Home, Sweet Semi-Permanent, Home

Well, we're down to our last week across the Pacific and we are back at Oceans 101 on Siargao Island. We were welcomed back with open arms. All the girls came running out as a screaming mob when we pulled up on our motorcycle cab and nearly ripped us off the bike with hugs. We had been gone just over a month and they all expressed their fears that we wouldn't come back at all. Not too much has changed. A few guests are still here that we know, the owner's wife is pregnant, and the kids have grown up a bit—the six year old's pool game is decidedly improved and the baby is walking. We missed a local surfing competition by a day and the closing ceremonies involved the "Miss Beach Babe Summer 2008" contest, which we attended the night we got back. All the local resorts (this word might be slightly deceiving—a resort here is usually a couple of palm huts and a short-order restaurant) sponsored a contestant who participated in the sarong round and the "summer wear" round, during which the girls paraded around in their skimpiest bikinis. And even though a rival resort's girl sprayed herself down with water and proceeded to hump the podium, the Oceans 101 girl won the crown, which probably had a lot to do with our girls' screaming and the "40% audience participation" points. She also won some plastic jewelry and an all expenses paid trip for two to Surigao City—the dirty and noisy ferry terminal we have decided is hands-down the worst city in the Philippines.

It felt good to unpack our backpacks and resume our relaxing routine, eating familiar breakfasts and surfing our favorite spots. I'm trying to be as lazy as possible because all the unknowns about the future are pressing down on me and threatening to undo three months of serenity I've had here in the Philippines. It will be sad to leave our odd home on Siargao Island, but we are, nevertheless, anxious to be home, where the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs (reading Stegner again), where the handouts grow on bushes and the cigarettes grow on trees. Lookout, Big Rock Candy Mountain, we're coming home.