Tuesday, 21st September .....

Our host, Kit, has been planning for months to hold a reunion at her resort in Bicol. It’s apparently much larger than when we saw it last in January, 2008 and she is able now to cater for 100 guests. She always had the notion that 100 was the right number but when she counted the beds, she found that there were only 75. The invitations had already been sent out so what was she to do?

I know what I would have done – send out a notice to say that the first 75 people to register could have a bed, anyone else would have to stay in a hotel in Daet, 30 minutes away. But that’s not what Kit would do.

She simply gave orders for another dormitory to be built. Huh? She had lost about 500 trees during the last typhoon so there was timber on hand and nipa is not hard to acquire. There were local builders able to start work immediately so there was no problem. I suppose there would be no problems from the local council either, so she increased the capacity of the resort by 25% within a couple of months.

Every time she goes out now she buys more stuff to make sure everything will be just so. She has bought sheets, pillows, towels, plates, cutlery, coffee machine, hammocks, etc. She has had badges made for every participant. Her driver, Alejo, drove a truck down last weekend loaded with stuff. After he arrived, he rang Kit to tell her she needed more parking so she told him to stay and sort it out. He just got back yesterday. In the meantime, he cleared and leveled enough ground for 50 cars, with no heavy machinery or equipment. There’s a real can-do attitude in this country and it’s a shame it hasn’t translated into more prosperity.

Kit’s house helpers are busy at the moment stringing together flags to decorate the buildings. They were up late last night on the job and are still at it this morning.

We’ll only be there for a day and a night but nothing will be left to chance. We can’t wait.

In the few weeks we’ve been here, Kit has had phone calls from people wanting to book the resort for large numbers. The local tourist association wants to bring 300 people there for a conference and there are a couple of other government agencies talking about 1 or 200. The demand is going gang-busters and Kit is in on the ground floor. She’s even discovered her resort is noted on the latest edition of the tourist map of the area.