Progressive Dinner: a dinner party in
which each successive course is prepared and eaten at the residence
of a different participant.
We had a progressive dinner
today…Filipino style!
Cuya Al (our ministry contact this
month) said that today we would all go visit a village full of
members from the church that rarely get visited because they live so
far away. So, all 15 of us racers and a few people from the church
piled into a Jeepney (a pimped out, Asian style, low to the ground,
covered with chrome party bus!! They are seriously awesome…!) and
headed off to our destination.
A little bit of background to this
story that you should know…we had pancakes for breakfast this
morning, and we were all quite full when we left the house!
We drove down the road for about 10
minutes before we got to our first stop. We shake hands, and
immediately they sit us down with bowls of soup. It tasted great, but
we were all stuffed. We didn’t want them to think we didn’t like it,
so we ate as much as we could (story of my life on the World Race!).
Little did we know that was just the beginning of our eating! After a
little bit of fellowship, we got back in the Jeepney (still awesome!)
and drove to the next house.
We sat down and drank some coffee. Lia
busted out the guitar and played a few songs for them, and then one
lady came out with some rolled up banana leaves and started handing
them out. Inside was something unrecognizable. Let me tell you,
unrecognizable food has been served many times on this race, and
well, the best strategy I have is to not look very closely and just
take a bite, and then concentrate on not making a disgusted face so I
can save myself from some embarrassment. Cassava root and coconut
steamed in a banana leaf. Interesting and indescribable. I don’t
really have words to put with that experience, but let’s just say I
don’t want to eat that again.
House number three. We are starting to
notice a trend. This house has pop and something fried waiting for
us. Again, don’t look too closely and just bite (all of you who know
me really well, you know this is a big change from before!). Fried
bananas, wrapped in something…almost like the shell of an eggroll.
A-MAZING! When I get home, I am going to try to make those!
By the way…still stuffed.
House four. Just pop and crackers.
Thank goodness. I stuck them in my pocket to save for later.
House five. We got out of the Jeepney
at the top of a mountain, no houses in sight. Cuya Al steps over a
little fence and starts going down the side of the mountain. The
steep, muddy mountain. And guess who slipped and fell right on her
bottom, in the mud? Yep, that’s me. We eventually hike to the house
and look around at the beauty around us. We were surrounded by
mountains, oceans, and coconut trees. Whoa, there’s a boy in one of
those trees. And they are TALL trees. He shimmied right up and
started throwing down coconuts. Just so you know, fresh coconut is
disgusting,
mostly just because of the texture. Lesson learned.
After
all that, we get home, and there is lunch waiting for us! At least it
was just mangoes and peanut butter and jelly, but I am still stuffed
as I write this!
Outside
of just being fun, today was a humbling little journey. I love the
adventure that comes with trying food from other countries, but what
I love more is the hospitality and generosity I have experienced
here. Most of the houses we visited were bamboo huts. These people
live in poverty, but they could not wait to share what they had with
us, simply because we came to see them. And here’s another kicker.
These people walk for about an hour through the mountains to get to
church. Amazing. And to think, sometimes I would whine about getting
in my car to drive to
church.
