Sunday, 26th September …..

One of the disadvantages of having a room at the front of the hotel is that the passing traffic is just a few metres away, and it seemed to run non-stop all night. People like me, who sleep the sleep of the dead, are not bothered but light sleepers like Marilyn wake to every sound. Note: buy earplugs today.

It has also rained all night and, when I look out the window at 6.30, there is no volcano to be seen. However, it cleared by 7.30 when we went down to breakfast, so all is well. Several Rotarians arrived around 8.30 and we set off to visit the Legaspi Sped Centre. The staff were generous to open up on a Sunday morning to allow us to have a look and the teacher-in-charge, Teresita Almayda had made some snacks for us. Marilyn was delighted to see some ham sandwiches and enjoyed them enormously.

The school, like so many others, has outgrown its space. It opened in 1984 with 40 students, and now has 271. The staff has made a real effort to make the rooms attractive with bright colours and fresh curtains but the reality is they are inadequate for the number of students who are installed in them. A couple, catering for 10 students each were only about 6m long x 2m wide.

The President of the PTA explained that the priority is to improve some fencing between this school and the adjoining high school, and to build a roof between two classroom blocks to provide shelter in sunny or wet weather. The T.I.C had bigger dreams; she wanted a new broadacre site where a proper school could be established. Sadly, it’s hard to see how this dream can be realized.

With a sense of how much more needs to be done for special children in Legaspi as in every other city in the Philippines, we were taken to see the big attraction of the region: the Mayon volcano. Mayon comes from a word in the native language which means beautiful, and it certainly is. The shape is almost a perfect cone and the broad black stripes of dried lava down its sides are spectacular. We looked at it first from the plain, and then from a lookout on a small hill. From every angle it is majestic.

Legaspi shows the signs of previous eruptions as well as damage from successive typhoons. Some areas previously settled have now been abandoned and they now look like bombsites, black and lifeless.

Still, Legaspi, from the lookout on Lignon Hill is a beautiful city and reminded us of Townsville, looking down from Castle Hill. It’s been a great visit and the Rotarians have been more than generous with their hospitality.

We were dropped back at our hotel by noon, so we decided to be brave and get a taxi to take us to the mall and pick us up later. No problem! We wandered around, had a bite of lunch and Marilyn had her nails done. We find the malls in the Philippines interesting and are always amazed at the variety of shops. Filipinos are a nation of entrepreneurs and we've never seen so many franchises. This one is particularly interesting.

We met a Norwegian man in the beauty salon. He had lost a leg in an accident so was in a wheelchair waiting for his turn to have his hair cut. He was full of information about all things to do with living in Legaspi and encouraged us to contact him if we ever decided to settle here permanently or semi-permanently.