Philly described

This is a letter written by Annabelle and it has some nice descriptions of the Philippihnes, so I thought you'd enjoy it
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Hello there friends and family,
I made it to Cebu Phillipines safely. The trip ended up taking about 45 hours after delays in the airport and 3rd world public transportation. Jeepmis: tricked out buses of all shapes and sizes, you just stand in the street and yell the name of your destination or somewhere beyond your destination. There is ALWAYS room to squeeze more people on. The population density on the islands with major cities is a little overwhelming. There are 7,000 islands here.

The other form of transportation I used to get to the boat is the amazing Hubblehubble, a 4 stroke bike with a little chariot attached to the side. 3 passengers on the bike itself, not including the driver, 5 people in the chariot. The people are seemingly really nice. Basketball, shooting pool under a grass roof, prostitution are all popular pastimes. The toilets are in little outhouses of shotty, termite-eaten planks out over the water. I almost fell in one already. Trash disposal is, well. . .  I asked where the trash was here at the marina and was directed to the largest pile. Its disgusting. The language is interesting, a lot of Spanish mixed in. The people don't know which of it is Spanish. Ha Ha,. I do.

The boat, Brillig, is a very seaworthy built boat. She was just bought and needs a lot of work. All we need to do here on this particular island is to get water (no easy task), mount the self steering gear which is mostly ready just have to find a place to weld a piece on. The chain locker drains into the main bilge through storage in the v birth, so I want bed a fitting in the bulkhead where the drain is and run a hose to bypass this soon to be dry(if there is a such thing) storage space. Replace the lifelines. Everything moves and happens about a quarter the speed of there.

Next I believe we will sail to Sigihou. It's only a day and half sail to Sigihou. Sigihou is 12x5 miles big and famous among locals for its witchcraft and healers. The water there is clear and beautiful, excellent diving and fishing. I can have a good look at the bottom paint and propeller. We plan on getting the charts and pilot charts out in the next couple of days, so we can think about a deadline for our departure.

Annabelle