Several of the group members had relatives on Cebu, so it was a bit of a treat for them that we could go there. Family members of the group visited us all week. Sometimes, they even got put to work.
We traveled by bus to the northernmost part of the island, Bogo City. The ride was long, and in places, the scenery was beautiful, but around the next corner, trees were flattened and you could barely tell that homes had been destroyed and blown away because nothing was there. When homes are made of corrugated tin and tarps, you can easily understand why they wouldn't have a chance against 190 m.p.h. winds. However, I was most surprised that the roads were brand new and had already been replaced. Many of the trees toppled by the storm had been removed or were in the process of being moved for reuse of some kind. We were told that many areas of the Philippines had been inundated with help and assistance. Our group wanted to go somewhere that hadn't been helped. Our local contact hooked us up with a hospital in Bogo City, and you could certainly tell that they hadn't seen much assistance there at all.
We traveled by bus to the northernmost part of the island, Bogo City. The ride was long, and in places, the scenery was beautiful, but around the next corner, trees were flattened and you could barely tell that homes had been destroyed and blown away because nothing was there. When homes are made of corrugated tin and tarps, you can easily understand why they wouldn't have a chance against 190 m.p.h. winds. However, I was most surprised that the roads were brand new and had already been replaced. Many of the trees toppled by the storm had been removed or were in the process of being moved for reuse of some kind. We were told that many areas of the Philippines had been inundated with help and assistance. Our group wanted to go somewhere that hadn't been helped. Our local contact hooked us up with a hospital in Bogo City, and you could certainly tell that they hadn't seen much assistance there at all.
I don't have a lot of detailed pictures of the devastation, because we saw most of it as our bus was swiftly traveling up and down the mountain roads. My pictures were pretty blurry, and that is unfortunate. I'm pretty sure you have seen on television and elsewhere the damage that this storm caused. By the way, in the Philippines, the storm was called Super Typhoon Yolanda. Apparently, Haiyan, is the universal translation for Yolanda. Or maybe it's the English word for it. Anyone is welcome to correct me here...
Many of the trees and bigger pieces of debris have been cleared from most areas, and for the storm to have happened in early November, it looked to me like a lot of progress had been made.
Here we are upon arrival at the CGA Mountain Resort -- from left to right, Bernard, me, Samantha, Dr. Sharma, and Dr. Christine. I had new roommates; they were Samantha and her mother, Luz. We kept making jokes about it being a "resort," due to the fact that there was no hot water, and there was only one accessible electrical plug-in in each room. No telephones - lots of things were different. But really, we weren't complaining. We just thought we were so funny in pointing out the different meanings of the word "resort" at home and the meaning of the same word in the Philippines.
We didn't have much time to get changed and get ready for the welcoming banquet. I told you, a banquet nearly every night!
