Southern Leyte and Cock Fights

Good Afternoon,

I'm now into my last few days here in the Philippines, which is mostly very saddening, however, it does mean I get to look forward to all the farewell parties (Despididas) as well as the excitement of making it to Japan.

Before I go into any more detail, I thought I'd share with you my most recent outing. Last friday, after finishing placement, a few of us travelled 4 hours down to Southern Leyte. Our group consisted of myself, Hazel, Victoria and Ingrid. Matt also came from Ormoc and met us there. I had booked us some rooms at the Maasin Country Lodge, which turned out to be a real diamond in the rough. We arrived in the evening to find ourselves in a beautiful guesthouse, hidden away from the streets and looking onto the river. Once settled, we ate dinner and headed out to Maasin City centre. Maasin is the capital of Southern Leyte and as a result, has a fairly decent night life. We found a couple spots to spend the evening, before returning to the lodge later on.

The next day, we decided to visit Padre Burgos, located roughly an hour South of Maasin and renowned for it's Scuba diving opportunities. None of us were particularly bothered about diving and so instead, spent the morning at a resort, enjoying the use of a large infinity pool and water slide, with a stunning view of the coast as our backdrop. After a hearty lunch, we headed back to Maasin for a chilled afternoon, before eating dinner and having some drinks with the Country Lodge staff. Out of all the places I've stayed in the Philippines, I was most impressed with how accomodating and friendly the staff here were. They even drove us into town to show us some of the recommended spots and we thoroughly enjoyed their company during our stay.

The next morning, we took a van to Ormoc. Hazel and Victoria had planned on doing some shopping and what not. Meanwhile, I went with Matt to see the homestay, where he's been living while being placed in Ormoc. After experimenting with his homestay's 100cc motorbike briefly, I went and experienced my first ever cockfight.

We arrived at the arena, to find we were invited into the VIP section - perks of being white I guess! It's a rather bizarre set-up. Basically, two birds are brought out into the ring by their owners. The owners show them off to the crowd for a while, and then the crowd bet. The way this works is that everyone yells for which bird they want to back and how much money they want to bet. You then have to find an exact match - someone who wants to back the opposing bird for the same amount. The birds then fight (which is somewhat barbaric so I'll spare you the details) and then the individuals who lose their bets simply throw their money across the arena to whoever they owe it to. This system relies on a lot of honesty but somehow manages to work! Matt and I found a friend to bet for us, so long as we gave him 10% of our winnings. Fortunately, we owed him nothing by the end of the afternoon as we found ourselves completely even, after 2 hours of watching cockfights.

That evening, we went out for dinner, and watched The Hangover at our hotel. The next morning consisted of a leisurely breakfast, a leisurely stroll around Ormoc, a leisurely lunch and a crammed van ride back to Tacloban.

It's now time for my tutorial, so I will have to leave you. My next post will probably be after my farewell parties at the RRCY and with my homestay.

Much love!

Sam