We Arrive & I Meet Sebio

After viewing the MacArthur Monument and stopping for a bite to eat we started our long ride to God’s Town. Linda and Becky commented that much of the road we were traveling on was not paved during their last trip. I had many observations during this part of my trip and much of what I was taking in was overwhelming to me.

The single lane roads were populated by small homes and I assumed a series of homes made up what we would think of as villages. People of all ages could be seen along the roadways. Their houses basically sat next to the road itself. Children played, people walked and could be seen transporting their water in large cans from a central source. Near dusk farmers were walking their carabao back from their day of laboring, usually in a rice field. There just appeared to be people walking everywhere. Even when our travel was in the dark of night you would just see people walking along the road. I kept wondering to myself “where are they going or coming from”; because for all intents and purposes, we were in the middle of nowhere.

What at times felt like an endless ride took us past some impressive sights including travelling over The San Juanicious Bridge. It is an arch-shaped truss bridge in the Philippines stretching from Samar to Leyte crossing the San Juanico Strait, part of the Pan-Philippine Highway. It's the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of water with a length of 2.16 kilometers (1.34 mi).

After turning on to a bumpy dirt road I was informed we were getting close to God’s Town, and I was nearing my first meeting with Sebio. As we entered the enclosed compound of God’s Town, on the gate hung the welcoming banner pictured here.

As we started to carefully unfurl ourselves from the vehicle we had spent hours riding in and the children came pouring out from a variety of locations, suddenly there were fireworks!! Yes, they lit fireworks to mark and celebrate our arrival. This heightened my anxiety of whether I would recognize Sebio. And there from behind a group of other children I spotted him and as I had been fore-warned he was shy…so much so he attempted to hide, which basically failed because I just went up behind him and gave him a hug and said hello. He responded with a smile, albeit a nervous one and still looked a bit shelled-shocked, as I’m sure I did too because I couldn't believe I was actually there.

We said farewell to our skilled, friendly and informative driver (whose name now escapes me) and started meeting everyone. Oh my goodness how was I ever going to get everyone’s name straight; staff and children? We were then escorted into the dining hall and treated to some food and “entertainment”.This video is actually of a repeat performance of the same routine they did the night we arrived. I didn't have the wherewith all to get the video camera out the night we arrived.

We were shown to our rooms; Becky and I would share what is considered a storage room that was prepared with 2 little single beds nicely made up, looking comfortable and very inviting. Linda would be using a small building that was once an office. Purie’s original idea was to give that to me since it was my first time there but I think my deer in the headlights look informed Linda that my being alone would probably not be my preference and boy was she right.
I think after all of our travels that day even if our beds had been made of hard, razor sharp nails it wouldn’t have mattered because once our heads hit the pillows we were out for the count.

Next time: Our First Full Day at God’s Town