romblon

i said goodbye to romblon on wednesday. it was ... quite sad. romblon has been my haven: a place to relax/escape; feel normal; eat "western food"; my connection to the outside world (oh internet).

it's such a lovely place, charming really.

and i realized that i've hardly posted any pictures of the actual town in here – and that's surprising, since i have spent heaps of time there, wandering around.

so, a tour of romblon:

the first stop is inevitably the deli





how much time have i spent here? hours and hours – sitting and chatting with the owner, david, an ex-pat from the UK. wonderful guy. there's also BREWED coffee ... and mango shakes. and pizza. oh my gosh i miss mexican food. anyways ...



[they just finished construction of this central plaza a few months ago]


marble is huge here. apparently romblon marble is just as good quality as italian marble, albeit with less color consistency. and it is everywhere – heaps of marble lying around, marble gravel, marble shops, marble factories, etc etc. when mom was here, david took us on a marble tour to the factories, and then a wander through the shops. since the rise of ceramics, the demand for marble tires has fallen dramatically, which has subsequently closed a lot of these factories to close. so there are just piles of tiles lying around. it's ... mind-boggling.







so the shops have turned mostly to selling figurines. a mortar and pestle costs about 80 pesos. that's two dollars. yes, for marble.

and then of course there is the market ... all sorts of weird vegetables and fruits lying around – wonderful colors.





[shoe of choice in the philippines]


and just in case you forgot the philippines was a spanish colony, there's fort san andres and the catholic church.







i will miss romblon so much.



[view from above]