Botanical "Gardens" and Tagaytay

A lot has happened.

We've been pretty busy the past week trying to sign up for classes, which is sort of a pain compared to the online sign-up in the U.S. Here, we have to go to each professor and get the class signed off, and then have to wait in lines to get things registered. More waiting = not fun. But it wasn't so bad in the end. Classes themselves aren't too bad yet but that's probably because we haven't done anything, haha.

Anyway, onto more interesting stuff. Last week, we went to the Makiling Botanical Gardens, which is maybe a 20-25 minute walk from the SEARCA dorm. The title of the place itself is misleading....it's a JUNGLE in there. There was a lot of amazing scenery and a long river deep within the jungle. The experience was nothing like I've ever seen in the U.S.

So yea, I'll let some of the photos do the talking.

At the entrance of the gardens

A view off of a bridge

Jessica's Spartan pride

Us guys along a path through the "gardens"

Cool scenery

Us standing on a rock in the river

More cool scenery

Walking along a path surrounded by jungle

There you have it, just a few photos of the Makiling Botanical...jungle.

Just yesterday, my mom already left for home, so we saw her one last time before she left. She took us to the city of Tagaytay, which has the famous landmark that is a 'volcano-within-a-volcano-within-a-lake'. We didn't exactly go there, just to a hotel where there is a cliff overlooking the area. It was a pretty high up, but just a bit cloudy so we couldn't really get a fully scenic viewpoint. Legend has it that Tagaytay got it's name from a general who patrolled the area when the Spanish conquered it. He asked some locals (a father and son) what the name of the place was, and the son exclaims, "taga, itay!" or "strike, father!". Meaning attack the soldier. However, not understanding tagalog, they say that the soldier took the name of the place from that statement: Tagaytay.

Us posing, the volcano is in the back. I tried to stand on it that concrete railing but some dude was yelling at me not to because it was a pretty high drop. I did it anyway.

We also went to see my Aunt one last time and I got a photo with my young cousins. Owen is on the left, Anya is on the right.

Well, that's that for my entry. Stay tuned for Jessica's post on our recent adventure, the flatrocks!