
Then we went down the mountain to the lagoon- it looked like the a scene from the default Windows desktop pictures- crystal water, a small rowboat, and a dock. There, we had a photoshoot with Lance, Louie, and Jaou, who were very amused by my camera.
On a separate note, "Hey Jude" has to be one of the most popular songs in the Philippines. On the drive back to Stairway, it came on the radio and everyone in the vehicle burst out into song, even 7-year-old Louie. But that wasn't the first time we heard it. We had to have heard it at least 8 other times since arriving in the Philippines. In fact, Isana, Lars and Monica's 5-year-old daughter, sings the song, and the 4 puppies that live at Stairway are named Jude, Lucy, Prudence, and Max, from Across the Universe, the movie that goes with the Beatles' song.
To see more pictures, click here.
