Every month, I have the wonderful privilege of spending one
full day of pure fun with my buddy Colleen. Colleen is a member of the
September World Race Squad, on Team Less. I’m not quite sure how we ended up
becoming friends in the first place, but before the race even began, God told
her to email me, and so she did, and it’s been fun times ever since.
So each month we head out for what we call our monthly extravaganza. We pretty much set out for
town, a few goals in mind, and see what else may come after that. In Bangkok
we had a full day of walking the streets, trying to find pedicures and American
food. You can read about that here. In Cambodia
we had a mini-adventure, attempting to get back to our hotel with only one
bike. I mean, if the locals can do it, how hard could it be? Then for the Philippines,
we ended up spending our debrief time on an island. So our first question
was—how do we have an extravaganza on
an island? And here’s how our day went…
First we decided to: Rent
a moto!
In true Colleen and Christie style, our first hill we
encountered involved getting a friendly foreigner to help us get the moto to
the top.
Once on our way, we marveled at all the scenery. The first
of which was actually quite common in the Philippines,
a man squeezed up tight against the wall… peeing. Except this man was white.
And about four hundred pounds. And he was only wearing shorts, which were
slouched down enough to sh
ow a good five inches of sunburnt crack. It was not
pretty folks. But, again, what else could we expect on a day like today?
The next three hours consisted of butterflies attacking my
face, a truck dragging long poles that attempted to decapitate us, Colleen accidentally shoving my helmet into my
eyes and obstructing my view as we veered around the corner of a mountain,
breaking a flip flop, gorgeous waterfall views, and driving through a mountain on the edge of cliffs.
Maybe our best extravaganza
yet! As we came back towards our side of the island, we decided to stop for a
late lunch. We decided to go get pizza at a place right by the water. So since
pizza was ordered, we got free massages! Colleen and I decided that once in America,
we are going to open an orphanage/pizza parlor/massage place. It only makes
sense.
As we sat eating, getting massaged, and enjoying each
other’s company, what else could possibly happen to complete our extravaganza? That’s right… rain!
It didn’t take too long for Colleen and me to decide that we
weren’t going to be riding the moto back to our resort. The roads back were
steep muddy hills, and I was not experienced enough to get us back. So then
came the next challenge, finding a way back.
So after an hour of trying to get rid of the moto, running
out of cell minutes, ducking under awnings, trying to break a large bill, and
haggling with petty cab drivers… we were on our way home!
Just another extravaganza
with Colleen and Christie. 🙂
