Cottage on the hill

Casa Rosa Cottages, Taytay, Palawan - August 8

This morning, as my jet-lagged body started to stir (despite my mind's most strict orders for it to stay sound asleep), I became dimly aware of the fading of night into day…the indigo light through the window slats…the morning symphony – roosters boisterously crowing, followed by the rambunctious dog chorus, with a gradually increasing frequency of tricycle and motorcycle motors chiming in, topped by the church bells ringing – flat, cacophonous, harsh, persistent – at 6am.

Spent a few days in Palawan's capital, Puerto Princesa, to get stocked up and make courtesy calls to government offices.  The result of the latter is that I now have a pile of paperwork to fill and am required to obtain official letters of endorsement from almost every conceivable level of government here.  Neither I nor my collaborators expected this.  Ah well.  Also ate virtually every meal at Ima's Gulay Bar (vegetarian restaurant). Amazing. Imitation meat tastes even better when you know you'll be struggling for vegetarian food for the next weeks.

I love my little netbook.  I wish Office 2010 weren’t written for 5-year olds.

Ah, the tropics…

View from Casa Rosa's Restaurant

So here I am in my home for the next month or so – Cottage 4.  The view of the fortress and bay is amazing.  While I shower, I can gaze upon the 500-year old stones of the dark, imposing edifice and the pumpboats gliding through the ever-changing waters of Taytay Bay.  The other 2 sides of the cottage are cradled by tropical greenery.  Cozy little home!  Which I'm sharing with my friends the geckos.