Prayer in thanks to St. Jude

I am posting this prayer to St. Jude at the request of my wife, who wishes to publish it in thanks for an answered prayer.  

Pray this 9 times a day for 9 consecutive days and your intentions will be answered no matter how impossible it may be, for this prayer has never known to fail.

O, Holy St. Jude, Apostle and Martyr,

Great in virtue, rich in miracle,

Near in kinsman of Jesus Christ

Faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need.

To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart,

I humbly beg your greatest power to come to my assistance.

Help me in my present and most urgent need.

In return, I promise to make your name known and caused you to be invoked

St. Jude, pray for us and all who invoke thine aid.

St. Jude Thaddeus image borrowed from St. Jude Thaddeus Samboan Foundation, Samboan, Cebu, Philippines

The mysterious case of the moving Santo Niño statue

Over 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics, and nearly all Roman Catholic homes and businesses in the Philippines own and display a statue of Santo Niño, a representation of the Christ Child.  The Santo Niño de Cebu ("Holy Child of Cebu") is a celebrated statue of the Christ Child venerated by Filipino Roman Catholics.  Similar to the Infant of Prague, it is claimed to be the oldest religious image in the Philippines, originally given by Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Humabon and his wife Humamay in 1521, along with statues of Our Lady of Guidance and Ecce Homo.  The statue is clothed in expensive textile robes and a gold crown,  and gained renown when it miraculously survived a devastating parish fire in 1565. The Santo Niño de Cebu statue is permanently housed under bulletproof glass at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City, and is one of the most recognizable cultural images in the Philippines found in many secular and religious areas.  The Basilica is a major site of religious importance to Roman Catholics as well as a significant historical site and international tourist destination. 

Before we left Cebu in August 2011 on our last trip to the Philippines, my wife purchased a Santo Niño statue molded of light-weight fiberglass (for easier air transport back to the U.S.) from a vendor outside the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, which is immediately adjacent to Magellan's Cross.  This statue was clothed in a red tunic of thin nylon material which was slit down the sides of the legs, covering the back and front of the statue.  The statue also happened to be an "anatomically correct" representation of the toddler Jesus.   When we arrived back at our home in the U.S., my wife displayed the Santo Niño statue on an end table in the entry foyer of our house, positioning it near a floral bouquet facing our main entrance door.

A few weeks after positioning the Santo Niño statue, my wife noticed that the statue had moved its position.  She asked me whether I had moved it, and I told her that I hadn't.  She confronted our 8-year-old daughter about this, and she said that she hadn't moved it.   "Well, we must be having a miracle then, if no one is moving the Santo Niño!" my wife replied.  

A few days later, she found that the Santo Niño statue had moved again, and then again another day or so later.  The movement seemed to coincide with the timing of visits from our daughter's friend, a neighbor girl who is about the same age.  My wife questioned our daughter a little bit further, and found that apparently the first time this movement happened was when our daughter was using the bathroom and her friend was waiting outside the bathroom door, which is immediately adjacent to the end table with the Santo Niño statue.  Aha!  Finally a clue.  Our daughter then divulged to my wife that she had seen her friend these two most recent times picking up the Santo Niño statue to take a peek underneath his tunic, getting a look at his anatomically correct "pikoy"!  Our daughter told my wife that she had told her friend "that's not appropriate". My wife just advised our daughter to tell her neighbor friend not to move the Santo Niño anymore.   Then, she put in a request with my mother-in-law to have a new set of clothes made for Santo Niño, this one complete with a pair of underwear!  So, now our Santo Niño  has a beautiful white silk gown with red trim and sequins rather than a simple red nylon tunic... and a proper pair of underwear to prevent little neighbor girls from peeping at his pikoy!

Beauty and the Beast - our daughter vs. lechon in Cebu

Here are a couple of photos from our July-August trip to the Philippines, showing our daughter clowning around in Cebu with a fresh lechon graciously provided by her Lolo and Lola (grandma and grandpa) shortly before her 8th birthday.   While all the Pinoys and Pinays reading this will of course know all about lechon, many others, barring people from Spain and its former colonial possessions, will probably not be familiar with the other fellow in these photos.  

My friend, Mr. Lechon

I'm not scared of lechon baboy!

