Another day full of sunshine yesterday.

It was a good morning for doing the Decay Dance, and off we went.

Swan elected to start our evening at It Doesn’t Matter. It was surprisingly empty for a dry Saturday evening. It was still pleasant enough having the patio to ourselves, and we ordered some food to snack on from the kitchen and shared it with the girls. Then we moved on to Wet Spot and it was busier than I’ve seen it in quite some time.

When we first arrived, a youngish-looking guy was sitting at a table surrounded by bargirls- must have been a dozen of them- and he was buying tequila shots for them all. I suspected he was a newbie, and my waitress confirmed he was an off-duty sailor. I was thinking to myself the guy ought to have a wingman with him, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. When the drink bill came, he got up and walked out with a girl on each arm. He was back a few minutes later after hitting the ATM outside. He paid for the drinks, then went out the side door that leads to the hotel with three girls. I asked my waitress if he was doing what I thought he was doing, and she confirmed that he was taking the gals for a “short-time” romp. Wow! I wondered what that was going to cost him, but after a few minutes he walked by again and went out the front door. I’m thinking, damn, that really was a short time. Turns out, he needed to raid the ATM once more, and soon enough, he headed back upstairs with a big smile on his face. I’m sure he had a night he’ll remember in those lonely moments at sea.

Well, even in my wild days, I was never quite that wild. Again, I hope he didn’t get taken advantage of, but it’s his money, and you only live once. For some reason, I just recalled the words every Filipina said to me the first time we made love: “Ouch!” “Oh, shit!” “Already?”

It is now New Year’s 2022 in the LTG archives, and by golly, I made it to midnight. Barely. I was still dealing with the sadness of losing Pearl, but accepting the reality that it just wasn’t meant to be. So, I found some comfort with my bar friends and tried to move on with my life, such as it was.

Today’s YouTube video discusses the issue of whether foreigners are safe in the Philippines. There have been some murders recently in other parts of the country, but honestly, I never feel threatened around here. I guess it just takes once if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time or if you piss off a local by making them lose face, but I still feel safer here than I would back in the USA. My doom is much more likely to come by taking a misstep while hiking up in the hills or getting squashed trying to cross the National Highway here in Barretto.

Humor me:

And so it goes. After two and a half days with no rain, we just now got hit with another shower. Looks like I’ll be bringing an umbrella with me when I head out this evening.