When a group from USA, Brazil, Russia, Poland, India and Australia climbed up a volcano inside of a lake inside of an island in the Philippines and then finished the day listening to jazz with Spanish tapas and Japanese beer…you realize how small the world is! Let me tell you about my day yesterday (Saturday).
We had an organized group trip to Taal Volcano which is about 2 hours away from Manila. An IBMer from Manila organized everything for us which was so nice. So once again, we just had to show up for the van and then go with the flow. It was an adventurous and memorable day! We loaded into the vans at 6AM and headed to to the departure area for Taal Volcano. We parked at a boat launch and after a brief introduction and guide, we split into 3 groups and hopped into boats. It was about a 20 minute boat ride to the volcano and then a hike for about 1 hour to the top. The trails were dusty and the volcano is still active so they even provided us with some masks. There were some spots along the trail where you could see steam coming out of the rocks and the rocks were super hot to the touch. I’m glad that we went early because it was starting to get very hot, even that early in the morning. We were all extremely sweaty when we got to the top but the view was more than worth it. They give you the option to go up on a horse or hike…but everyone in our group except for one opted to hike instead of horse ride (I felt kinda bad for these horses who didn’t seem to be treated too well). When we eventually got to the top, we had some amazing views of the crater lake and all around. After the trek down, we hopped in the boats again but this time we were going against the wind and it took a very long time and I was soaking wet by the time we got to the shore. But at least it helped cool us all down! We then had some lunch and headed back to the hotel. I rested after a longgg day and wasn’t planning to do anything that night but then decided to join the group and go to a late dinner at a yummy tapas place near the hotel followed by an outdoor jazz festival which was a lot of fun. It was very relaxing and a great way to end a hectic week and an active day. Today has been spent relaxing…massage plus some pool time and then just catching up on things to get ready for a busy work week. We will need to go to IBM on Tuesday to present our work thus far and will spend the rest of the week finalizing our recommendations, presentations and roadmaps for the clients. Busy times ahead! Now I will have some room service dinner and then early to bed!
On another note, I am now more than half way done with the assignment. It’s crazy how fast time has gone by but at the same time seems as if I have been here forever. I am having such a wonderful experience and enjoying every minute but I miss my family so so much too! I am the person who is awkwardly latching on to any small kids I see…just to get my fix of being around kids. Luckily about half of the IBMers on my team also have kids at home so we can all relate. I can’t wait to give mine a big big squeeze in just 2 more weeks!
I spent some time with this girl who was taking care of her sleeping baby brother in the hammock. We couldn’t really understand each other but she liked sitting with me and I of course I loved it too 😀
The Opposite Side of the World 