Lechon, also known in the Philippines as lechon baboy, is a roasted young pig (although in Latin America I think for their lechón they use larger/medium size pigs) traditionally cooked on a turnspit over charcoal; coconut charcoal in the Philippines. Although the term "lechón" in Spanish literally means suckling pig, the ones used in the Philippines are a bit bigger and are typically around 10 kg.   I would assume that different countries formerly colonized by the Spanish have different spices and cooking styles, but I am only familiar with Filipino style lechon.  Lechon is prepared throughout the year for any special occasion or party, during festivals, and for the holidays.  After removing the entrails and seasoning the body cavity with a variety of spices (usually lemongrass, anise, onions, and garlic), the young pig is cooked by skewering the entire animal on a rotisserie turnspit and cooking it in a pit filled with charcoal.  It is roasted on all sides for at least several hours  until done.  The process of roasting and basting results in making the pork skin very crisp, and it is considered by many the most desirable part of the lechon.  In my experience, the skin is the first part of the lechon to "go" at parties, so better get in line before it disappears!   It's masarap (delicious!), it's healthy (yeah, right!), and an experience no foreigner or tourist to the Philippines should miss. 

A few photos from Plantation Bay Resort, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines

These are a few shots from our day trip to Plantation Bay Resort, on Mactan Island, Cebu, which was in mid-August 2011 (we did not stay overnight since our family lives locally).   My wife and I personally found Plantation Bay to be more  pleasant, relaxing and enjoyable than Imperial Palace Resort.  This was mainly because we found Imperial Palace (while very pleasant) to be more "Westernized" and artificially landscaped with lots of concrete sidewalks and a big concrete hotel, whereas Plantation Bay was more attuned with the natural surroundings, landscaped with a good bit less concrete and fiberglass and much more sand, trees (nicely shaded), bamboo architecture and vegetation.  Rather than a hulking concrete hotel complex, Plantation Bay has charming smaller cottage complexes spread out over its grounds, offering in many cases water's-edge access directly to the various pools and lagoons.   One feature we liked in particular was the saltwater lagoon.  While this lagoon was still artificially engineered and was not connected directly to the sea (probably to keep algae out of it), it was really quite nice because it allowed for all of us as a family to experiment with salt water buoyancy without the waves of the ocean, and do some nice back-floating on perfectly warm and calm waters.  The other thing that was really enjoyable is that they keep the pool open after sundown, so we could float on our backs and watch the stars.

Looking across the saltwater lagoon at water's-edge rooms

Another nice feature was the kayaks, which guests can use to paddle around the saltwater lagoon.   

Kayaks at saltwater lagoon, Plantation Bay

Saltwater lagoon, Plantation Bay

I unfortunately do not have photos of the freshwater swimming pool, but Plantation Bay claims that it is the largest in the entire country.  It incorporates numerous different water features for kids and adults, including slides, fountains, and whirlpool jaccuzi-type spas, all of which are very tastefully subdued or disguised into and around synthetic boulders and grottoes which blend well into the architecural and natural landscaping scheme. The freshwater pool also has a central restaurant which has buffet-style dining pool side in a tasteful building that looks like a 3-tiered octagonal band pavilion, which offered excellent food and friendly service.  

For a unique experience for the family, Plantation Bay offers free calesa (horse-drawn 2-wheeled carriage) trips around the property, which is charming and quite extensive. Plantation Bay is breathtakingly beautiful at night with beautiful lights accenting the landscaping and the wooden and bamboo catwalks, bridges, and piers that cross the pools and interconnect the properties, as can be seen on their website: http://plantationbay.com/

We greatly enjoyed our time at Plantation Bay, and hope to make it back again sometime in the future.

A visit to Imperial Palace Beach Resort and Water Park, Mactan, Cebu

These are a just a few photos showing some scenes from the Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa, on Mactan Island, Cebu, the Philippines, which we visited in August, 2011.  Although we didn't stay in the hotel (since my parents-in-law have a place in Cebu), we visited the beach resort and water park for the day, enjoying a nice full day having fun, swimming, riding the slides and "lazy river", going to the beach, and just relaxing and bonding as a family.  

Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort, Cebu, Philippines

Part of Mactan, Cebu's Imperial Palace Hotel

"Sunken" bar on lazy river

"Sunken" bar on lazy river

Imperial Palace approaching the beach from the waterpark

Cabanas and lounge chairs at the Imperial Palace beach

Children's pool at Imperial Palace waterpark

Children's pool at Imperial Palace waterpark

Some of the water slides at Imperial Palace, Mactan, Cebu

Pier at Imperial Palace beach, Mactan, Cebu

Swimming beach at Imperial Palace, Mactan

View of red & white "swirly bowl" water slide with drop-out opening in its bottom

End of the road on the Wedgie Express

The water slides were great fun for kids and adults alike, including a red and white one with the bowl at the bottom, which literally allows you to whirlpool in a fashion much like a toilet bowl, until you reach the hole in the bottom and you suddenly drop out into a perhaps 6-foot depth of water (there is a lifeguard at the bottom to assist everyone; this particular slide was off limits to smaller children).   It's a lot of fun, but like most of the good water slides at water parks, the price one has to pay for that fun is the rather disconcerting "wedgie" at the end.  

