Arrival in Tacloban, Leyte
I woke up at 2am to get ready for my day going to Tacloban. I left my mom's town of Pililla, Rizal after 3am and we drove to find the "new" terminal 4... so I arrived around 430am and checked in but waiting until a little before 7am to board the plane to Tacloban. It's about a 1 hour flight from gate to gate Manila to Tacloban. I definitely got emotional getting ready to land in Tacloban. An aerial view is all you need to see how damaged this area has become. Luckily, I have contacts that live about 2 hours away in Baybay, Leyte who were willing to pick me up at the airport. The airport had damaged walls and significant damage from what I saw. So as I landed, I started to cry. It's been an emotional journey to get to central Philippines. This started as an idea, to visit the Philippines and continue my research. It became a reality when I bought the ticket to finally go to the Philippines for the 2nd time in my entire life. So the locals received me well and we went to the MacArthur memorial in Tacloban city and took pictures, I was approached by a young child about 8 or 9 years old asking for money or food. I wasn't really too sure because of the language barrier... and it was hot out! I took pictures with my new friends in front of the memorial. We then made our way to the San Juan Unico Bridge (the longest bridge in the Philippines that connects Leyte island to Samar) and it began to rain! It was on and off rain. So on our way back to Baybay, passes through Tacloban proper... This is where the ships along the wharf went land-based. We pulled over again and took the photos and passed by Tacloban coliseum which is no longer a evacuation center. The devastation I witnessed we undeniably shocking. All I could say was "Wow", what else can you say? We stopped in a local village looking for a Volunteers for Visayas orphanage website. We found the Baranguay captain who at first didn't know where we actually wanted to go then I gave him the paper that I wrote down the information my mother wanted about the orphange she wanted to sponsor. Luckily we found the site and met the children. The organization had started with about 12 kids that needed sponsorship and then now help 37 children who are the poorest of the poor. We were there for about 20 minutes because it was hot and rainy (sunny then rainy than sunny while raining = summer in new england!) I made contact with the director. After speaking with her, I hope she emails me with the information I was asking from her to help these kids when they go back to school in June. I gave the donation to the Baranguay captain who is constructing about 5 homes and an office for the organization. The $100 (P4500) will be put to good use and I also gave him the coloring books. So we continued on our way south and I inquired about damages in Tacloban and Baybay, and there still is no electricity in Tacloban or its limited. In the more rural areas we passed I found the shelterbox tents. I'm happy to see that they are being utilized! The scenery here in Leyte is absolutely beautiful. It's so green!!! The trees and the air is so fresh (minus the occasional transportation fuels), it was breathtaking. Then... we crossed into Baybay and we got a flat tire! In the high noon sun. We found shelter in the road homes to let use the comfort room (bathroom or CR). We went to eat at the barbeque - the best barbeque in Baybay! The food here is so good!! After that we were in the port area of Baybay, beautiful harbor area. We made it to my friend's home where I napped for about 4 hours.