We’re at the market.
Lots of different things for sale.
Hanging rice.
Hanging rice in coconut leaves.
Coconut leaves, yeah.
Then you have to boil it.
And they boil it.
Yes.
Thank you.
It’s Saturday morning and we’re at the market
taking a look around and getting some things to go home and make brunch.
Pink eggs.
Like Easter.
There’s the roasting pig.
How much?
7000.
This one costs 7000.
7000?
Pesos, yeah.
That’s like 200 bucks Canadian or something.
Yes.
Okay.
I want to see one of those ube…
Ube…
…from the halo halo.
Oh yeah, it’s somewhere here.
I'm very focused on the halo halo.
It’s always so fun being at the markets and just seeing all the different produce.
People milling about doing daily things.
Picking up groceries.
It’s fun to shop with a brunch in mind and then take it all home and cook it up.
It is, yeah.
And I love also seeing all the presentations of the different fish and
everything laid out so neatly.
Yeah.
Everyone’s in a good mood.
Saturday morning!
Saturday morning I mean nothing’s wrong in the world. -Sun is out.
Yeah.
How’s the multi cab ride?
It’s very, very cool.
Looks like so much fun.
It’s such a good breeze back here.
Is it bumpy?
Yeah.
It’s bumpy but it feels like… it’s like a convertible with shade.
Yeah.
Which is really nice.
Nice.
And these seats are really comfortable.
Yeah.
They’re like bucket seats.
This is the party part of the bus.
Yeah.
The cool…the cool kids sit in the back.
Yeah all our market stuff is here.
Alright cool kids - I’m going to go up front.
I’ve never been so happy to hear someone say on the way to their house where we’re staying,
“we have seven dogs, is that okay?”
Ahh!
Yeah, it’s more than okay!
It’s seven times more than okay!
It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard someone say.
Hi buddies!
Hello buddy.
Hello buddies!
Get back!
Hello!
Hello, hi.
Hello buddies.
Hello.
I love you all, oh yes.
Oh yes.
Aww.
Hello.
Wow, I guess I just don’t have the magic touch like you do.
I don’t think they like you as much.
Literally they all disappeared.
Yeah.
There are no dogs left in the yard.
I like you.
Even if seven dogs don’t.
Egg, toast, jam, butter, Spam and hanging rice.
And calamansi juice.
Lemon and cucumber.
I love food that comes with its own carrying case.
Yeah.
A little purse.
Especially a cute one like this.
Yeah.
Oh you haven’t tasted the best part yet.
I have to have this, thank you.
Ooh!
Look at that!
That is beautiful.
Mango tree...
Thank you.
Mango.
This is not halo halo but I have to halo it.
Yeah halo that up.
Yeah.
So what is this called?
I don’t…
Avocado smoothie.
Yeah, with condensed milk, avocado and just ice, right?
And crushed ice.
And crushed ice. -And crushed ice.
No there’s no mango in it.
I did put mango because we have it.
It's in there.
Mmm!
The flavour is so mellow.
But it just has that little bit of sweetness
that makes it feel more like a… almost like an ice cream dessert
because you’re eating it cold with a spoon.
Mmm.
It’s almost like a cold soup.
You know like in summer you might have like a…
like in Hungary they have like cold cherry soup or something?
Yeah.
It’s a little bit like that.
There we go.
Yeah.
We haven’t really said how we’re related.
Oh!
What…what am I saying, like cousins?
Cousin?
Aunt?
Aunt, yeah.
Aunt-in-law?
Yeah…aunt-in-law!
No, not aunt-in-law, just auntie.
Alright.
Just auntie.
We’ll go with aunt, yeah.
Yes, okay.
Alright.
We’ve just done a little drive to get to this church.
The Monastery of the Holy Eucharist.
And people come from all over The Philippines to go to this church
from as far as Mindanao and Manila so we’re going to go inside and look around.
So my slip or sorry, the slit in my skirt, I’m not allowed to go in.
So we’re going to buy a pin for my skirt.
Thank you, Jessica.
No problem.
I didn’t realize when I put this skirt on this morning that this would be…
Marc was joking that he’s showing more leg than I am.
Which is actually true.
Do you think I pass?
Yes.
Okay.
Alright take two!
Take two.
Oh actually look here, it does say like…
Oh yeah.
No…although Marc it says no shorts above the knee.
That’s you!
How’s this?
It’s okay.
Am I good now?
Alright.
Thank you.
Oh wow it’s huge!
This is enormous!
I had no idea.
Yeah you can’t really tell from the outside.
This thing’s like a castle.
But actually Jessica was saying they can see this from their house.
Look at that, eh?
So the dark grey part back there, this is the oldest part.
And then all of this in front is more or less new construction.
Or newer construction.
Yeah.
Huge, huge complex.
Do you come here very often?
No.
Because I’m not Catholic.
Oh, okay.
Catholic people come here.
So you just come now and again to check it out?
Just to look down and see the view.
Yeah.
Before I used to come here…
You used to come here?
There’s a swimming pool down there.
Yeah, before, yeah.
Swimming pool!
Yeah, here’s the swimming pool.
Nelson was just telling me that people… that the reason this is so huge here
like you can’t call it a church, this is a complex.
It feels almost like a…a city really.
And that so many thousands of people were coming here
and they couldn’t them accommodate them so they had to build all of this.
And so I said like why were people coming and drawn here and he said,
'because this is a place where they perform miracles'.
So you’ll see…I don’t know if you can see them but he said, you know,
you’ll see that people have left their crutches or their wheelchairs here
so that draws a lot of people to experience the miracles and to witness them as well so
that’s interesting to hear.
That is interesting. -Yeah.
All of the different coloured candles have different meanings for different kinds of prayers so
you see a rainbow of different prayers going on as people are lighting their candles.
This is really different than any other church I’ve been to.
Yeah, I agree.
Feels more like a little city.
Yeah, it’s so big.
It’s huge.
Multitiered…multileveled.
And Nelson, you were just saying on Mama Mary’s birthday, it’s full of people, right?
Thousands and thousands.
Thousands of people came here.
Wow.
I would love to see that.
Who’s hungry?
Anybody want some bananas?
Just right here.
Is that the closest like…well not closest but easiest access you’ve ever had?
Yeah.
I don’t know if you guys can tell but the tree is way, way down there
and we are conveniently elevated on this walkway.
Reaching distance.
They don’t look quite ripe enough to pick.
I’ve never been to any church like this before.
No, this is like a giant megaplex.
Yeah, it’s really interesting.
Yeah.
Huge, huge complex.
I always love coming to these sort of places of worship
and seeing how they’re different and this one is just unlike anything I’ve ever been to.
Yeah and thousands of people are here every single day.
Thanks for watching!
More to come in part 3 including meeting more family.
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