On the move again (& Holy Friday in the Philippines)

On Wednesday, some opportunities arose that we couldn't pass up, so we left Borongan Thursday (yesterday).

It was such a quick and spontaneous decision, I wasn't mentally and emotionally ready to go yet. We weren't planning to leave Borongan until April 17th, so that's where my mind was set. But then something came up, and it quickly became March 28th-- about 3 weeks earlier than scheduled.

I can't believe we fit our whole lives into 4 backpacks.

It was an emotional Wednesday night for me when I was saying bye to all my dogs I had come to love and that had become part of our little jungle family. It saddens me every time I think about them. All I can do is hope that they'll be ok... I mean, they are gangster jungle dogs and I'm hoping they can get back to their jungle ways.

It was really difficult to say goodbye to them. And yes, I cried. I cried hard.

Right now we're in Tacloban. Today is Holy Friday. Philippines is mainly a Catholic country, so it's kind of a big deal here. Tacloban on any other day would be buzzing with people, jeepneys and tricycles. But the streets are quiet and pretty empty right now.

Jason and I went walking around trying to find a place to grab some lunch. We walked a few blocks and saw a lot of people and tents up ahead. We figured something must be going on, so we went to check it out. As we were following the crowds, we turned a corner and I looked up and saw a giant Jesus statue on top of a hill and a lot of people climbing up stairs. Apparently it was Calvary Hill and the Stations of the Cross. Many people were offering us candles to light at the stations, but we refused (since I'm not Catholic and J's not a practicing one). We just went up the hill for some exercise and the view.

If you don't know what Stations of the Cross is, it's a group of statues along the slopes of a hillside. Each 'station' depicts an event from Jesus's life- from his condemnation to his entombment. And at the very top of the hill is the giant Jesus statue- when he's risen from the dead. People gather around each station, light candles, sing hymns and/or pray.

And we got a pretty pano shot of Tacloban city:

Tomorrow we head to Manila, where we'll spend our last few weeks here in the Philippines.