The staff monitoring all the slides pay good attention to safety rules and regulations, and lifeguards are around most all the areas of the water park.  Staff were pleasant and accommodating.  The facilities were all very clean, safe, and well-maintained, and the beach itself was very pleasant.  Since we live inland in the USA, the beach itself and swimming in the ocean salt water was one of the best features for my wife and me, whereas for our 8-year-old daughter the slides and pool features were the highlights.  Another favorite of the whole family was the "lazy river", where one or two people can just grab hold of a raft and just float along the stream effortlessly.  There is also a "kiddie water park" for small children.  Shower and changing facilities were nice and clean.   Imperial Palace also had an outstanding dinner buffet, (but I am doubtful that we got any photographs of it), which we enjoyed after swimming and playing all day in the water park and beach. 

My family ties to our "home away from home": the Philippines

In an earlier post I mentioned that within this blog I would discuss traveling in the Philippines.  Just to take a little break from posting about early U.S. coins and American/Ohio history for a bit, and as a prelude to actually writing about my experiences and travels within the Philippines, I'd like to give a bit of background about how I came to visit the Philippines in the first place.

At the age of 24, I met my lovely Filipina wife-to-be back in early 1993, while she was traveling with her parents visiting family in the United States.  It just so happened that her cousin grew up in the U.S. and is married to my older brother, so of course my brother and sister-in-law introduced us.  The rest, as they say, is history.  We hit it off right away, and have been married nearly 18 years, with one child.

After two years of marriage, we took our first trip to the Philippines in 1996. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, but had much to learn about the culture, traditions, infrastructure, and daily rhythms of life in the Philippines.  As an American of primarily German and small amount of Irish ancestry, I admittedly experienced some culture shock, one could say, but also a very profound respect and affection for the hospitality, warmth, and traditions of the people of the Philippines.   The latter was not entirely a new concept to me, as I had quite some experience since childhood interacting with Filipino families mainly from Northern Mindanao and Cebu, who had immigrated to my home town in the early 1970's during the Marcos administration.  Having Filipino friends and classmates introduced me to many of the concepts of the Filipino nuclear family and respect for elders, various Philippine foods such as cassava cake, bud-bud, lumpia Shanghai, and gave me some opportunities to learn a few vocabulary words in the Cebuano or Visayan dialect.   My brother's ties to his future wife's family, starting in 1982, gave me further opportunity to visit and interact frequently, so that by the time I asked my wife's father for her hand in marriage (according to Filipino tradition), I had the full endorsement of my wife's uncle, who knew me since I was 13 years old back 1982.   That being said, observing a microcosm of Filipino culture here in the United States amongst a small number of relatively Americanized Filipino families only gave me a slight clue of what life might possibly be like in the Philippines.

In upcoming posts, I'll detail many of the adventures we've had as a family staying and traveling in the Philippines. I will attempt to provide some general information, tips and reviews about traveling in the Philippines, particularly in northern Mindanao and in and around Cebu, but also including Boracay, Baguio, and the Manila environs.  My family and I have a penchant for spectacular natural features (waterfalls, beaches, mountain vistas, etc.), historical sites, and even shopping malls, and I will try to highlight and discuss objectively many of these destinations.   During our visits, we also try to balance visits of luxury beach resorts and hotels with visits to dramatically more modest settings, particularly in the rural provinces.  There, in the provinces, lie arguably the most beautiful features of the Philippines and its people - verdant rice fields backdropped by hazy emerald volcanic mountains beneath billowing cumulus clouds with farmers using carabao (water buffalo); bamboo-thatched nipa huts as a primary  means of housing for many subsistence farmers, "multicab" trucks of amazingly narrow width carrying full loads of people or agricultural products, gorgeous coconut plantations with sweeping seaside vistas, mahogany groves interspersed with camote (root crop) in the foothills and mountains, and along almost every road every few hundred meters, the ubiquitous nipa or corrugated steel-fronted sari-sari roadside store with its ubiquitous Coca-Cola sign stating the family name of the shop owner.  Additionally, I will discuss aspects of Philippine culture and the Filipino people, as well as the joys and challenges of traveling as a family in the Philippines.