I’m not sure what happened at customs and immigration in Manila, but there was some confusion between Al and the officials who were transferring our trunks and boxes from the international terminal to the domestic terminal for our flight to Puerto Princesa. After about 30 minutes of going back and forth, Al gathered the team together to have us pray. Later I found out that the first trunk the official opened up was our team box that had several first aid medical supplies in it. The official told Al that he needed to see the prescriptions for all the medicines. They were all just over-the-counter medicines, so we didn’t have any prescriptions. Then he started asking Al if we were on a medical mission trip. Al assured him that we were not on a medical trip, and that they were just first aid medicines. Then the official got distracted by several other passengers who were trying to clear their baggage from customs and since there’s no concept of “lines” in Filipino culture, people kept crowding Al out. After we prayed and after the crowd had dispersed a little bit, Al got the official’s attention again. The official decided that he didn’t need us to open up all the boxes, and that we could continue on to the domestic terminal. We started to load up the boxes on carts, but the official said we didn’t have to wheel them over to the domestic terminal because he would get them over there for us, and have them checked through to Puerto Princesa. We headed over to the domestic terminal and found Liezel (the eighth member of our team) without much problem, and then headed through security and then to the gate. The terminal fee was 200 pesos (approx. $3.82). Jim, Larry, and Carol got coffee while we waited again. Most everyone was in good spirits still, and we didn’t mind the wait because we were just all glad to be off of the plane. The flight to Manila was good overall. I was able to doze off here and there so it made it go faster.

We arrived in Puerto fine and got through customs without a hitch. It’s kind of silly to call it customs there in Puerto. There’s not much to go through except one guy standing by the door next to baggage claim. Sandy and Sam were there to meet us. They showed us the hangar they were building on the airport grounds for the Cessnas to fly into the tribes. We trucked over to the guesthouse with all of our gear in the back of Sandy’s truck. Ed, Carol, and Gerry stood in the bed to hold the boxes from falling out around corners. We arrived at the guesthouse and met Robbie and Leon. Leon had just been hit by a trike after his dog, Max, ran into the street. His head was cut up pretty bad, and his right leg was swollen and giving him a lot of discomfort. We got settled into our rooms for overnight, and sorted out supplies that were going to the different tribes.

After that, Sandy drove us around town. First we went to NCCC, which is like a Walmart here. It had 3 floors: 1st floor was grocery/drug store, 2nd floor was clothing, and the 3rd floor was house ware and furniture. Jim got a haircut/massage for about a dollar while we went to eat at Chicken Inato. It was a great spicy chicken wing and leg for 59 pesos ($1.13). It had a great atmosphere that would go over well in the states. We came back to the guesthouse and I tried to play fetch with Max, but he ran off with the stick on the first throw. Ed was still playing with the video camera and trying to figure out how it worked. Robbie made spaghetti for dinner and Leon asked us to share a little something about ourselves. It was moving to hear everyone’s testimonies, and helped to serve as a bonding experience for our team. We had dessert and then headed to bed around 7:30 pm.